Cafe Racers: Speed, Style, and Ton-Up Culture

Paul d'Orléans, photography by Michael Lichter

ISBN 10: 0760345821 / ISBN 13: 9780760345825

Published by Motorbooks, 2014

About this Item

Café Racers: Speed, Style and Ton-Up Culture; Paul d'Orléans, photography by Michael Lichter; Motorbooks, Minneapolis, 2014. First printing. From the blurb Speed. Style. Rock-and-Roll. Rebellion. These were the pillars that formed the base of the café-racer subculture. Infamous for doing the ton exceeding speeds of 100 miles per on public roads the ton-up boys, as they became known, garnered a reputation that preceded them all over the United Kingdom and into greater Europe. The café-racer culture, a term originally used as a slur against rebellious riders who tore from one coffee bar to another aboard modified motorcycles, steadily grew from a sport into a complete lifestyle that embodied the vibrant British counterculture of the times, ultimately becoming a movement that took Europe and the rest of the world by storm. Today, the café-racer movement enjoys popularity unheard of during its postwar heyday. From international rallies to a renewed interest in café slang and style, Café Racers tells the complete story of how a few speed-starved teens sparked what would become a worldwide moto-culture phenomenon. Accompanied by mouthwatering portrait photography by Michael Lichter and enlightening, entertaining text by Paul d'Orléans founder of the Vintagent blog the bikes within these pages were collected for or built specifically for Lichter s Ton-Up! Exhibit at the Sturgis Bike rally. This large format book, 223 pages is in fine condition as is the dust jacket that is now in a protective mylar wrap. This is a high-end production with many double-page photographs of these modified motorcycles. This large and heavy book may require additional postage.

Seller Inventory # 24107a

Bibliographic Details

• Title: Cafe Racers: Speed, Style, and Ton-Up Culture
• Publisher: Motorbooks
• Publication Date: 2014
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0760345821
• ISBN 13: 9780760345825
• Binding: Hardcover
• Edition: 1st Edition
• Condition: Fine
• Dust Jacket Condition: Fine

About this title

Synopsis

A photographic chronology of some of the fastest, most stylish, and most individualized bikes in motorcycling history. Originally used as a slur against riders who used hopped-up motorcycles to travel from one transport café to another, café racer describes a bike genre that first became popular in 1960s British rocker subculture - although the motorcycles were also common in Italy, France, and other European countries. The rebellious rock-and-roll counterculture is what first inspired these fast, personalized, and distinctive bikes, with their owners often racing down public roads in excess of 100 miles per hour ("ton up" in British slang), leading to their public branding as "ton-up boys." Café Racers traces café racer motorcycles from their origins in the mid-twentieth century all the way into modern times, where the style has made a recent comeback in North America and Europe alike, through the museum-quality portraiture of top motorcycle photographer Michael Lichter and the text of motorcycle culture expert Paul d'Orléans. Chronologically illustrated with fascinating historical photography, the book travels through the numerous ever-morphing and unique eras of these nimble, lean, light, and head-turning machines. Café Racers visually celebrates a motorcycle riding culture as complex as the vast array of bikes within it.

About the Author

Since the early 1980s, Michael Lichter has been photographing custom motorcycles for the pages of Easyriders magazine--often hanging from the beds of pickup trucks during rainstorms or photographing packs of bikers in such places as Daytona Beach, Florida, and Sturgis, South Dakota. He has written and provided photography for a number of books, and he lives and works in Boulder, Colorado.

Paul d'Orléans, better known as the publisher of website The Vintagent, travels the world following the vintage motorcycle scene. As a rider, collector, and recognized expert on moto-history, he is a passionate advocate for old motorcycles and writes for numerous magazines (including Cycle World, MCN, Men's File, Klassik Motorrad, and Café Racers FR), websites, and club journals worldwide.