CX500 Custom frame sucks! ideas?

[Hichhkrjo]

I have a 1979 Honda CX500 Custom I'm working on, and the biggest problem I've run into so far is that the frame, instead of being flat across the top, has a downward bend in it. It was just designed that way. I made a cafe seat for it, but when I lay it on the frame there is a huge triangular gap where the frame bends downward. I can't weld, so I'm thinking to fix the problem I'll hire a someone who can, and get them to add to the frame till it's flattened out. Anyone else have any better ideas? I've looked at other CX builds on here and no one seems to have addressed this problem yet. Maybe it's not even a big deal, I dunno.
Any ideas would be much appreciated!
Cheers!

 

[hillsy]

Apart from cutting off the rear subframe and re-welding a new one, you could build some "sides" on your seatpan to follow the contour of the existing frame.


This is the biggest problem with the CX and CM frames - they are just not cafe friendly.

 

[Hichhkrjo]

Hmmm..that makes sense too. I still have the original seat, maybe I can figure out a way to attach the one I made to the old one. Could be genius and save me a bunch of cash. Thanks!

And yeah, definitely not cafe friendly. Live and learn.

 

[chilli]

I had the same problem with the seat I made for my sr250, not cafe but my first attempt had a flat base and i had the same probs. No welding for me either. I built a pan with some bend in it with a skirt to cover the rest of the dead space. I'm still also looking into the possibility of trimming the stock seat and foam down for a better fit. You could always chop the oem pan right back to the minimum and then build your cafe seat on to that.

Here's my crappy attempt , the foam is only half the depth of the seat the rest is skirt. I built feet that sit in the frame rails at different heights to get it to sit fairly level.

 

[13thenewblack13]

Embrace the CX


No but really i feel your pain, i have an 82


I think the easiest thing would be to build around it, let the area before the kink be your seat, and cover up the rest with the bump, gas tank seems to be the preferred method.


If you still want to use that seat pan you made, consider adding on a sheet of metal under it and bend it down into a skirt, its only about 2 inches so it shouldn't be that hard. you could do it with a mallet if your lacking the tools as i so often do

 

[Hichhkrjo]

These are all good ideas, thanks everyone!

 

[ScrapMetal]

So what did you end up with?

 

[CUNNINGHAMMER]

I cut the back part of my frame off and bent a U shaped frame rail that I welded in, also relocated the shocks to raise up the rear a bit. I am now working on my seat pan and I'm very pleased with how mine is turning out. I understand if you don't have access to a welder, but if you really want to get rid of that delta where the seat goes, it requires cutting. Let us know what you came up with.