Look at the cafe racer here and you think, another nice old Norton or Triton, until you look closer and see an engine with Kawasaki on the side. Look closer still and you find a front fork from a Suzuki GSX-R400, a Suzuki GT750 front brake and a Kawasaki H2 rear hub, plus a big helping of self made pieces that look rather nice.
Phil Klawsuc, over in the U.K., had a 1968 Kawasaki W2 twin carb engine which he thought would go just right with a Norton featherbed frame, but he wanted it to run like a more modern bike while keeping the vintage look. The Kawasaki W1 and W2 were very British looking motorcycles to begin with but this is taking the look to a whole different level. Any cafe racer like this will take a bit of engineering to make the parts come together right but I think he did a superb job.
This is just another one of those motorcycles that will drive the purists crazy, cafe racers are supposed to be British and all that, but if you ask me, I think it’s very cool.
Classic Motorcycle Mechanics has a complete write up in the December 2006 issue, it’s worth a look.
Photo credit: Classic Motorcycle Mechanics