THE ORIGINAL HYBRID

Tritons — a Triumph motor slotted into a Norton chassis — were popular for a reason …

-  RUSS MURRAY

In the fifties and sixties in England there were the Mods and the Rockers. The mods dressed in clothes influenced by Italian or French fashion and rode Italian Lambretta and Vespa scooters often adorned with numerous lights whilst the rockers wore white T-shirts, jeans and Marlon "The Wild One' Brando styled leather jackets emblazoned with pins and studs, engineering boots and a white scarf wrapped around their neck. For transport they rode BSAs, Nortons and Triumphs.

It was from the Rockers that the café racer was born. They would ride their bikes between the transport cafés that existed along the arterial roads between the English cities on what were then seen as 'track like' roads. At the cafés they would listen to the American music of the times, the likes of Elvis Presley, work on their bikes and arrange runs with other like-minded riders including the 'races' between cafés. There were even jukebox races where the rider would choose a song on the jukebox, jump on his bike in an attempt to complete a designated course before the song finished. And of course the ton-up boys, those who managed the magic 100mph which wasn't that easy back in the late 1950s and early 1960s.

The most notable of these is the Ace Café, originally opened in 1938 to cater for traffic on the then new North Circular Road, London. Being open 24 hours a day resulted in it becoming a meeting place for motorcyclists in the fifties and sixties. 1969 saw the closure of the café only to be reopened in 1997 and is now a regular meeting place for riders and holding regular themed events for both motorbike and classic car owners.