A Passion for Bikes: Café Racers in the Former Soviet Union

A café racer is a lightweight customized motorcycle optimized for speed and style rather than comfort — they are made especially for quick rides over short distances. Café racing started in the early 1960s at the Ace Cafe, which was a "transport cafe" in Stonebridge in northwest London. It opened its doors in 1938 to cater to travelers on the new North Circular Road.



The term "café racer" came from a game created by visitors to the Ace Cafe: the idea of the game was to ride as fast as possible from the cafe to the next major road, Hanger Lane, and back before whatever song was playing on the jukebox ended. The songs in the jukebox — by musicians such as Eddie Cochran and Jerry Lee Lewis — were pretty short, so the bikers had to ride very fast.



In this gallery, café racers from the former Soviet Union tell stories about their bikes and explain how they fell in love with this culture.

Alexander Ivanosky, Gomel, Belarus



"When I was in the army, dreaming about returning home, I started thinking about motorcycles. My creative profession (I was a photographer, as well as a video operator and an advertising specialist) was causing me to unconsciously think up interesting commercials that I could shoot after I returned home. And I was often unconsciously thinking about motorcycles. I was so surprised by those images and thoughts, but I nevertheless liked them."

"After finishing my military service, I stayed at home for hours looking at different types of motorcycles. Initially I was drawn to the bobbers [a type of custom motorcycle that has its front fender removed]. One time, we were working on a different order, and my friend said: "Bobber? That's not for you." "Then what's the motorcycle for me?" I asked. And he showed me the cafe racer. It was love at first sight. You lay your eyes on it and understand — it is right for you. I promised myself that if in three months time the passion didn't wear off, I would have to buy it. It didn't go away.



I tried looking for a donor [an original bike that can be modified], but I wasn't able to find one in Belarus, so I had to find one in Germany. These days, very few people are willing to invest in the rebuilding of a motorcycle, and that is probably one of the main reasons of the slow development of car customization in the post-Soviet space."

"Once I met a guy who brought motorcycles from Germany and did so not too expensively. I stopped by his garage and he immediately offered me a Yamaha XJ600 from 1987, with a fairly low milage, brought from abroad. I had a donor!



From February until the end of June, the motorcycle underwent intensive work, by trial and error. Finally the time for the first ride came. It was a wildly scary ride, as I hadn't driven the motorcycle before — I'd bought it when there was still snow outside. But the motorcycle went beautifully.



I really regret not having done that before. In Soviet times, the rebuilding of motorcycles and cafe racers was more often done by people who knew very little about the design. This culture is new for us. I think that in about 10 years the status of motorcycle customizing will greatly improve."

Lyubomir Sidor, Lvov, Ukraine



"I've preferred motorcycles to cars for the past eight years. It all started during my student days when I bought a retro scooter, a Yamaha Vino."

"As Lvov is the cultural capital of Ukraine, there are a lot of transport connoisseurs here. This is what helped the LvivRetroClub come into being. During the few years I was the president of the club, I had four different scooters. Then I took a break to do some traveling. After I saw a cafe racer for the first time during my trip, it started to haunt me."

"When I returned, I started looking for the perfect bike and I finally found it: a Suzuki GS400X. It was in Warsaw. I didn't waste a second — I immediately went to Poland. I brought it to Ukraine and from this moment I have loved it and taken care of it. It's been with me since the spring of 2014.



You rarely see cafe racers in Ukraine; I only saw one cafe racer in Lvov, and in Kiev some ads related to cafe racing."

Vasily Gogenko, Taganrog, Russian Federation



Vasily Gogenko sitting with his wife Julia on his custom bike.



"My story is quite simple. I grew up in a small Soviet village with a population of 2,000. My dad owned a green Soviet Ural motorcycle, and for as long as I can remember, I was either riding it, or dreaming about riding it, and waiting for the moment when it would be mine. That dream didn't come true; I didn't get the Ural."

"Then I grew up, left the village, got married, bought one car, then a second one... But I still wanted something different. I didn't want a sports bike, a chopper or a cruiser — I wanted an Ural only. But as you can imagine, in those times, an Ural bike was a bucket of bolts. But luckily fate smiled at me when they opened a Triumph motorcycle store in my town. I went there to check it out, and immediately understood that the Triumph was perfect for me. I had just walked in, and immediately understood that it would serve me well. I saved some money, and a week later, I fulfilled my task.



Ironically, a few days after I bought the Triumph, the shop closed down because of the crisis."

"At the end of my first season with the motorbike, I was involved in an accident. Luckily, while I wasn't injured, the motorbike was quite damaged. I decided to make the best of the situation, repair the bike and turn it into an authentic, real cafe racer.



I can say that I started to love my motorbike even more after the accident because its design is more personal."

Spartak Malkevich, Minsk, Belarus



"I got into motorbikes by accident. I saw a motorcycle on the internet and I really liked it. I then started to look into bikes, and found the custom bike. I decided to get a similar one: a bobber."

"For my first custom bike, a Soviet Izh Jupiter 5, the cheapest donor did the trick. The people liked the one that I modernized, and then a guy came up with an offer to turn his own into a cafe racer. And so the second bike came into being. Afterwards, when I put it in an exhibition, a few people liked it, and they wanted to showcase their custom-made bikes."

"I got the spare parts off Ebay, Chinese websites and sometimes built them by myself. Surprisingly enough, at the time I hadn't built a bike for myself, but I enjoyed building them even more than driving them. I owned many types of motorbikes and I'm currently driving a Honda SB250. It is light, universal and perfect for in-town trips."

Grigory Karpenko, Solnechnogorsk, Russia



"I remember that I took a fancy to engineering when I was a child. My dad used to drive a three-wheeled Muravei motoroller, but then suddenly gave it up. I started taking care of it and driving it. I eventually saved some money and bought a new three-wheeled Fermer motoroller and then everything started: repair, upgrading, maintenance."

"Only recently did I get into the business, after I'd finished my studies. In choosing my first motorcycle, a Kawasaki Zefir 400, I received a great deal of help from my friend. I have two other motorcycles — a Honda CB1000 and a Suzuki SV650 — for long-distance trips."

"For example, I went to the sea this summer, and covered 4,600 km. I rode to the Black Sea, to the Azov Sea, then to Crimea and back home. For the time being, I own three motorcycles and my studio.



I enjoy it so much; I can't imagine life without a motorcycle."