The fifth episode of the new season also finds me, your host, running around New York’s Lower East Side, trying to pin down the technicians from 6th Street Specials so’s I can blag a test ride aboard the Norton Commando project bike that Café Racer magazine’s overworked crew were too busy- OK, we admit it, too unskilled- to tackle for ourselves. The results, and the scary-fast way that 67th Street’s Hugh and Fumi blow off steam on the weekends is a real-eye (and throttle) opener.

We return to Italy’s industrial heart in this edition of Café Racer where Classic Farm Motorcycles’ Fabrizio DiBella gets into the beating heart of his Royal Enfield café racer project.

If you’re curious about the Mod side of the re-emergent Mods and Rockers equation, this episode takes a long, informative look at the history and future of Mods on both sides of the Atlantic. The parka-wearing, soul music-loving Mods have been around nearly as long as- and occupied a similar cultural cache- as café racers, and their story, filmed in part during a Mod gathering at California’s vaunted Peterson Automotive Museum, is worth hearing, even if you think scooters are just overblown hair-dryers!

In Episode Six, we’ll meet one of the classic British motorcycle scene’s true eccentric visionaries. Matt Rambow (yes, that’s his given name!) has been building reproductions of classic Nortons at his Colorado shop for years, and Café Racer TV’s crew catches Matt as he embarks on the most ambitious project yet; he’s setting out to design and build a dozen, identical Norton Commando customs, high-end street machines festooned with the best components the aftermarket can muster. When completed, they’ll sell for more than a garage full of café racers.

Meanwhile, back in Jersey City, Kenny Cummings takes delivery of his hand-welded Seeley racing chassis, a component that the determined roadracer is convinced will shave seconds from his lap times and add precious MPH to his performance. Of course, Kenny, who operates NYC Norton, a restoration and custom shop, has to find time to build his racebike while customers are a-knockin’…

We’ve all seen patch-wearing biker clubs in TV serials like “Sons of Anarchy,” but what do like-minded café racers do when they feel the need to cement bonds of camaraderie? Well, almost 20 years ago, before café racers we’re popular in the states and motorcycle clubs had Facebook pages or reality TVs shows, on the West Coast, dozens joined forces in the Cretins MC. Today, they’re several chapters strong and have helped drive café culture on the west coast. Which in the midst of other M/C’s is no simple feat! We applaud them for their efforts to pave the way and help keep the culture alive and are sure you’ll enjoy their segment!

And don’t put away those English/Italian phrasebooks just yet- this week finds Italy’s Classic Farm Motorcycles revving up its all-aluminum, lightweight and very stylish Royal Enfield Bullet for a road test. The Enfield 500 has been fully redesigned to look like a 1950s café racer while offering loads of modern performance, so this should be a test to remember for British bike fans and Italian motorcycle lovers alike. Ciao!

Our staff had only the purest of intentions when we picked up a slightly rusty-but-complete 1973 Norton Commando project bike at the ginormous swap meet during a recent AMA Vintage Days celebration. Sure, we’d been piling up box after costly box of top-notch aftermarket components to rebuild the groovy old parallel twin, but never seemed to find the time to do so. Enter a road trip from our Pittsburgh-area offices to the well-appointed (if greasy) New York City workshop of Britbike ace Hugh Mackie who graciously, and unexpectedly, accepted the truck bed full of parts and agreed to turn them into one hell of a motorcycle.

Also, Florida’s favorite funky father, Reverend Jim from First Church of the Apehangers gets down and dirty rebuilding his 1970s Honda CB 750 Goldenrod edition dragbike motor, while his neighbors at Florida’s Desmo Pro, turn over their amazing GT 860 café racer to the talented Bostrom brothers for a top speed racetrack test meant to determine whether high-end Italian motorcycles are intended for show or go.

In episode four, you’ll join “Café Racer” on a rare journey to Italy’s industrial heartland, a place where old school craftsmanship and, lucky for us, British motorcycles still live. The builder, nestled in these steep hills, is none other than Fabrizio DiBella, a custom café racer builder and designer who loves the smell, look and sound of British bikes so much his friends have nicknamed him “McDeeb,” which is about as British a label as you’ll hear in these parts. DiBella’s specialty is modern, 500cc Royal Enfield singles, a machine that he rebuilds into amazing replicas of 1950s café classics like BSA’s Gold Star and the Velocette Thruxton.

Back on New York’s gritty, Lower East Side, Hugh Mackie and shop tech Fumi Matsueda begin piecing together the Café Racer Magazine Norton Commando – or more accurately, they attempt to if they could only find enough fresh, new or unmolested parts in those greasy old boxes.

And finally, Reverend Jim’s prayers may be answered if enough divine intervention can be mustered as his Honda CB 750 dragbike meets nine-time drag racing champ, Rickey Gadson on the quarter mile. This is one test that should get everyone from roadrace fans to top speed junkies and street riders cheering as Gadson, a former outlaw street racer, rides a vintage Honda under the speed traps for the first time in 25 years. During the taping at North Georgia Motorsports Park, Gadson admitted to, ahem, borrowing and racing his Mother’s CB 750 back in the day, and this week will reveal whether you can ever separate a rider from the connection they made with their first fast motorbike.

Vroom!

- Mike Seate, coordinating producer