A Library of Custom Motorcycles at your Fingertips
Mike Seate
Quite often we at CRM HQ hear from readers who are attempting to track down articles from past issue of the magazine. Many times, these inquiries stem from folks either considering taking on new project bikes, or active motorcycle builder researching information of the bikes currently under construction in their garages.
Unfortunately, we often have to explain to these information seekers that the stories we’ve run in Cafe Racer pertaining to individual motorcycle makes and models were published in magazine issues that have long since sold out. This led to a discussion among our team about how best to get these slices of information to the readers who seek them and our digital team came up with a brilliant solution: we’d take the time and effort to create a comprehensive digital archive of every page of every issue of Cafe Racer magazine. and make that available to our readers.
This was no simple task: to date, we’ve published some 106 bi-monthly issues of Cafe Racer, starting with the initial quartet of digest-sized, full-color mini-mages that became available way back in the summer of 2008. By the following year, we’d started to attract big name advertisers and Cafe Racer had quickly become one of the top-selling motorsports publications around. An unfortunate side-effect of that rapid success was how quickly the issues disappeared: most of the early, 8.5″x11″ magazines sold completely out as our global subscription base expanded along with newsstand sales.
We had an idea during these heady times to ensure the legacy of our fun, fact-filled excursion into magazine publishing in that we’d save a couple of issues of each magazine, regardless of how many times we’ve been asked to sell them ff to customers.
UPC-A SC2
Thanks to this crazy plan, we were able to unearth at least one pristine, un-circulated copy of all Cafe Racer issues, from Summer, 2008’s #1 to the latest copy currently on the newsstands. From there, our team set about painstakingly scanning each page so it would become readable in a clear, high-definition digital format. The vault has been designed for easy access, allowing readers to quickly switch from issue to issue, looking up content that appeals to their particular interests- or the project bikes currently occupying prominent space on their shop benches.
This emans readers who click to join our Back Issues Vault subscription can read the content dating back nearly 19 years, perusing each custom motorcycle feature, every hands-on tech story, global events coverage and everything else we’ve published fromcover to cover.
While preparing the vault, we realized the many dozens of First Ride new motorcycle road test stories we’ve printed which we’ve often heard inquiries about as readers reference these features when contemplating the purchase of a new or used motorcycle. Whatever your reasons for looking into Cafe Racer’s deep catalog of back issues, check out the revamped homepage on www.caferacermag.com and click on the Back Issues Vault and dig into a rich history of one-off motorcycles. It’s been a true labor of love.
