KEG RACER. That’s not the official name, but it just rolls off the tongue so well I’ve decided to christen this cafe racer as such. Built by GarageBoss in Prague, Czech Republic, this CZ 175 has a very unique approach to custom bike building.
Towards the end of 2020, the GarageBoss team were invited to Designblok, an annual design festival that takes place in Prague (and has been running since 1999). This time around, the theme was recycling and up-cycling - and the obvious decision was to build a one-off cafe racer.
Bike Exif spoke with team member Jan Štádler to get the low-down on what’s behind this special machine.
“Our garage is the temple of sanity in our lives, which are filled with full-time jobs, families and kids” - I’m sure some of you reading may find sympathy with Jan, here.
“Some of our country’s finest qualities are being very handy craftsmen, and top notch sinkers of the best pints of lager on the globe. So at one very fruitful session at the GarageBoss HQ, we came up with a brilliant idea: let’s find an old beer keg from the same period as a bike, and use it to make a streamlined fairing.”
Yep, that’s right, the Keg-racer was born exactly as you’d expect. Fair play.
A 1970s CZ 175 ‘type 477’ was the donor bike, as the GarageBoss crew had a bit of a nostalgia trip thinking of bikes they had all ridden in their youth. After loads of searching, they found a rusted barn-find, wrecked paint, rusted wheels and chrome - €1000. ‘It’s patina’, I think the seller would have said.
Now, for the keg, a 70s Pivovar Protivín brewery keg, 7mm thick Czechoslovakian aluminium. Guess what? It was a nightmare to cut - the crew managed to get the keg into a front fairing and completed tailpiece, with headlight sunk into the front and three taillights frenched into the tail.
The team took the CZ 175 was taken to the Designblok festival incomplete, and put it all together over the five-day event. Once all assembled, it took home an award!
Wonderful CZ 175 Cafe Racer | GarageBoss
Whilst the cafe racer is stripped back to the necessities (presumably to save weight), Jan says in a comment that the bike still runs, and they left the exhibition floor filling the room with a glorious cloud of blue 2-stroke fumes.
The tank is hand-painted, and a masterpiece in itself. Although the engine and running gear is mostly refurbished stock parts, the sprockets, rims, tyres, and chain are new. Look closer and you’ll spot small details that really take this thing to another level, the little glass bottle reservoir, the engravings on the engine casing, the brass pendants adorning the fairing.
I’m sure we’ve all gone past the local pub on an early Sunday morning and spotted all the kegs outside from the night before, so now we’ve finally found a proper use for them.
Who’s up for an annual Visordown keg-race? We’ll find the tallest hill we can, you get designing your keg racers. It’ll be brilliant.
Check out the full article on the build on BikeExif, and definitely head over to GarageBoss Facebook & Instagram. Photos from Mr Zdichy (via BikeExif)
