Category Archives: CX500 Cafe Racer Build

CX500 Cafe Racer Project Day 1

 

After the first evening of working on this project I’ve got the back half of the bike somewhat torn apart. I’ve got a solid plan as to where the electronic components will go up under the seat pan.  I’ve been looking at tail lights and I believe I’ve found one I like enough to “settle on” for now.  It’s an all in one LED unit with a license plate mount and led plate lights.

 

     

  The red line in the above photos shows where I plan to cut off the rear seat frame.   I plan to fabricate a new seat mount to weld in place before I make the cut and finish off the end of the upper frame.   The more I toy with the design in my mind the more I feel like I will either scallop the fuel tank at the back, or possibly fabricate a new tank entirely.

 

In other exciting news, I got the ugly factory air box off.  The carbs weren’t drained when she was stored and the fuel varnished inside. They are coming out and apart.  How much of a rebuild I do will be determined after I tear into them and investigate their condition.   The right hand carb has the float stuck down and the fuel comes out at a good clip when she runs.

 

The Start of the Honda CX-500 Cafe Racer project

As it happens, a friend suckered me into this project with an IM link to this page on a 1978 honda cx500 cafe racer build.  We both were very excited by the article at the time.  This was about a month ago, since then I’ve done a great deal of research, reading and a bit of Craigslist hunting.  I finally came across the right bike for my winter build a cafe racer project.  I went and met with the owner, Aaron last night and came home with my project donor bike, 1979 CX-500.   The bike runs well but needs some brake work on the mechanical side.  I’m sure there will be some surprises along the way but for now, I’m really happy with my purchase.

 

Honda CX500 pre Cafe Racer Build       Honda CX500 pre Cafe Racer Build unmodified