Honda

Reader Ride! Fantastic CB550 Cafe Racer!


Update: I’ve corrected the post title to reflect the fact that this is a 550 and not a 500. Yes I knew that. I tell my daughter that rushing causes errors. I should take my own advice I suppose.

I love builds like this Eric sends in this outstanding garage built CB500 Cafe Racer. His solution to the spoked wheel / modern fork combination is something a lot of folks are looking for.

Eric Writes:

Hi Steve,

I cranked up the res on my camera and snapped some more pics yesterday afternoon; I hope these look a little better. I also included a pic that I took when I first picked it up just to give you an idea of where I started from.

As far as the mods go, I fitted a set of forks from a 2004 GSX-R 600, using a Harley narrow glide wheel which fit surprisingly well between the calipers; it was almost a plug-n-play operation. The rotors are 320mm units from a Hayabusa which required 10mm spacers underneath the calipers. The eBay front end also came complete with clipons & controls so I decided to go ahead and use them; the right control wouldn’t fit with the bar-end mirror so I binned it in favor of a Motion Pro throttle assembly and start/kill switch from an R6.

I cut everything off of the frame just aft of the shock mounts and welded on a hoop made from some old handlebars I had laying around; the battery & other electrics were mounted to the new rear hoop and hidden underneath the bumstop. All unneeded brackets & tabs were shaved from the frame before dropping it off for powdercoating. The rearsets are Tarozzi universals mounted to the passenger peg mounts. The rear wheel is a Harley 3.5×18 rim that I laced to the 550 hub with Buchanan stainless spokes.

I popped the top end off the engine and freshened it up a bit with a set of 59mm pistons and camshaft from a SOHC CB650 for a little extra oomph. Once it was back together, I laid on a few coats of Duplicolor’s engine primer & enamel. For the exhaust, I welded a pair of merged collectors to an old set of 4-2 headers and finished them off with a pair of repro Commando peashooters.

I’m a big fan of the DIY method so I’m fairly proud to say that with the exception of the cylinder machining and powdercoating, everything on the bike was “garage built” by myself.

So that’s probably a little more than you needed (or wanted) to know, but I hope it’s helpful. Let me know if you have any questions or if there’s anything else you need.

Thanks!
Eric

My kinda bike! Much appreciated Eric!

Photoshopped Honda XL650 Raodracer conversion.


I’ve had a thing for big singles lately and this isn’t helping any. If anyone knows the source of this could you please let me know. Thanks!

Turbo CBX


When skinny (35mm) forks and 6 cylinders just isn’t enough. I love the look of the wastegate right before it goes into the manifold.

UPDATE: A pair CX500 Cafe Racers. Now with link to build pics!


The last few CX Honda’s I posted got quite a bit of attention so I thought I’d pass this pair along.  The pictures aren’t the best resolution but I figured a few folks would be interested.  There was no other info with them.  I found them on an obscure thread over on ADV rider.

UPDATE:  I love these boards!  Thanks to Motosapiens in the comments section for  a link to the build pics of the first red CX.  Looks Great! 

Oh and be sure to Check our his blog as well! Some good stuff there! Merci Beaucoup!

Tough little Honda CB450 Cafe.


I love the early model Honda Cafe’s. They just seem to really hit all the right notes and this one is a tough looking little rider which I especially appreciate. Show bikes have their place of course but I like the “patina” of a road grime just fine.

Honda Supercub C90ST.


Joe from Mexico sends in some pictures of this new Honda  C90ST.  At a quick glance, I thought it was a restoration of an early model.  then Joe mentioned the history of the bike.  I didn’t realize that these were being built by Honda in North America!  In my beach community this bike would be fantastic! Why the heck can’t I get one of these at my local Honda dealer here in the US?  No offense to the Vespa “style” scooters but I’d rather have something along these lines for where I live.

Joe Writes:
Hello,
great website! Here’s my 2008 Honda Super Cub C90ST, I bought it new in April, 2008. Built in Kumamoto Japan, assembled from CKD in Guadalajara, México. I learned to ride on it, but rarely ride it anymore, I ride a 2008 Honda NX4 Falcon (400cc version of NX650 Dominator, built in Brazil) now.
-Joe.

 

Thanks Joe!  And if you have pictures of that NX4 Falcon I’d love to see them!