1978 Honda CX500 Cafe Build

[Steve F]

Looks great, just dont ride on sunny days

Cheers
Steve

 

[downtown809]

You have a point there Steve, I might need to get a magnetic tank bag just to cover the top.. 8)

 

[downtown809]

I got the tank bolted on, the seat is just sitting there as that is the next project but I had to push it outside to get a photo. In the 3 minutes we were out there I was asked what year it was and how much I was selling it for..

 

[downtown809]

And the right side..

 

[trek97]

that thing is sweet.

 

[HerrDeacon]

Tank is stunning.

 

[Killman77]

Love it. Totally.

 

[YogiBear]

The tank is gorgeous

 

[MotorbikeBruno]

That's sick man. Came out great.

 

[downtown809]

thanks for the input gentlemen, now to get the seat mounted..

 

[Pattheswede]

That project came out that nice. Clean lines and the tank looking really good!!
Fantastic job you have done on this bike!

 

[Hoosier Daddy]

Never wanted to spend the extra coin for a dent free tank before but DAMN that came out nice! Good call on the nickle over chrome.... mucho pretty! 8)

 

[downtown809]

Thanks again guys. I didn't set out with this in mind it just progressed. I needed another tank as it looked like a tree fell on the old one. I scored this one at the wrecking yard for $60 then spent $45 to have the dent guy bring out one very minor dent. The wife then pointed me in the raw tank direction which led to the plating. The tank needs to be very close to perfect to pull this off which I lucked into.
You guys comment positively and I look at your projects to find days spent hand building tanks out of sheet metal and glass, now there is some guts..
Build on my friends, Peter.

 

[Tolka]

Looks very nice 8)
You need to wear sunglasses when you ride it and it must be dry weather also or your back and under seat will be dirty..
I have both fenders but still was all covered in mud then I came to some clay and sand road after rain.. even helmet was dirty And your rear fender is missing..
Where you will put your battery?
Too bad you made 1 exhaust.. CX bikes have their unique sound, in Germany they call them Güllepumpe - mud pump

 

[downtown809]

Hey Tolka, thanks for the feedback. The battery is going under the engine where the H-pipe was. I am of the mind that naturally aspirated engines shouldn't be singled out so the 2 to 1 exhaust. I have a fender that will go on after the seat gets mounted but I was wanting to get a picture with the new tank so this picture is an in progress shoot, stay tuned, Peter..

 

[AlphaDogChoppers]

I am of the mind that naturally aspirated engines shouldn't be singled out so the 2 to 1 exhaust.

I am totally with you on that one. Four stroke engines benefit significantly from the mutual scavenging energy of all cylinders going into a single collector.

 

[pr design]

That is like jewelery

 

[downtown809]

Thanks guys, bling for the bike, I like it..

 

[downtown809]

if you are contemplating on a build of your own with one of these bikes make sure the donor bike has had a triple bypass as these are required past 25K miles and are expensive. You are looking for 3 punch marks on the engine by the vin number.

 

[AlphaDogChoppers]

That is really good info.
I didn't know about the "triple bypass." I DID pull the engine from the CX500 I am working on and replaced the stator. I thought maybe I should replace the mechanical seal, but didn't. No evidence of a problem with it. I suspect that the engine in this bike is not the original engine. Don't know if the frame# and engine# should match. (They don't.) The engine has some numbers written on the bottom with permanent marker, as if they are salvage yard tracking numbers.