Tuesday, October 18, 2011

PROJECT CX: The CX500 Cafe Build Gets The Full Shoot

1978 Honda CX500
Moto-Mucci


Here it is, the full shoot on Project CX. Although it will likely never be done, the project has reached it's intentions. It's meant to be a bike for the city. A daily rider around the unforgiving roads of Chicago. Able to absorb rock chips, hail storms, and clueless people driving big SUV's. 

Not only was this my first build, but my first motorcycle. I learned a ton, and aimed at doing everything on my own. Anything I couldn't learn within a few weeks practice, I outsourced to those who could.
That being said, I'd like to thank these guys:

Tony Prust of Analog Motorcycles, for all his fabrication and powder coating help.
And Art, at Rod's Designs, for the seat upholstery.

For all the background on the build, just click the Project CX tab at the top of the page.




Build Sheet
Chopped and fabricated new seat frame
Custom designed seat
Clubman style drop bars
Posh natural grips
Custom 8″ Cherry Bomb muffler with turn-out tip
Front and rear fenders chopped from a Goldwing / CX
Dunlop K70 tires
Tank and side covers painted warm metallic gray
Wheels, fenders, forks, headlight and headlight brackets powder coated satin black
7″ Headlight and bucket from SpeedMotoCo.
Headlight mounts and tail light from Dime City Cycles
All gauges removed
Tan DEI exhaust wrap with black plated hose clamps
New stiffer rear shocks, and 20W fork oil
Bike lowered 1″ front and rear
Carbs rebuilt and upjetted 90/120
NOS 70s black pistol grip levers from Japan
EBC brakes





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45 comments:

  1. Sweet lord, that thing is gorgeous. Congrats.

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  2. Nice work Mooch, it must be nice to have a sense of completion with the bike. I feel like mine's about 85% of where I'd like it to be. Nice shots too, its cool that you're getting better with the camera

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  3. Trying to... These are 8 of about 300 shots I took. Shotgun approach.

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  5. 1st moto build? Impressive.

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  6. even thoug i'm currently building a cb450sc...i have to admit im in love with the cx ! ! ! ! ! and as a first build/first bike myself.... if very confident on my build ! ! ! ! ! !.... build it, ride it....

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  8. very nice. just picked up a $380.00 cx off craiglist last weekend. let the fun begin. should be ready by March.

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  9. really a nice iron! ... congratulations.. one of the most beautiful cafe racer I have ever seen .... You have inspired me, I want it too!

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  10. Thanks for the praise guys, it means a lot.

    Nate, good luck with that CX! Be sure to jump on CX500Forums.com The guys on there are a great resource.

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  11. nice bike. glad you ditched the red wrinkle pipe. new one flows much better. what headlight brackets are you using?

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  12. Thanks. The brackets I got from Dime City Cycles.

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  13. i passed up one of these a while back, dirt cheap, i was put off because i thought they were a bit proto-typey, and thought finding parts would be an issue. opted for an 86' gsxr 400 for a cafe build. as you can imagine, im kicking myself now.

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  14. Das CX500 ist sehr geil! Where are you, Berlin? Wait, can't be Berlin- I don't know if they have Der Schtarbüchs...

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  15. Very impressive for your first build! I'm looking to do a similar project and was wondering the total cost of your whole project?

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  16. You definitely did it right! I absolutely love this bike. Where did you get your muffler? Did you do it yourself? Thanks.

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  17. Thanks for the support. The muffler is a chopped up Cherry Bomb with new turn out tip.

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  18. Great work Mucci, beautifull machine.
    Just a doubt: as it meant to be a daily motorcicle, is it ok to go out without indicators and panel? I mean, can you take a fine for going out on your bike like this?

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    1. Thanks for the kind words Lauro. In IL, you don't need turn signals or an instrument cluster on a motorcycle. I just use hand signals and judge my speed by the surrounding traffic. It's a congested city, so there's not much room to speed anyhow.

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  19. Did you get new wheels or are those just painted originals?

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    1. The wheels are stock early model Comstars.

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    2. Yes... but they aren't the wheels that you started with correct?

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  20. I had a CX a couple of years ago. What junk. I ended up selling it for parts.

    Love yours though.

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  21. A thing of real beauty, well done

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  22. an amazing job!! quite inspiring!!

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  23. How much padding do you have in the seat? ~2"? How long can you ride before getting a little sore?

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  24. Andrew, the seat probably has about 2.5-3" of padding. The rear shocks are way too stiff for the bike (like hardtail stiff) so I start hurting after a couple hours. I'll be finding some more comfortable rear shocks over the winter and swapping them in, and hopefully can last a lot longer.

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  25. Awesome. Thanks for the info. I'm working on my CX500 right now and no matter how I design the seat for my bike, I always end up tweaking it 'til it looks like your seat. I really love the clean lines you've pulled off. I'm doing all the metal work and upholstery myself (1st attempt at upholstery). this is the seat frame I've built so far, in attempt to not chop the frame. But I think I'm really gonna just need to chop and reinforce, and get a new rear fender. What rear fender did you use?

    http://cx500forum.com/index.php?/topic/12060-seat-design/

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  26. Incredible build. Classy even. Would you mind sharing some information about the modifications to the suspension?

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  27. That is one of the sweetest looking cafe's I've ever seen. Great job!

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  28. This was the most beautiful bike design I've ever seen. What a great job you've done. The perfect suttle matching of colours, the leather(?) lining of the tailpipe. Did you manufacture every part one-off? Like the handlebar/ brown handles or the leather seat? Please tell me... If I would like to try something similar out myself with an old CX500, as a tribute to the one and only Moto Mucci is it even possible?!
    Great design and a great job!

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    1. Thanks for the positive feedback.

      The lining on the exhaust is heat resistant fiber wrap, known as "exhaust wrap" or "header wrap." The bars and grips are not custom, but the seat is.

      Good luck on the build.

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    2. Can you tell me the process you used to make the seat?

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  29. Really good job. Like the fact that you've kept the original tank and sidepanels, and you've made a tall, top-heavy bike look like a ground-hugger. Seems solid as a tank, too. Congratulations.

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  30. Love the Bike. Where did you find the shorty front fender? Or did you make it? -Riley

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  31. Thanks guys.

    The front fender is the stock CX one, chopped up.

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  32. Nice looking bike. I'm beginning a project along the same lines. How did you lower the bike 1"? Great work and thanks for sharing.

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  33. You said you lowered your bike 1" front and back. How did you go about lowering the bike? What size/brand rear shock are you running?

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  34. Hey,
    Great build! Would you tell me how much money you spent (approx.) and how many hours it took to get it that way?
    My first Bike was a CX500 chopper but I crashed it after a couple of month. Now 30 years later your build gives me some inspiration to buy and build such a classic!

    Regards,
    Uli (from Germany)

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  35. What I wouldn't give to have that bike. It's gorgeous and I hope to build one like it some day soon. I'm also from Chicago, so I love the idea of a bike that's beautiful in simplicity and can take the beating that Windy can dish out.

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  36. I'm thinking about starting the same build, any tips or thoughts ?

    Hanrahan_devan@hotmail.com

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  37. You are my inspiration. I will try and replicate this. It is truly a thing of beauty. Well done

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  38. Can you tell me the process you used to make the seat?

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  39. Hi David,
    I am Mark from The Gold Coast,Australia. I have a 1978 CX500 with 8,000km on the clock. I have looked long and hard over the internet for inspiration and yours is my favourite by far. I would love to build mine similar to yours, if that is ok with you.

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  40. Mate, that's the best looking sled I've seen in years. Clean, modest, outstanding. Congrats, top job.

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