Where The Rocker Scene Thrives

January 27, 2025 | By Mike Seate

We recently heard from a longtime pal of Cafe Racer magazine, one Hiro Madea of Kobe, Japan. The 45 year-old is a veritable wellspring of energy and ideas in the country’s classic motorcycle and ton-up culture movements and for our February/March issue, he’s contributed some of his unique motorcycle photography to the mix. We first met Hiro a good decade back while he worked as a designer at London’s Lewis Leathers, honing his leathercraft skills while riding his vintage Triumph Bonneville T110 cafe racer to motorcycle meets both far and wide.

Since returning home to Japan a few years back, Hiro has been tirelessly promoting classic and custom bike events including the regular ride-out to the popular MM Cafe seen in these images. His collection of vintage Britbikes has grown to include a couple of early 1960s AJS singles, one of which he rides off-road as a trials bike. There’s also a pristine BSA Gold Star 500 in his stable of machines that are all ridden regularly. His enthusiasm for the older iron makes me feel guilty for spending so much saddle time aboard more modern cafe bikes; if you keep the classic roadworthy, they’ll only prove themselves more reliable, functional and fun than we can imagine.

When he’s not organizing massive burn-ups and cafe meets, Hiro runs his own fashion line Mode By Rockers and manufactures vintage riding gear. We’ve long discussed a journey to check out the cafe racing movement in Japan, a place where riders both young and old are dedicated to maintaining the machines, attitudes and styles that made the original ton-up era so unforgettable. With some of the world’s most strict road use regulations and the importing of parts for vintage British bikes far from cheap, our hats are off to any Japanese rider who chooses to clock their road miles on air-cooled Triumphs, Nortons, BSAs or other Uk rarities.

Hiro is featured in the next issue’s popular Speed Tribe installment that focuses on riders dedicated to keeping the classic and custom motorcycle worlds greased and running- check it out come February 7th.