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Today's Honda CX500 featured build is titled "CX500R" and came out of Brick House Builds in Missouri.
The colour scheme is a hint towards what inspired the build - the infamous Honda ATC 250R three-wheelers of the 80s. Plenty has been done to the bike - not least of which is the monoshock conversion, utilising a Kawasaki ZX-6R shock (eBay US, eBay CA, eBay UK, eBay AU) with custom-built mounts top and bottom.
The seat is a Biltwell unit (eBay US, eBay CA, eBay UK, eBay AU) mounted to a custom subframe that does duty as a seat mount, a brace for the upper shock mount and a rear fuel tank mount. The stock Keihin carbs have Uni-pod filters on them (eBay US, eBay CA, eBay UK, eBay AU) and the battery is hidden away out of sight in a fabricated tray. The electronics are stashed underneath the tank, including the keyswitch:
The builder, BJ English, has been riding since he was six when his dad got him a used Z50 and in the last couple of years he has turned his passion for modifying motorcycles into his full-time career. The CX500R started out life as a shop bike before it was sold, now residing somewhere in Dallas. The CX500R took him a couple of months to complete, which is about usual for his builds depending on the amount of custom fabrication he does.
BJ says that the most challenging thing about the CX500R build was hiding everything, as he found that the guts of the bike were very exposed. He had to keep things simple and well organised in order to fit them neatly where they needed to go out of sight.
His advice for anyone wanting to build their own CX? "Just go for it - don't let your skills limit you on what you want as you just have to keep working and refining until you achieve what is in your head. Pushing yourself will make you learn and improve."
When asked what the CX500R rides like, BJ says it's pure fun - "The sound makes you feel like you are in a race and the world will come to an end if you don't give it more throttle." It's not surprising that it's fun when BJ claims approx. 370lb (168kg) bike weight with a half tank of fuel!
For more featured builds to inspire you, check out the rest of the CX500 Master Build List.
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