AMAZING ACE

Going back in time, in 2011, to the place that became a legend

- Kartik Ware

A wet motorcycle.

And an even wetter me. I enter the Ace Cafe with the sort of slow-motion veneration normally reserved for cathedrals and the like. I catch a glimpse of a Triton, leaning on its stand in a far corner, but I'm late for my appointment with Mark Wilsmore, owner of the Ace, so I stumble up a flight of stairs, sheepishly leaving a trail of water in my wake. As we meet, I extend a dripping gloved hand and ask, 'How are you?' He looks me up and down while shaking water off his hand and replies, 'Dry!' They forgot to put the stiff upper lip on this guy.

Café racers: A breed of motorcycles that has been giving coffee a bad name since they were invented.

Or at least that's what was ascribed to these elemental machines when they were born. And the Ace Cafe's played such a big role in the birth and rapid proliferation of the café racer, they might as well call them ace cafe racers. Or maybe acers.

The Thruxton, suitably, pushes all the right buttons in my freezing brain. Think 'motorcycle' and isn't that shape what comes to mind? Lovely curves, a round headlamp and a motor that is reminiscent of the old Triumphs. Add to that the white stripes running down the middle and the evocative Triumph badge on the tank and I'm ready to ignore all the coffee in the world. However, the Thruxton looks... a bit too complete. Being built in a factory deprives it of the special stripped-down home-made feel that is intrinsic to café racers.

Nonetheless, the Thruxton looks right at home at the Ace — more so than any motorcycle that's parked there, really... until an old Meridian-made Bonneville rolls in. So much for that. Mark loves the Meridian motors. And it's all too apparent as he sits down next to it gazes at the Bonnie's motor, probably reliving some madness from the past.

What's in a place?