honda

Trick little 1974 honda cb 200t

Mike Soteros Sends these in. Continuing proof that you don’t need big bucks to build cool bikes.

UPDATE: The Latest from Travis at Iron Spade Cycles in TX

A fw folks were asking in the comments about the location of Iron Spade Cycles. I found this on a forum:

Hey guys, my name is Travis and I am the sole owner of Iron Spade Cycles here in Port Lavaca TX. I specialize in building cafe racers, street trackers and drag bikes from vintage British and Japanese makes. I tend to build only the bikes I would ride personally so I feel I’ve done most of my clients justice in building the perfect example of their expectations.

Travis Lawson (who’s bikes have been on these pages before) sends in his latest build! Outstanding!

Steve, here are a few pictures I took this morning about a half hour before my client came to pick up his bike. It’s a 1973 Honda CB350F with 5800 original miles on the clocks. It was in pretty rough shape when I started the project back around Christmas of last year, but the end result was worth the wait. Damn near every part on this bike has been touched in some way to make it better. A laundry list of parts were stripped, powder coated and or painted while others were polished or replaced. Rough estimates of weight saved from parts cut off or omitted is about 55lbs. If it wasn’t absolutely necessary to make the bike run, it was removed to save weight. The engine was left basically stock other than the hand made exhaust canister, the Dyna-S ignition and the pod air cleaners. We did bump up the jetting for the increased airflow but that is about it. I know these little bikes can go 100K miles with regular maintenance but any major mods would only hurt the longevity so we stripped her of excess weight instead. Just this morning I stretched her legs and ran up to 105 MPH before shutting her down to take these pictures. Pretty impressive considering I’m 6’2″ and 260lbs. My client is a bit younger, 75 lbs lighter and in much better shape than I am, he should have a ball riding her around the coastal area where he lives.

Anyway I just thought you’d enjoy these pictures. Now I’m back to focusing on another client’s cafe project, a 1979 Kawasaki KZ650 with a Wiseco 810cc big bore kit. Those pictures will be in a few weeks. Talk soon Travis

From the “things you don’t see every day” department. A stretched and blinged 1969 Honda Trail 90!

David Shupe writes in with this truly unique Honda.

My 1969 Honda Trail 90 custom. stretched 12″, Raked forks, Hand made pegs, center bar (1/2 aluminum plate & 1/4 brass plate) and stainless sissy bar. Custom gray flake powder coat paint. 72 spoke rims and 140cc Pitster pro engine! Feel free to use all photos as you wish, Dave Shupe. Bellingham Wa. USA

If I was (a lot) lighter I’d be all over these small customs. Cool, easy to ride, affordable and unique. I mean who wouldn’t want a trail 90 with a velocity stack!!

A nice assortment from a regular contributor.

Brian Mannon sends in a few more from the Ralley on the River in Ironton

A couple 750 Fours…

A nice M109R with a killer paint job..

Hardtail Evo XL w/ Inverted Forks…

A leaky old Pan/Shovel…

Wow! Quasimoto! A very appropriate name!

Richard Hinely sent this in a while back and I misplaced it in the e-mail explosion I’ve been getting lately. Really unusual and interesting idea. I imagine the geometry is anything but textbook but I have to admit that it looks cool as hell (to me anyway). I bet you could do some CRAZY stoppies!

Richard writes in:
Here are a few shots of my take on a cafe/supermoto hybrid. It’s a 2000 Honda XR650R with a 2004 or so CBR600RR front end. Handles a bit odd with too much rear wheel travel for really fast cornering, but still hauls booty! It jumped off my trailer on I-75 outside Atlanta and destroyed the front end, so it is now undergoing a conversion to full supermoto with a stock XR front end. Love your website, by the way!

Cool stuff. Thanks Richard and sorry for the holdup in posting it.

UPDATE: I love the title of the e-mail I got on this one.. “1967 Cl160, with new happy and special parts installed… to create… happiness.”

UPDATE: Jeremy sent a link to some good pics of the bike through various stages of the build. Good Stuff! Thanks Jeremy

Excellent! Jeremy Jackson sent in the progress pics of this cool scoot and it reminds me that I haven’t done enough good posts on “budget build” bikes lately.

Jeremy write in:
Hi, I read your blog all the time and I have sent a few progress reports on my bike. Well, I just keep trying….. Anyways, here is my bike with a new seat and some gaiters on it. It’s a 67 CL160, made from junk, and everything including the seat, header and rearsets is scratch built – mostly in my gravel driveway. Just need some barends so I can get rid of the ugly mirrors I tossed on to ride it. I still have an online album starting with a pic of the 50.00 basket case I started with. Thanks for looking, keep up the good work.

Looking good Jeremy! And send me the link to your build album so I can ad it to the post!
Thanks!

Reader Rides! A classic Honda and Yamaha medley..

Nice collection from Mr. Tony McGuire

Hi there, heres a few pics of my 70s Hondas, im normally a 2stroke man but I seem to have a weird passion for 70’s Hondas too!
Regards, Tony McGuire, East Yorkshire, UK.

Ive also included a pic of my daily rider, Yamaha RD400 period special.

My most viewed older post. What is it about this CB250 Cafe that you guy like so much?

I check my site stats every so often to see what the trends and such are and for a year or so now this is always THE bike that is the most viewed… and often by a comfortable margin. I suppose that there are some message boards out there that are linking all over it. Vincents, Broughs, Ducatis, Brittens… all fall behind to this admittedly cool little rocket ship that trumps them all! Well here she is again! Enjoy and thanks again for stopping by!