Crafted with a combination of intelligent technologies and functional design, the TC was engineered to give you the most out of your riding experience. Free yourself with the TC Café Racer!**
Live in WA, SA or QLD?
If you live in WA, QLD or SA, you can legally ride the TC on your normal car licence! This is because the TC is classified as an LA category vehicle equivalent to a <50cc moped, and is restricted to not exceed the 50km/h speed limit. If you live in ACT, NSW, VIC, NT or TAS, you will need a motorcycle licence. However our entire electric range is LAMS approved, meaning they are the perfect platform to begin your riding journey.
For more information, visit your State Government/Road Laws website. Experience electric with Super SOCO!
A new motorcycle company is setting the words ‘modern’, ‘carbon fiber’ and ‘two-stroke’ alongside the promise of 24-karat gold-leaf detailing – and it premieres in three weeks.
Langen Motorcycles was Founded in 2019 when Christofer Ratcliffe – previously the Chief Design Engineer at CCM Motorcycles – decided to break away from the convention of a larger company and create his own twist on the current market.
“I wanted to create something completely new,” Christopher tells us. “I sold my car, sold my home, I went all-in on it.”
His passion was not misplaced. By the time the lockdowns hit in 2020, the business was in full production of their first bike – and there was an immense amount of interest in the big reveal.
“We managed to get to one show last September, in between lockdowns. The response was overwhelming from everyone who saw the bike in the flesh. It validated all the hard work and sleepless nights.”
According to a report from WiganToday, the Two-Stroke will feature a 249cc, 90º V-twin engine capable of tossing out a top speed of more than 140mph, as well as a hand-laid carbon fiber tank and bodywork, courtesy of the gents at Wigan factory.
The bike will also have a tubular aluminum ‘space’ frame and swingarm, purported to be ‘ultra-lightweight, also a factor that was hand-built in-house.
With only 100 units in the batch, the deposits are coming in hard and fast.
Interested in buying this beauty? The Langen Two-Stroke will be up for grabs at the exclusive price of £28,000, with a £1,000 refundable deposit to secure a build slot.
Langen Motorcycles will be premiering the bike at the Goodwood Festival of Speed, in West Sussex, England, in 21 short days.
For more articles on the beauties of limited edition motorcycles, head over to MotorBikeWriter.
While most motorcycle rental companies target tourists with large-capacity touring or adventure bikes, one new company is targeting the emerging hipster custom or cafe-racer culture.
Oxford Street Garage, in Collingwood, Melbourne, has a range of customised small-capacity “carbon neutral” motorbikes for hire from $120 a day.
Most of the fleet are single-cylinder Japanese bikes and Royal Enfields.
Owner Georgia Murphy and her husband Tim Petheram (pictured) tell us they are targeting motorcycle enthusiasts and “lifestyle riders” who they describe those looking the “cool” factor, rather than just for the machine.
“They look for a motorcycle which reflects their personality as a priority,” Georgia says.
So, if you don’t have the skills, time and patience to slice and dice a bike into your own cafe racer, you can now just hire one and look the part!
“With international travel restrictions, we are seeing people look for other ways to seek adventure, particularly ones close to home,” Georgia says.
However, they will also look at expanding their range to include larger-capacity touring and adventure motorcycles in future.
“Riders rent motorbikes for more than just touring holidays,” Georgia says.
“For example, if visiting family or friends in Melbourne, they may wish to have a bike to get around the city during their time here. Alternatively they may choose to take a day trip to Brighton and ride the coastal roads.
“For these activities low capacity motorbikes may suffice, especially if it keeps the costs down. We also want to cater for a local market that may not be ready for the cost of buying their own motorcycle but still like to get out and ride occasionally.”
Carbon neutral
And in a move that will enthuse Melbourne’s inner-city hipsters even more, they say all bikes are carbon neutral.
No, they’re not electric!
“It means we offset all carbon emissions made as a business (this included office costs as well as the emissions made from the rentals themselves),” Georgia says.
“We do this by opting into programs which invest in carbon reducing projects e.g. planting trees.”
Oxford Street Garage has a drop-off and pick-up system so renters don’t have to visit their shop.
They also don’t have a limit on the number of kilometres you travel. Although we can’t see you going too far in a day on these bikes!
Something I always respected about Ducati’s Scrambler lineup was the sheer amount of variations they provided us with: Cafe Racer, Desert Sled, and Full Throttle to name a few. It looks like BMW is gearing up for a napalm war with the Ducati clan by revealing their new amazing and highly customizable R nineT lie-up with four new variations from the factory for 2021.
The editions include the Urban G/S, the Scrambler, the Pure, and of course the standard for you suit-and-tie boring guys. All of the editions are still built on the R nineT platform featuring a flat-twin engine producing 109 horsepower @ 7.25k rpm and 85.9 lb-ft of torque @ 6k rpm.
The 2021 model doesn’t just bring visual changes though, due to Euro 5-compliance we lost 1 whole horsepower from the 110 of last year, but BMW said they remedied that huge loss of power (funny, right?) with new power curves due to the tune and new engine configuration which should produce far more power between 4000 and 6000 rpm.
USB charging sockets, LED headlights and indicators, shock preload adjustment, ABS Pro, Dynamic Brake Control, new instrument cluster, and a rain riding mode to use in addition to the standard mode.
I’m going to say it… I think the Speed Twin is a little bit understyled. Now I’m not obsessed with radical bikes or anything, but for a motorcycle that’s going to run you around $12,500 all in; it just looks as though it’s missing… something.
I’m a huge Triumph stan, I’m buying a Street Triple RS come spring next year so I have nothing against the brand itself, but there’s no problem with adding a few more spices to a boring dish, right?
The kit should come with all the parts to make your cafe dreams become a reality: front fender and fairing, a new seat, exhaust, black swing-arm cover, a couple blacked out accent pieces, and a paint-matched belly pan to complete the look.
The slider on their website is a neat little tool you can use to really see the difference the kit will make between stock and final product, so be sure to check that out if this is a product that interests you.
Their website doesn’t currently state any information regarding pricing or release, but it’s safe to assume that the kit will be costly with the sheer number of parts they will be providing customers with to swap out. Hopefully, they allow you to buy individual pieces of the kit in the event you just want the belly-pan to give your Speed Twin a more aggressive and lower look but for now, we can only hope for the best.
Harley-Davidson is expected to have several variants of its new Bronx range later this year including a naked streetfighter, a street tracker and a cafe racer.
So far, the company has only revealed the streetfighter version.
Bronx Streetfighter
More variants
However, trademark drawings support a street tracker version and images from an internal presentation to investors also suggest a cafe racer.
When the company unveiled its new water-cooled “midweight” platform in November, it included the company’s first adventure bike, the 145hp Pan America, and the 115hp Bronx Streetfighter.
Harley Revolution Max platform includes Pan America and Bronx Streetfighter
These are expected to be the first of many models to come with “Revolution Max” engines of 500cc, 975cc and 1250cc.
Many would consider the 975 and 1250 as big displacements, but Harley calls them midweight which they are in Harley terms as their current engines range from 500cc to over 1900cc.
When they introduce their bareknuckle 115hp/94Nm Bronx Streetfighter later this year, it may be joined by variants in various engines sizes.
Apart from a cafe racer and a street tracker, there could also be a sportsbike, according to this image from Japanese magazine Young Machine.
(Image: Young Machine)
Harley Sportsbike?
While we can see the cafe racer and tracker markets doing well, we wonder about Harley returning to making a sportsbike like its 1994 VR1000.
VR1000
It wouldn’t be too much of a stretch to give the Bronx a half fairing and extended belly pan as in the latest artist’s rendering.
VisorDown points out that a similar image is featured in the background of this photo from the Harley design house when the Bareknuckle was in its clay model stage.
Bronx clay model wth small sportsbike image indicated (Image: Visordown)
But the question is why would Harley return to sportsbikes after axing its Buell brand and selling MV Agusta in the wake of the GFC?
Sportsbike sales have been declining in sales in recent years, although super-hi-tech models have had a slight recovery.
Of course, all this speculation about new models rests on the ability of the company to survive pandemic and the change of boss and board.
Suzuki has lodged patents drawings that suggest a retro cafe racer model with a trellis frame and single-cylinder engine to catch up with other manufacturers plundering this lucrative sector.
While most manufacturers have retro models such as cafe racers and scramblers, Suzuki only has the reincarnated Katana and the lovely, but too-small TU250X.
Customiser have mainly used old GS Suzuki models to create retro cafe racers. Maybe Suzuki has been watching and now plans to follow their lead.
Retro cafe racer drawings
The patent drawings show a very basic motorcycle with a trellis frame that would make it much easier to customise which many retro buyers seem to do.
On top is very short seat and no tail which would obviously never make it to market. Let’s just say it’s unfinished, but certainly a target that some customisers would aim for.
The tank looks very neo-classic with its knee indents and retro lines with a flattish top.
It seems to have a nice short wheel base, steep rake in the forks and rearset footpegs, indicating a cafe racer stance.
There are no handlebars yet, but we would assume it would take clip-ons.
The compact engine is a single-cylinder unit. The patent description talks about “a crankcase, a cylinder and a cylinder head”.
Perhaps it would be around 400cc, vying for that novice market that wants a good balance in a light bike with moderate power.
So it’s not a high-powered cafe racer as the single disc on the front would also suggest.
Of particular interest is the header pipe which curls around before heading down the right side, probably ending at a stubby muffler since it is not visible beyond the engine.
New to Suzuki is the triangular swingarm. It looks quite bulky and sturdy for a bike that looks to be fairly light.
The rear suspension is not visible, so we suspect it is a lateral single shock tucked up behind the engine.
But don;’t get too excited yet.
Patent drawings don’t necessarily end up being complete new models.
It might simply be an exercise in securing the patent some of these elements.
Would you like Suzuki to produce a retro cafe racer? Leave your comments below.
Melbourne rider Dennis Savic, 26, spent more than 650 hours designing and building the prototype.
The three Cafe Racer production versions will be made in Melbourne and Taiwan. They will be available in 2020.
Alpha 60kW, from $20,000;
Delta 40kW, from $15,000; and
Omega 20kW, from $12,000.
Each model comes with several battery pack options. The largest offered in the Alpha will provide range of up to 250km, while the smallest option in the Omega will have 50km range.
Like all electric vehicles, peak torque is instantaneous and Dennis says his bike will accelerate from 0-100km in four seconds.
Customers will be able choose a range of options in brakes, suspension, wheels, tyres and three colours – Spectre, Stealth, and Rustic.
Aftermarket upgrades will also be offered.
Savic says it’s a ‘dream come true’
Dennis Savic on a Magelli converted to electric in 2016
This is a bit of a dream come true.
When I was 14, I decided I wanted to design and build my own vehicles one day. So I did my engineering degree and when I graduated about three years ago I got stuck into it. It’s been a long time coming.
These motorcycles are a unique offering with the most advanced features and functionality that the materials, engineering, electronic controls, electrical technology and 3D printing can offer today.
We have created a unique design featuring a perfectly rolled (not bent) backbone frame and developed our own powertrain package.
Our 5-10 production prototypes will start manufacture in the coming months. They feature a fully integrated, stressed, liquid-cooled, motor and energy storage system.
Depending on the model and battery pack a customer selects, a single charge can provide up to 11kWh. That costs only $3 as opposed to $15 for a petrol bike to travel 250km.
We will focus on sales and production first in Australia, then take the offering to international markets.
Our aim is to close our second round of private equity funding by February 2019.
We are accepting inquiries for our 10 C-FE (founder edition) models for 2019 and I already have a number of inquiries about the production run of about 50-100 for 2020.
Tough market
Every week we hear of a new electric motorcycle or company from traditional motorcycle companies and newcomers like Savic Motorcycles.
We wish Dennis the best of luck, but he is up against some tough hurdles in Australia:
However, it’s great to see a young Aussie engineer getting in early and developing a homegrown product.
Dennis has promised to stay in touch with Motorbike Writer during the process toward production.
Norton has unveiled a surprise with not one, but two Atlas 650cc models – the cafe racer Nomad and the Ranger scrambler.
The bikes go on sale as early as this weekend in the UK for £9995 (Nomad) and £11,995 (Ranger).
There is no word of export schedules or overseas pricing yet.
Since the Norton Commando 961 starts at £15,995 in the UK and $A29,990 in Australia, we can expect the pricing to be just under $20,000 for the Nomad and just over for the Ranger.
Atals Ranger
Atlas Nomad
All Nortons are handmade in the UK and these will only be available in small numbers in the UK. So it might be some time before they are exported in significant volumes.
They draw inspiration from Norton’s original 750cc Atlas of the 1960s.
Both new Atlas models are powered by a 650cc twin engine. It is basically half of the 1200cc V4 they are working on for their flagship V4 model expected to be released next year.
Norton V4 RR
The liquid-cooled, parallel twin engine in the Atlas models has a 270-degree firing order like the new Triumph Bonnevilles.
It has 62kW of power at 11,000 revs and 64Nm of torque.
In cafe racer form, the Nomad features an 18-inch front wheel, 180mm rear tyre, wire wheels, straight bars, suede and vinyl bench seat, single headlight and twin pod instruments.
The scrambleresque Ranger has a 19-inch front wheel, high front guard, 50mm higher suspension, a 43mm higher seat (867mm), sport screen, headlight protection and dual-sport tyres.
Both come in a choice of grey, light blue, maroon, black or white.
Norton Atlas Ranger
Engine: Norton Designed 650cc parallel twin. 270 degree firing order. Chain driven double overhead cams with idler gear.
Wheels: 19-inch front spoke wheel with Titanium coloured aluminium rim and 120/70 R19 Avon Trekrider tyre; 17-inch rear spoke wheel with Titanium coloured aluminium rim and 170/60 R17 Avon Trekrider tyre.
Bodywork: High mudguard, brushed aluminium rear panels.
Wheels: 18-inch front spoke wheel with polished aluminium rim and 110/80 R18 Avon Trekrider tyre; 17-inch rear spoke wheel with polished aluminium rim and 180/55 R17 Avon Trekrider tyre.
Bodywork: Aluminium polished low front mudguard. Polished aluminium rear panels.
Seat height: 824mm
Brakes: 2 x 320mm full floating Brembo discs. Radially mounted twin Brembo monoblock callipers with ABS. Brembo master cylinder; single 245mm Brembo disc. Brembo twin piston rear calliper with ABS. Brembo master cylinder.
Suspension: 50mm diameter Roadholder USD forks. Preload, compression and rebound adjustable. 150mm wheel travel; Roadholder monoshock with rising rate linkage and piggyback reservoir. Adjustable preload. 150mm wheel travel.
Harley-Davidson tracker trademark drawing 
Harley-Davidson cafe racer 
Harley-Davidson tracker
Harley Revolution Max platform includes Pan America and Bronx Streetfighter
(Image: Young Machine) 
VR1000 
Bronx clay model wth small sportsbike image indicated (Image: Visordown)
