The café racer scene has firmly implanted itself on streets worldwide. What started as a small group of pioneers and expats bringing this uniquely British sensibility to custom bike building to the back streets of cities and towns has grown and matured to become a mainstream style and flavor of biker culture. But despite the fact that major manufacturers like Honda and Moto Guzzi (and obviously Triumph) are now selling out-of-the-box cafes to the masses, a major piece of the original Café Racer ethos has not made it to the current racer scene. Original and true café racers were created out of inexpensive and readily available machines in the UK. On that front, the Cleveland Cyclewerks Ace has all others trumped.
For those not familiar, Cleveland Cyclewerks is an independent motorcycle manufacturer out of, you guessed it, Cleveland, Ohio. They are creating some of the most unique mass-market bikes available today, and the Ace is their latest little barn stormer. While their Misfit has carried the café torch for a while now, the Ace comes to town as more of a “blank canvas” sled that will be any customizer’s dream. Even stock, it is remarkably café-like and ready to sport you and a cute passenger in retro style.
Even if you haven’t heard Cleveland, they’ve been around for years now pumping our fun bikes and engaging in the café community. Also, the motor they use is, for all intents and purposes, a continuation Honda engine so the internal engineering has been tested well over a billion miles and decades of travel. We haven’t ridden the Ace yet (coming soon…) but having spent some saddle time with the excellent Misfit, we fully expect the Ace to a fantastically fun little street fighter perfect for the urban commute and, you guessed it again, racing to the nearest café.