New Guy in North Carolina

Ride/Hike

Ride/Hike

Active Member
Purchased a 1980 CX500 earlier this week to convert to a Cafe Racer. Have not owned a Cafe Racer in the past, but hope to complete the project this year. The previous owner started to convert the bike to a Cafe Racer, but it has been sitting for four years in his garage. Will be looking at Cafe Racer photos on various forums to come up with ideas for this project.

Advice is always welcome!





 
Nice bike, ride/hike. I'm a poet and didn't know it. Welcome to the site. Your Honda has tons of potential. What plans do you have for it so far?
 
Thanks for the Welcome! ;D

This is not everything, but basic plans for the bike after seeing a bike I liked this morning:

Remove rear fender and replace seat or convert existing seat to black single seat Cafe Racer style with rear brake light & small turn signals under seat. Remove existing air box and install two chrome round pod filters. Probably use existing handlebars in above photos and add Napoleon mirrors. Install two into one exhaust. ReJet carbs for new air filters and exhaust system. Replace front turn signals with smaller turn signals. Polish existing aluminum/chrome and paint frame, centerstand, kickstand, & front fender black. Paint fuel tank and side covers yellow, with black checker boards strips. Retain existing wheels, polish aluminum and repaint black. Install new sport style tires for twisty riding. Replace rear drum brake shoes and front disc pads. Rebuild or replace front brake master cylinder. Replace all control cables and front master cylinder hose to caliper. Replace rear shocks and rebuild front fork assemblies.
 
Ride/Hike said:
Purchased a 1980 CX500 earlier this week to convert to a Cafe Racer. Have not owned a Cafe Racer in the past, but hope to complete the project this year. The previous owner started to convert the bike to a Cafe Racer, but it has been sitting for four years in his garage. Will be looking at Cafe Racer photos on various forums to come up with ideas for this project.

Advice is always welcome!





Welcome! Congrats on your purchase to build a cafe bike. I am in the middle of fixing up a GS1100 into a cafe bike. A little big, but that big ole motor looks good. Found a lot of neat parts on the internet. What part of NC are you in? I live in Salisbury.

Click to expand...
 
berk said:
Welcome! Congrats on your purchase to build a cafe bike. I am in the middle of fixing up a GS1100 into a cafe bike. A little big, but that big ole motor looks good. Found a lot of neat parts on the internet. What part of NC are you in? I live in Salisbury.
Click to expand...

Berk,

Live close to the intersection of Rt. 16 & 73, Denver, NC in the SE corner of Lincoln County.

Researching everything needed to buy for the CX500 right now.
 
triumphrider74 said:
Sounds like a good plan. I like those bars. Glad you're keeping them.
Click to expand...

Will start a thread in the Project Cafe section & post progress photos!

Thanks,
 
Ride/Hike said:
Berk,

Live close to the intersection of Rt. 16 & 73, Denver, NC in the SE corner of Lincoln County.

Researching everything needed to buy for the CX500 right now.
Click to expand...

Some of the places I bought parts:

www.fastfromthepast.com - Rear set and fork brace
www.roccitycafe.com - Dunstall Style Alloy Seat
www.cb750.com - Got the coolest gas cap I've ever put my mits on and a taillight.
Steve Carptenter at cb750.com has a lot of honda 750 parts but I bet some of them will fit your bike.
Hope some of this helps. I live about 40 minutes from Denver. We will have to go for a ride sometime when we finish building them up.
 
berk said:
Some of the places I bought parts:

www.fastfromthepast.com - Rear set and fork brace
www.roccitycafe.com - Dunstall Style Alloy Seat
www.cb750.com - Got the coolest gas cap I've ever put my mits on and a taillight.
Steve Carptenter at cb750.com has a lot of honda 750 parts but I bet some of them will fit your bike.
Hope some of this helps. I live about 40 minutes from Denver. We will have to go for a ride sometime when we finish building them up.
Click to expand...

Appreciate the links. Will bookmark & check them out. Waiting on the service manual to arrive in the mail to reassemble the bike partially to be sure it runs OK before taking it completely apart for paint, cleaning, & modification.

Ready to ride any Saturday. Have a Suzuki Vstrom I normally ride until the Cafe Racer is ready:

CX500

SSCN4284.jpg


Trunk mount project on a SV650 with 6061T6 Aluminum

DSCN2683.jpg


DSCN2693.jpg
 
looking forward to keeping up with your build. I just bought a cheap CB400T off of craigslist in Charlotte. I came very close to getting a CX. I will post pics and start my own introduction thread with pictures soon. I live in the Shelby area so I am real close to you. Maybe some of us can meet up and ride this summer.
 
pack7483 said:
looking forward to keeping up with your build. I just bought a cheap CB400T off of craigslist in Charlotte. I came very close to getting a CX. I will post pics and start my own introduction thread with pictures soon. I live in the Shelby area so I am real close to you. Maybe some of us can meet up and ride this summer.
Click to expand...

Just received 2 new programable ignition systems @ $155 each delivered to replace existing CDI system with a spare system, from Czechoslovakia on a group buy with other CX owners. Hope to test run the bike this week before tearing it down to the frame. Going to cut down the original seat pan, install dense foam as Cafe Racer shape, and have a new seat cover made.

Bought my CX500 project from a guy at Charlotte off of Craigslist.

Ride with another guy from Shelby area. He is bringing his SV650 wheels & tires over to my house next week to
change & balance.

Look forward to seeing your CB400T project.

Ride a Vstrom & KLR weekly in the foothills and mountains, weather permitting, and look forward to riding with you too.

Bill
 
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