A little while back, some builders began to take another look at the CX500 and decided it might make a compact and good looking cafe racer. So out came the tools and, well, once one guy does it, everyone jumps in and begins hacking away, but sometimes a builder comes along and spends a little more time thinking the process through before starting and what you get is something like this, by BBCR Engineering.
Everything ties together, nothing looks like it was an afterthought. Who knew something like this was hiding in plain sight, all it takes is a CX500 and a little imagination followed by a whole lot of work and the work done on this bike is extensive, here’s a list of what was done, just to the front end:
Front end:
-2014 Yamaha R6 inverted forks with 5 spoke oem wheel,calipers and rotors.
-Hand made Stainless front fender and mounts. I had the stainless mounts torched to bring the beautiful gold color out to match the forks and caliper.
-CNC aluminum headlight mounts that hold a bikemaster LED H4 head light.
-Custom cnc aluminum stem to fit the cx500 frame.
-Custom aluminum stoppers in the lower triple.
-Tire- New Michelin Pilot Power 120/70-17.
-CNC aluminum clip-ons
-All Yamaha R6 controls with a Ducati floating brake reservoir.
-Custom top triple made to take the Cognito Moto GPS speedometer.Also incorporated are the Neutral and Oil pressure lights.
-Push button start incorporated into the stem of the triples.
-CNC brake and clutch levers
Lots and lots of handmade aluminum parts plus a handmade fiberglass tail and handmade seat and upholstery. There’s also the full stainless steel exhaust system with a collector box and 2 muffler openings built specifically for this bike.
The number of hours put into this bike, the quality of the workmanship, the attention to detail, it all adds up to a serious effort from a builder that we should, and probably will, be seeing a lot more of. He’s been working his way through quite a few previous builds and he’s obviously learned a lot along the way.
Of course to build one of these, you need an old Honda to start with. I think the price of clean CX500s just went up.
This 1980 Honda CX500 Cafe Racer was for sale on eBay, but the sale has ended.
Robert Weaver says
a work of art!