A video about a part of Motorcycle Culture history in England. If you love vintage motorcycles, cafe racers, or Rocker culture, this is a video to watch
I was one of those weird kids in the class of 1966, down in Mississippi who had clip-ons, rear sets, and bum stop seats on the brain. No one knew what I was talking about. This program you have posted fills in a lot of gaps about the culture that produced these beautiful forms of functional art! Now, an old fart in my early sixties, I finally have the time and resources to be a part of Cafe Racers one more time! Thanks again for providing this great stuff to us! Jim
It's fantastic to know that something started almost 50 years ago is still around and going strong. I'm only 39 and love the Rocker lifestyle here in southern California, its small and exclusive the British influence is definately there. My mates have Nortons, Triumphs and BSA's as well.
I was in the 59 club in early 60's Loved racing up Ali Pally (Alexander Palace ) Ace cafe on North circular never made it to Busy Bee. Worked as pilot in America retired to Pennsylvania
Riding and racing bikes since I was around 12. Unfortunately I wasn't old enough to pass my test until 1981 but still riding a Norton Dominator 99 cafe racer, building an 88 cafe racer. I have a Domiracer Lowboy replica (Halfway through a rebuild), a Yamaha Fzr1000 and a SOHC Honda 750/4, oh, and a Bantam D14/4 trials bike project. I guess it never leaves some of us 😁
what wonderfull memories, I remember sitting on the wall in the churchyard at Hackney Wick when they filmed father Bill ridding in, the filming was for "look at life" shown in the local cinemas, oh happy days of my youth.
I was a rocker in the 60,s.......59 club....Chelsea Bridge....The Busy Bee....The Ace.......there was nothing like it ! Oh and Shakin Stevens at the 59......GREAT DAYS !
I'm 66 now but remember those days like yesterday. I had a '58 BSA A10 SR, and it was my life. If any one is interested in the ace Cafe and the rocker era, look for a film called ' The Leather Boys' starring Rita Tushingham. A bit romantasided but shows the real 'Ton-up Boys'
started going to the 9 in the late sixties,after it closed on a sat night it was all down to chelsea bridge, other places were the ace,the rocker cha,the bee,there were other places l cant remember which were opening and shutting all over (the police often had a hand in it) great times, can still remember lots of us stitting on the padington flyover when it was being built, on a summers night,right near the old padington nick(dock green) still have a guzzi and suzuki
I'm 59 Club Member 007 305. I thought it a good number - James Bond + the fact I rode a Honda CB77 which was 305cc. The 59 Club was a fantastic place & Father Bill one of God's great servants - he helped me through a crisis in my life & I will alw hold him in a favoured place in my heart.
Fab memories of the Ace cafe and Busy Bee, my new 650 Triumph Bonny only cost me £321 from Rex Judd of Edware, i use to race from the Polish War Memorial to the then Hillingdon round about and back
Great video! For a present day sportbike rider it's great to watch where it all came from. I think that everything that he says about the cafe racers, from the difficulty with public opinion to the basic reasons that we ride, apply to riders today.
what a great time who would of though that Father Bill would bring this lot together Proud to have viewed this part of cafe racer history Proud member of the 59 CLUB OLDCAFERACER
"If there's one thing that I like, It's a burn up on my bike, A burn up with a bird up On my bike. When I pass a little scooter I blast 'im wiv me hooter, A burn up on my bike That's what I like." Check out Mike Sarne 'Just For Kicks'. Fun song about rockers from the 60s.
Great video, just the time when I rode a Norton and hung out at Kandy's coffee bar in Cleethorpes. Never got to the Ace cafe when I was young but made it 2 years ago. Old Rockers never die, they just put on a bit of weight...........
I was a member, lived in Orpington , had a bsa tiger club, Royal Enfield crusader sports, 650 bsa road rocket and velo venom 500. Used to go to Chelsea bridge, saltbox cafe at biggin hill, Johnson's cafe at brands hatch. Good old days.
Great Video! I was a rocker from 1966-70. We then became greasers, probably due to the movie "Easy Rider." Whatever the case, we fought with the mods and then the skinheads. The fights were usually nothing more than fist fights. We fought mods at Blackpool, Brighton and Margate. We fought skinheads in Leicester. The first rocker gang I was in was the Kirby Muxloe Rockers in 1968. In 1971 some of us split and formed a greaser gang and called ourselves the Hangmen. Then we became the War Lords.
my dad was a rocker , still got his jacket my daughter wears it , triumph rules , plenty of studs patches , she,s up graded it abit , looks so cool, brian setzer would love it ,
Great stuff, some excellent footage. Apart from the bikes (was that a Norton P11 Ranger being crated up for export?) and the rockers, good to see the original Shadows line-up and a very tasty Princess Margaret. Many thanks.
Today the chap in this video Paul pulled over to talk about my Bike and asking if I still go to the meets at the 59 club. I was at Hertford Hospital getting a blood test. We had a good chinwag about the old days and doing the Iron bridge and attempting to hit the magic ton. Paul sends his best regards to all that remembers him. Due to I’ll health he can’t travel far so can’t make the meet at the Ace on Sunday 27th Feb……
I was a 59-er back in the mid 60's. I knew Father Bill and Father Graham who'm I am still in touch with some 40 years later. I was a bad girl for many years who due to Father Graham's repeated praying for me was saved and found God and became a good Christian. Marian (known as Lady Scratch in the 60's, then known as Miss Whiplash in the 70's-90's). LOL
The wild one with Marlon pretty much gave birth to these boys. Marlon rocking the perfecto leather and riding a British triumph motorcycle. Is what these boys were emulating.
First bike was a Triumph Trident. Love the Cafe Racers . I don't "putt" around on my Harleys, I ride them. Between the two I average 12,000 miles per year. ('92 FLSTC w/ 150,000m+ and my newer '08 FLHTCU) Nothing better than doing a 100m and stopping somewhere for breakfast. Ride Free-Ride Safe! I like ALL motorbikes.
memer 5044 this was our sat night out the celler (windsor) to 59 club (hackney wick) then onto the ace. father bill look down on us from up their and keep us safe.
I'm proud of the Rocker tradition and culture, and i'm an American who owns a Norton and Triumphs. I'll be a proud Ton-up Boy untill i'm too old to ride and my leathers no longer fit me, lol.
@scarcat Spot on.I road a 250 BSA and a 350 AJS and i would rather do 140 on a modern bike than 70 and 80 on the old bikes,they vibrated you to bits and how i ever managed to stop from those speeds i dont know
@A1BSA yep your're right 60's bonnies are great, but you can't ride a 60's bonnie daily. Also no need to mention that today's Bonnevilles T100 aren't worth it AT ALL, while Kawasaki could manage to keep the few twin-engine personnality ("soul" as you named it) specs -torque, sound- that was left to today's regulations with it's W650. Let's say: today's new retro "bonnie's 60's bikes style" award: Kawasaki. We're still waiting for Triumph to wake-up...
I'm just slightly sub-rocker age myself - we got called grebos, and I suppose since we were into the Who and the Stones etc not Holly or Elvis, that puts us on our own part of biker culture's evolutionary tree. PS mods alone didn't go hippy, it was cross-youth cultural. Hence hippy bikers, see Easy Rider:) I just dislike all the posturing, whatever people do - if you like something do it, no need to make other's lives a misery - or indeed your own.
GREAT VID. Nice to see those shots of farver bill, he personally autographed my copy of "CAF'E RACERS " by Mike clay. Please check out my vid...... the SALTBOX CAFE BIGGIN HILL 1963, and retrorockers OLD MOTORBIKES , and SALTBOX DAYS .
@fevkin50 A more innocent age? Most of the Cafe Racers in England were basically England's versions of biker gangs. They were a rough and tumble kind of group. Not at all innocent. Further, at the time, there were no speed limits on British A roads. As a result they pushed their bikes far beyond the limits of what they were designed to so. Today's bikes may be safer and faster, but I'd also say these folks took far more risks making modern bikers the innocent ones.
Grow up. What's that to do with the 59 Club exactly? The 59 club is not a 1% club, it's about brit bikes, brit rocker culutre and the ton-up boy. It's about being with true friends who appriciate both the bike and the rider. It's about being accepted by virtue of who you are, not what you want to be. You want to belong so badly, yet, by that statement you set yourself apart. Don't marginalise yourself, support ALL bikers. Simples.
