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Submission from http://santakillerr.tumblr.com/
Found these two gems downtown Chicago on my way to Millennium Park. I’m personally a fan of the red one. Something about its small stature really attracts me to it more than the blue racer.
I’m with you, I’d be happy with either but I’d prefer the red one.
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Saw this custom CB500 on Christopher Titus’s Instagram feed and had to share it.
You can follow Chris on Instagram by searching for “_shutter” or click here if you use statigram
Photoset with 299 notes
I’ve featured Braam’s CX before and follow him on Instagram so when I saw some teaser pics of this CB550 from his brother Louis I was messaging them and asking for pics. BAM!! Here you go…
Over to Louis…
I am a professional accountant by trade and these garage builds are just a creative escape from my corporate day-to-day existence. Based in Nelspruit, South Africa….a small town with no custom biking scene to speak of, but with some of the best mountain roads suitable for riding in our country.
It all started a 2 years ago when I inadvertently spotted the “Wrenchmonkey’s CX500” on a random blog, after a week’s surfing and catching up on the Discovery Channels “Café Racer” series I was smitten, and had to build something. A CX500 was the first build and in conjunction with my brother (designer based in Brazil at the time) we acquired a ’82 CX500 custom and started with no prior experience customising a motorcycle. The internet and online communities are a great help and inspiration and scratching a little even small towns have people that have the required skill and passion to pull of even the most daring build. So on my brothers return from Brazil he used the CX as daily drive and the next project started…….a 1976 CB550f.
The CB was acquired as a failed restoration job from Johannesburg and bought in a few boxes. I had the bike professionally reassembled and in essence had a perfectly restored CB550f in the garage, the bike was indeed very special by all accounts but the emotional attachment just wasn’t the same as with the CB where actual hard labour achieved the result rather than a platinum credit card.
So the transformation began and I took to the rear frame with my mini grinder one weekend 6 months ago, to the absolute disgust of some forum members I should add. Well the transformation began and eventually the shopping list looked like this:
The rear hoop, seatpan and foam was all fabricated in the garage an old upholsterer in town handled the leather work for the seat. On the tank the creative skills of my brother was used as well as some help of some experts in Durban were required on a old CB500 tank sent off for some “big flake” treatment.
The result has indeed been very pleasing and even some of the forum traditionalists are impressed with the transformation. The allure of fabricating something yourself is absolutely amazing, and the “emotional attachment” that was missing with the commissioned restore is back in bucket loads!
Regards,
Louis
Photography by Sven Musica, http://www.svenmusica.co.za/
Photoset with 246 notes
Yesterday you had the pleasure of seeing a stunning CB500 cafe racer built by Carlos from Brazil. Today you are seeing his Brat. When I first saw the pictures I assumed Carlos had a couple of bikes. Only when I started posting them did I realise they are the same bike!
What a brilliant idea! One that I’m sure we’re going to see a lot more of in the future.
“You got the idea now. One bike… two differente “personalities”
Everybody thinks I have two bikes. Same color because of the papers.
On the book, Dr. Jekyll is the good guy (when I ride with my girlfriend - two seats), Mr Hyde… is the bad one.
It started as one seat bike, until my girlfriend started to complain that she was left out from all the fun.
To change the tank and seat, all I need is to loose five bolts that are under the seat (four for the seats and one for the tank).”
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You’ve seen this bike 100’s of times right…well not this actual bike because this is the first time its been given a wide audience…but you’ve seen many just like it right?
Throw a Benelli tank on a CB500 and pretty it up and BAM! you’ve got a darn good cafe racer.
Except Carlos has done something different, something very simple but very different. It’s not the amazing quality of the build or the beautiful leather work or even absolutely nailing the paintwork.
It is something that I can’t believe hasn’t been done before and I believe is going to start a trend. However, you are going to have to wait until tomorrows post to find out what it is. In the meantime enjoy “Mr Hyde” all the way from Brasil.
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Saw this brilliant CB500 on Instagram and asked for pics and … BAM, 10 minutes later they are in my inbox. It looks like a Brat with a Cafe Racer stance. Love those over the top front brakes.
Feast your eyes on this two year project by our Brazilian buddy - Wilson.
Wilson’s blog can be found here
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Photo reblogged from maybetomorrow with 87 notes
Saw this fantastic Honda CB500f on fellow tumblr blog tomorrowmaybetomorrowmaybe and sent them a message asking for the source.
Google Translate helped me work out what has been done to the bike.
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Jimmy came around to the garage the other day so we could go through the options on his CB500 and see what direction he wanted to take. Option A was going to be an all out attempt at the worlds best CB500. It’d have upside down forks, single sided swingarm, big bore engine, flatslides, you name it, it’d have it.
Jimmy spat his can of…
…all over his shirt when he saw the quote.
Bumber, one day we’ll build it.
Ok, so option B was going for the wrenchmonkee type industrial type look but more industrial looking. You know the type of bike, bare metal tank, exhausts with no pipewrap to hide the functional welds, minimalist seat, lose the underseat battery, oil, electrics etc and throw some drag bar, smaller clocks, indicator and lights on and there you have it, coolest damn CB500 in Perth. Might be common on the interweb or in your home town but there isn’t one like it over here.
I’m trying to explain what the bike will look like and it’s not going well…
Me: The tank will be unfinished, just a bit of wet and dry and maybe leave the rust on it.
Jimmy: Rust?!
Me: Yeh, yeh, and we’ll just leave the engine with it’s natural metal patina
Jimmy: You won’t paint it?
Me: Nah, nah, and no pipe wrap on the exhaust either…
Jimmy: Okaaaaaay, not sure if I like that look
Me: Yeh, Yeh, it’s cool, let me show you some pics…
So I open up my tumblr app on my phone and…
What do I see?
I see three pics of bikes built by the New York outfit E3mc
The place was starting to smell like Passiona because when Jimmy saw the pics he spat the rest of his drink out trying to say ”%$#& me, they’re awesome”
So, give Jimmy a hand and tell him which style he should go for Top, Middle or Bottom?
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Source: e3mc
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This stunning CB500 entered the Garage Project’s workshop a few weeks ago to be finished off. Big Al had got the bike this far and was at his limits and couldn’t take it any further.
A call to us and Al decided it was time to finish the damn thing and start riding. The end of February should see us finished and then we’ll do a full photo feature and a ride report before we hand it back.
Must remember to book a track day…
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