Ratty Cafe - CX500 - Now not so Ratty :)

Steve F

Steve F

Been Around the Block
So I bought a cheap CX500 a month ago with the plan of building a Cafe Bike, I like the V twin in these and 500cc with 50hp is pretty good for a bike 30yrs old.

Anyway, the plan is to build a Ratty Cafe with just the essentials changed and then get it plated and pull it down after a month or so of riding to confirm all the mechanical stuff is fine.

So the pics, first as it was when I pulled it off the trailer after it's 600 Mile journey back to my place. That in itself was an adventure, two guys, two dogs an old postal van and the picked of two bikes and a diff for my Jeep 600 miles away.

IMG_1040.sized.jpg


As of tonight, clubman bars are on, new headlight and front indicators done, Acewell gauge on its way from the US and rear shocks replaced with Enfield Bullet gas shocks. In a week or so I start on making the single seat etc. Nothing will get painted or polished until I have plates on it :) Colours will be black and black with some chrome and polished alloy.

Ignore the stock gauges hanging down. I plan to have the whole bike as low and sleek as I can get it to look so the front is going lower than this but will also be firmed up a bit.
IMG_1152.sized.jpg


The gauge that's going on

ace2803-ab.jpg
 
Re: Ratty Cafe - CX500

Looks like you are moving the right direction. I've seen some really nice CXs on this board and motor is unique enough I wouldn't mind adding on to the stable. Have fun with it.
 
Re: Ratty Cafe - CX500

forty4ma9 said:
Looks like you are moving the right direction. I've seen some really nice CXs on this board and motor is unique enough I wouldn't mind adding on to the stable. Have fun with it.
Click to expand...

It's one of those bikes that goes from looking very average to very nice with just a few changes, I think the headlight and bar change makes such a difference especially without that stock fairing thing. Cant wait to get stuck in to the other end, should be a totally differnet bike even in its 'distressed' state ;)

IMG_1175.sized.jpg


IMG_1158.sized.jpg


IMG_1161.sized.jpg


Cheers
Steve
 
Re: Ratty Cafe - CX500

Did some more work on the CX, fixed a lot or wiring, now the headlight doesn't come on with the brake ;) Also pulled the speedo cable and mounted up my Acewell gauge, wiring it tomorrow. Loosened the triple tree and twisted the forks so the handle bars and front wheel both point the same way. Then I stripped the rear end down, was going to make a seat myself but after checking prices and the time it'll take I decided to get a rock city cafe seat, ordering that this week sometime. Also ordered a pair of shorty 17" reverse cone mufflers, a 16 day wait on those. Kinda funny that stuff I've got from the US is around 6 days to get to me and everything local is around 14 days, cant seem to get anything on the day I want it :(

Anyway, as I left it today.

Gauge on but lots of tidying to do to make it look good, you can see it needs some paint and polish as well
IMG_1237.sized.jpg


Rear end stripped, frame will be modified to fit the seat
IMG_1243.sized.jpg


Cheers
Steve
 
Re: Ratty Cafe - CX500

Awesome! Another CX! Looking forward to how this progresses. I am curious how you are going to modify the frame for the seat...my suggestion, utilize the stock seat pan.
 
Re: Ratty Cafe - CX500

GoBears0305 said:
Awesome! Another CX! Looking forward to how this progresses. I am curious how you are going to modify the frame for the seat...my suggestion, utilize the stock seat pan.
Click to expand...

I'm ordering a seat from Roc City Cafe, I'll mod the frame if I need to but looking at lilbeasts I dont think I'll have to much. I'm handy with a welder so not a problem if I need to though ;D

Got the Acewell gauge all wired up. Currently I have the tacho wire wrapped around one of the plug leads for the signal but when I pull it down for paint etc I'll hook it up to the CDI instead. I also need to mount the speedo sensor, I know how I'm going to do it just need to make a small bracket that goes on the bottom of the right front fork.

Anyway, here's a vid of it.

Acwell in action

Cheers
Steve
 
Re: Ratty Cafe - CX500

That's awesome! I'm looking to get that speedo/tach for my bike in the future.

How hard was it to wire up?
 
Re: Ratty Cafe - CX500

Easy to wire it up, the speedo setup is the hardest bit and even that isn't that hard, just not a lot of room to mount the magnet on the tiny front brake compared to a modern bike. Should look neat though. All up it took me 3 hours to get this far and that was sitting there with the multimeter confirming all the wires were the ones the wiring diagram for the CX said they were :)

Cheers
Steve
 
Re: Ratty Cafe - CX500

looking good. i plan on using an Acewell gauge as well. sounds like they are easy enough to wire up.
 
Re: Ratty Cafe - CX500

get rid of the roll cage, that thing is hideous!

Otherwise the bike is looking nice, I like the acewell. Id really like to get one myself and I probably will once I get the big projects on my build squared away and I have some funds.
 
Re: Ratty Cafe - CX500

boomshakalaka said:
get rid of the roll cage, that thing is hideous!

Otherwise the bike is looking nice, I like the acewell. Id really like to get one myself and I probably will once I get the big projects on my build squared away and I have some funds.
Click to expand...

Long way to go yet, and yep those crash bars will be going but no harm on leaving them on while I'm working on it.

Cheers
Steve
 
Re: Ratty Cafe - CX500

The bars aren't pretty but keep them on. I had a CX and my nieces were running around and tipped it over. The crash bars saved it from being destroyed. If you are going for a ratty look just have the chrome removed and powder coat them.
 
Re: Ratty Cafe - CX500

Did a little more today while I was home alone for an hour :) Made a basic bracket for the sender for the speedo and took one of the bolts out that mounts the right brake disk and epoxied a magnet to the head of it. I tested it first with just the magnet but I was worried it might fly off so went with the epoxy as well.

IMG_1274.sized.jpg


When I pull the bike down I'll make a better bracket with nicer bends and paint it black to blend it in but this is fine for now.

IMG_1266.sized.jpg


The speedo works great so all is good.

Cheers
Steve
 
Re: Ratty Cafe - CX500

Got my seat from RockCityCafe, took 10 days to Australia so happy with that. The seat is very nice and is great value, saved me a lot of time and hassle.

In the pics the seat is sitting high, I will drill out the spot welds holding the original seat clamps on and then the rear pod will slip over everything and should look nice. I'll bend the rear frame in a mm or two either side but wont cut it, I think the seat may even fit without bending those horns in. Anyway, the pics with the seat propped on for now. Hope to fit it Saturday morning.

IMG_1290.sized.jpg


You can see it sits way to high with the seat clips on there, it clears everything else though.

IMG_1287.sized.jpg


IMG_1288.sized.jpg


I hope to get the new mufflers on Saturday and then I should get to see how it's going to look at least.

Cheers
Steve
 
Re: Ratty Cafe - CX500

I just realized that the CX500 has a similar frame design as the CM400 with the open front and swooping seat area. I've been wrestling with how to handle the seat since the frame isn't flat there, looks like you may have figured it out.

I'll be watching your build closely to see what you figure out. I'd love to see more pics as soon as you get the seat mounted up!
 
Re: Ratty Cafe - CX500

Nice seat, looks like everythings moving along!

One question: what was postage like on the seat? Thinking of ordering one over here for my GS...

Cheers - boingk
 
Re: Ratty Cafe - CX500

boingk said:
Nice seat, looks like everythings moving along!

One question: what was postage like on the seat? Thinking of ordering one over here for my GS...

Cheers - boingk
Click to expand...

Sent you a PM as since prices vary with exchange rate etc I didn't really want to post it up here as no doubt it'll be different almost daily.

Cheers
Steve
 
Re: Ratty Cafe - CX500

Frame modified to allow the seat to fit. To do this I drilled out the welds holding on the seat clips and then slotted the rear of the frame vertically so I could bend the two horns in slightly. I was reluctant to chop them off completley and will probably add a hoop between the two to mount the taillight on.

I also trimmed the rubber off of the top of the tank mount, this is the section the seat rests on, this let me get the front of the seat lower and I'll use the bolt that holds the rear of the tank on to hold the front of the seat down as well. I'll put a metal sleeve through the fibreglass on the seat so there is no direct load from the bolt on it. Much like the sleeve through the tank rubber.

Next I need to make up a simple frame to weld on top of the bike frame in the dip to support the seat base from my heft arse ;)

If you compare to the pics above it's quite a bit lower now and looking pretty good I think.

IMG_1299.sized.jpg


IMG_1303.sized.jpg


Cheers
Steve
 
Re: Ratty Cafe - CX500

Hey Steve
The build is looking great. I am in two minds whether or not i should go the cafe route on my cx or if i should keep it as a daily (i need room to put stuff on it) and look for something else. One thing i was trying to figure was how I might make a set of rear sets for a cx. Do you have any plans in that area?
Cheers
Damo
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

DTT Light or Dark

  • DTT Light
    • www.jadusmotorcycleparts.com
    www.lostapostle.ca/
    www.sparckmoto.com

    Spread the Love

    Back
    Top Bottom