1978 Honda CX500 Cafe Build

[downtown809]

This is my first posting here and my first venture into working on motorcycles. I have built and rebuilt many cars and pickups but due to my current garage situation and a accident with a car I am confined to working on bikes. I caught the bug a few weeks ago when I stumbled upon a listing on Craigs List for a 1978 CX500 for $300. I googled it and saw a cafe build and I was hooked. I am now in the process of putting the bike together but have plenty of pictures so the first two will be the bike as loaded on the trailer and as it is today. Peter

 

[downtown809]

As loaded on trailer to come home..

 

[AlphaDogChoppers]

That is a fairly rare (and quite cool,) bike.

It's biggest flaw is the charging system. Stator failures are common, and you have to drop the engine from the frame and split the cases to change it. :-/

 

[downtown809]

Thanks AlphaDogChoppers, and the stators are 2 hundred bucks but the engine comes out fast now..

 

[downtown809]

So in the beginning there was the tear down, which lasted a couple hours. Things discarded and later regretted, the seat as I would have built my own had I the seat pan as a guide and the rear brake switch, where did that thing mount to anyway?

 

[downtown809]

So off to the car wash we go and after arriving home I hacked the frame off where it started to bend out and had a buddy weld the ends on then to painting. As this is my first build and I am cheap I am painting it with rattle cans, first a rust inhibitor then semi gloss black.

I painted the Comstars, bought Dunlop K70 and had them mounted at the local Honda dealer.

 

[downtown809]

Back home with the wheels going back together. This photo takes me back to when I was a kid. We would mess with our bicycles, turning them over onto the seat and bars and crank the pedal to see how fast the wheel would spin..

I needed another tank as mine was too badly dented. Scoured one at the local wrecking yard and striped it with airline stripper. Then sanded it with 220 on my orbital. My wife spotted it and stated that I was not to put paint on it, it was to be polished.

 

[downtown809]

Right side up with an old shock to keep the tire correct.

 

[downtown809]

I bought a pair of Sportster shocks to bring it down, lowered it on the tree until the shocks almost ran into the bars and called it good for the day.

 

[downtown809]

With raw tank on putting controls on bars.

 

[downtown809]

Now polished. I have some Por15 product that is suggested by another member but have not coated it as to date.

 

[downtown809]

Engine back in. The center stand isn't going to stay so it will not be painted. I don't know if I like the rear fender or not. I am waiting for the seat to arrive before I make any final decision though.

 

[downtown809]

Rear shot of fender before I cut it short.

 

[FGKouki]

Wow this is going to be rad! Great start.

 

[downtown809]

Thanks for the comments..
Today this is where I am at. Working on wiring, it does crank over when I push the button so there is hope it will run when I get the exhaust on and gas into that tank.

 

[Steve F]

Looks good, interested to see ho wthe tank goes staying raw like that, I've seen some attempts but the clear coat either yellows or rust develops

Cheers
Steve

 

[downtown809]

Thanks Steve, If it goes bad I figure I can always go back to paint. Nice bike you have there, cheers..

 

[deepwaterimports]

awesome looking bike love the tank mate.

 

[FGKouki]

Glisten pc works well if that's what you're planning to use. There are also some marine grade products out there

 

[teazer]

Get the tank chrome plated if you like that polished look or nickel plated for a more vintage look that's not quite as shiny.

Why is the back end so low though? May be an optical illusion of course but the frame geometry looks all wrong at the moment. Bikes generally don't work as well if they are lowered and def don't handle well if the back end is too low. Just sayin'