While going through some pictures I found some from a day trip I made some months ago. It was a Saturday and my mate Andy and me visited what is probably the most famous Cafe/Bar/Pub for motorcyclists in the UK. It was the first time I went to the “Ace Cafe” – (link to the official site).
I had planned to meet Andy there but as my knowledge of London roads is pretty poor we decided to meet on the way, on a Esso petrol station. After some calls we met and off we went!
I had a slightly different idea about the place. I thought it was a preety cold, obscure place where tattoed and black leathered petrolheads gathered every weekend… It is far from that. I found a quite modern 2 floors building, with a clean and lively interior. The Ace Cafe gave birth to the concept “cafe racer”; any classic motorbike enthusiast will know what a cafe racer is. A cafe racer is, in short, a motorbike changed from original specifications to get most of it in terms of speed instead of comfort. I would reccomend you to have a look to Wikipedia’s definition.
The Cafe hosts loads of events around the year, both for car and bike enthusiasts. Most of events consist in a group or owners of a certain model or brand of machine getting together for an evening, day, ride out, dinner, etc. Many of them gathers large crowds which include a lot of noice, “cool” riders and mini races that touches legal boundaries…
We found the place full of people but still we managed to find some chairs on a table. The decoration is a bit “rock and roll” style, with the waitresses nicely dressed and “finish line flag” patterns all around. On the walls you can read about the events, their food menu, old machines advertisements, vintage photos, …
As I said I thought I was going to encounter more Rockers in leathers, but it ended being full of “synthethic” guys (lol) with F650’s and Yamaha R1’s. Andy came in his monkeybike Suzuki DR650, and I showed up with my oldie, which got the looks SHE deserved. 🙂
Engines, Carrots & Happiness 