Once in a while, you strike gold! The motorcycle I’m writing about today made its first appearance in the wild at the Big Twin Show in Houten, the Netherlands, earlier this month. In our case, we got a bit (a lot) of a head’s up.

There is a lot going on with the Kawasaki KZ from France. Owned by Sebastien Vernaison, a 39-year-old bike builder who works as a plumber during the day. In his spare time however, Sebastien creates real work of art. What he did to this KZ650SR from 1980 is nothing short of […]

“You dream it, we build it!” a strong slogan from Assen Zahariev’s garage in Sofia, Bulgaria. However, a bike this stunning out of a stock 80° longitudinal V-Twin we could not have dreamt up ourselves. Assen saw a golden opportunity in this rare motorcycle and let his inspiration flow freely. We […]

Regular guests It may look as if UNIKAT have a subscription on our platform. Nothing of the sort, but the Polish team just keeps on churning out pure art that we simply cannot ingnore. This time it is a 2001 Moto Guzzi California 1100, which was transformed from a nice bike […]

When I was 18 years old, many many years ago, I saw a Honda CB350F outside a club in Amsterdam. It looked dirty, had chrome wire spoked wheels, a little café racer seat, clubman style handle bar, no mirrors or indicators, no fenders, and a single gauge which was the tachometer. […]

  Back in 2020, BikeBrewers were invited to join the first edition of the Café Racer Fest in Kyustendil, Bulgaria. Unfortunately COVID had paralyzed the world and travel restrictions caused us to miss out on that event. We followed the happening on social media while the enthusiasm of participants, visitors and […]

No introduction needed. It is time again for a Top 10 list, and this time we’ve decided to split it up into 2 instalments. Ladies and gentlemen, we would like to present to you, the totally arbitrary, BikeBrewers Top 10 Cafe Racers Hall of Fame: Part 1! 1. BMW R nineT […]

Mad Max meets The Walking Dead There is something really interesting about post-apocalyptic science fiction stories, both written and on TV. Trying to imagine how a distorted future would look like, has fueled many conversations. 40 years ago, it was Mad Max that started the rat bikes movement, and it appears […]

Sometimes you come across bikes that just put the hook in you. Christian Forward’s 1994 Triumph Trident is definitely one of those builds that brings out the greed in me. Everything inside me screams “I want it!’. I can hardly imagine anyone disagreeing with me after perusing the pictures. This bike […]

The last couple of years I’ve seen custom bike shops pop-up everywhere. Some could be classified as one-day flies, but some are definitely here to stay. Toma Customs from Brussels (Belgium) is one of the latter category. He’s delivering bike after bike (also see this and this bike from Toma Customs.)and […]

Industrial Moto’s first build was a 250 Suzuki cafe racer. It was purchased locally in Virginia by a guy who had never ridden a motorcycle before. Since that time he has completed a motorcycle trip across Vietnam and put many miles on his Suzuki closer to home. When he decided it […]

With our small series of Custom Crafts, we’ve broadened our view of the custom motorcycle scene by interviewing the artists behind the bikes. In the past we’ve done some shop visits, but this never really led to serious articles. With our ever growing audience and some extra hands (called Ron), we […]

Struck by a blue flash An active lad on Instagram, I had noticed his posts and like what he produces and how Sjoerd is marketing Motolifestyle, his small custom bike business. “Small” is actually not a very apt description of his online following. Picked up on Instagram by @caferacersofinstagram our man […]

There is more than Fabergé eggs in Moscow Not very much is known about the Russian cafe racer scene, but sometimes little gems unexpectedly pop to the surface. In the heart of Moscow, there is a “small atelier” as they call themselves, who work under the name “Z17 customs”. They are […]

As promised in the beginning of 2017, we’ve reserved more space for shed builds. Of course, we L-O-V-E all those professional builds, but we also think that individual builders deserve a spot to highlight their work. For the occasion, we’ve made a list of the 10 best shed builds we’ve found […]

Candy Motorcycle Laboratory is a small, 2-person motorcycle workshop based in Japan. And they have a very special focus on the Yamaha SR400. A bike we don’t see that often here in Europe, let alone that it’s been used as a basis for a custom project. But not in Japan, Candy […]