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Today's featured build comes Chris Fielding from Brighton in the United Kingdom, and is based around a Honda CX500 Custom. The bike used to belong to his boss who had intended on cafe'ing it and only got as far as stripping it down to the frame. Once Chris saw it he loved the look of the motor and started searching for more information about them, which inevitably led to him purchasing it just after Christmas 2015. Fast forward to about September 2016 and here is the state of it:
Chris has previously worked on rebuilding motorcross bikes and once built a track bike but nothing as in-depth as this build! There aren't many builds which feature a non-standard radiator:
Chris says that fitting this and routing the exhausts around it was the most challenging part of the build - and for those curious the radiator came from a KTM690. He also found the rear end a challenge in terms of finishing it and making a seat to suit the style he was after. His parts list is as follows:
His favourite part was the fabrication involved - cutting and welding the frame/exhausts and making mounting brackets for everything which required it. He also enjoyed the final stage of the build after everything was made and all of the parts had arrived.
Chris' advice for anyone who wanted to make a similar CX custom cafe racer is to cut and shape everything then send it off for painting, and while you're waiting for it to come back spend that time working on the engine and carbs. He said that he ended up wasting a lot of time waiting by getting things done in a less helpful order. He also recommends buying a running, registered bike - he spent a lot of time chasing down parts to get the bike running which were not readily available in the UK.
He describes the exhaust is loud but that it gives a nice burble when you close the throttle, especially when riding through town.
So how does it ride? "Extremely well", says Chris - he was concerned that the suspension modificatiosn would throw out the balance of the bike but he has been so pleased by the results that he has ended up using the bike as his daily ride.
Looking for some more inspiration? Check out the rest of the Honda CX500 custom builds we have found on the CX500 Build List.
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