What inspired me to build a cafe racer
Back in my uni days in 2017, a close mate and I would constantly send each-other gumtree ads of bikes that were disassembled, in boxes, etc to convince one another to start a project. However, it wasn’t until my mate suggested we go halves in a cheap 1982 Suzuki GSX250 that made us both finally pull the plug. We messaged the guy and to our surprise, the bike was still available. So that weekend we drove around and picked up the bike. The frame was already cut at places we didn’t think were needed to be cut for a cafe racer, but we still persisted with the purchase. In hindsight, what an assortment of oil-baked parts and dodgy wiring….how fun!
We got it back to our uni accommodation and started cleaning up the parts and sorted through the boxes of metal, brackets and screws. Over that year, we slowly put the pieces where they belonged. We had some cheap metal pipe welded onto the exhaust (we spared no expense), cleaned the carburetors and even bought a new frame to replace the half-cut up contraption it came with. After a few months, we put the old wiring harness onto the bike and got it running in the bottom foyer of our uni accommodation. To say we were chuffed would be an understatement. To the detriment of our relations with our dorm-mates, it revved well and sounded obnoxiously loud.
Once we got to this point, it was quite late in the year and we were graduating and moving interstate. So sadly we sold off the bike to the next 2 young lads keen to make their mark on the project. Through this experience, I definitely found my passion for a bigger project. I didn’t have a motorcycle license nor did I know how to ride one, but I was certainly keen to tear one apart and see how they work.
Once I graduated and was living in a house, I was pretty hooked on finding a project on my own. I would waste many hours on a weekend laying on the lounge just scrolling Instagram and getting inspiration for my own bike. I slowly started to see the kind of bikes which, in my opinion, made for the most attractive custom cafe racers; 1970’s Honda CB motorcycles. From the small CB350, to the CB550 all the way up to the beefy CB750, they all had the straight line from the tank to the taillight that made them a relatively easy choice for the build.
I slowly started to scroll Facebook marketplace, waiting for a cheap Honda CB to come up. So once a old 1978 CB550F with a CB500 engine and boxes of parts came up on Facebook Marketplace for $1k, I knew I had to jump on it. The next day I had a trailer ready to go and picked up the bike. As I came to somewhat regret later in the build, half the bike was in pieces in boxes, the engine was caked with old spray paint and oil, and the seller couldn’t show it running. Despite these red-flags, I was confident it would be easy like the GSX250 and purchased willingly.
Honda CB550 cafe Racer Inspiration Photos
Instagram was my main source of inspiration for my build, and there was an abundance of photos of Honda CB500/550 builds on the internet which made it easier to draw ideas. The photos below were the main ones that seriously convinced me to purchase my own Honda CB500 or 550 to build.
My CB550/CB500 purchase
I slowly started to scroll Facebook marketplace, waiting for a cheap Honda CB to come up. So once an old 1978 CB550F with a CB500 engine and boxes of parts came up on Facebook Marketplace for $1000, I knew I had to jump on it. The next day I had a trailer ready to go and picked up the bike. As I came to somewhat regret later in the build, half the bike was in pieces in boxes, the engine was caked with old spray paint and oil, and the seller couldn’t show it running. Despite these red-flags, I was confident it would be easy like the GSX250 and purchased willingly.
Useful Resources:
Below I’ve made a list of the online websites that came in handy for either technical information or to purchase parts. Unfortunately for me, most of the sites for specific CB500/550 parts were international and took some time to arrive during Covid.