The Many Faces of Motorcycles - Streetfighters

Street fighter: it's a phrase that brings to mind a strong and aggressive presence made for the streets that we unknowingly roam everyday. Yet, despite their recent appearance on the factory floor of many motorcycle manufacturers, street fighter motorcycles didn't first appear there. Back in the 1980's sport bikes came from the manufacturer donned with full fairings galore. But as street bikes such as Suzuki's GSX-R hit the European and American markets like never before, riders were soon coming up with new ways to break the mold such as with the birth of motorcycle stunt riding. It didn't take long before the sport bike made a whole new niche for itself.

With some many people sitting atop high powered motorcycles that just begged to be ridden to the edge, especially when encouraged in motorcycle stunting communities, it became common for these motorcycles to go down. And when they did, riders were faced with the high costs of repairing and replacing exposed plastics and the high tech headlamps that were easily damaged. But with the strong influence of the cafe racer style that had hit Europe, riders in London, Germany and France opted out of throwing down their hard earned cash for replacement parts and just stripped off broken fenders or replaced stock headlamps for more inexpensive ones. What resulted was a more aggressive looking bike that was quick to catch on.

Of course, it's the motorcyclist way to push niches just a little bit further. Many street fighter riders soon were tearing up the streets with custom paint jobs, expensive four-in-one pipes and even custom frames. And when Europe officially solidified the existence of these machines with their own magazine, Streetfighters, in the 90's, there was no way the style was going to disappear.