HRC Eurosport: Honda CX650E Café Racer

From Aircraft Carrier to Café Racer: A “Cus’Tom Motorcycle” from France… 

The CX series was quite the departure for Honda. The first prototype of the CX V-twin was built as early as 1973, designed to be easy to start, pleasant to ride, and maintenance free. However, it wasn’t until 1978 that the original CX500 hit the market. The new 80-degree V-twin boasted four valves per cylinder, liquid cooling, shaft drive, and other distinguishing traits.

Of course, the transverse mounting position of the engine was the most striking feature, somewhat reminiscent of a Moto Guzzi. The motoring wasn’t quite sure what to make of the whole bike at first, and it earned the nickname “Plastic Maggot” for the awkward aesthetics and small bikini fairing. However, the odd new twin soon proved itself among some of the world’s most demanding riders:

“The CX gained a reputation as the best mount for motorcycle couriers. It would run, all day, in any kind of weather and put up with abuse and minimal maintenance.” –Motorcycle Classics

Later came the 674cc CX650, which boasted 27% more horsepower and torque than the half-liter model, making for a truly transformed riding experience. Quite rare among these big-bore CX models was the CX650E Eurosport, which featured a tubular frame with distinctive bikini fairing, triple twin-piston disc brakes, and a rear monoshock setup. Not surprisingly, the Eurosport was never sold in the States, but owners abroad loved the bikes.

This HRC-inspired CX650E comes from our buddy Tom Boissel of southern France’s Cus’Tom Motorcycle — a man who began modifying and racing 50cc bikes with his father when he was just 12 years old and never stopped. The donor bike came to Tom as a partly-completed build, which is rarely a welcome sight for a builder — who knows what bodge-jobs one might uncover? 

However, the history of the bike was too interesting to pass up. Not only was it an “E” model with monoshock rear suspension, but the previous owner was in the navy and managed to bring the bike on deployment:

“He had this motorcycle (totally original) and he took it with him during a mission of a few months on an aircraft carrier (which is a real mini city with workshops) in order to renovate the engine during his off-duty hours. He then sold the bike to Benjamin, the current owner, who was looking for a healthy base to make a complete café racer preparation.”

Benjamin’s previous builder had made but little progress on the build over a three-year period, so he’d taken the bike back into his possession. It seemed he might be stuck with the half-completed project until he brought it to Tom. The rest is history.

Tom give us the full details on the build below, but highlights include inverted forks from an Aprilia liter bike, Brembo radial brakes, Royal Enfield tank (highly modified to fit), custom-shaped steel tail section, “smoking box” exhaust, 17-inch spoke wheels, carbon mudguard, Motogadget dashboard, HRC-inspired livery, and tons of CNC parts machined right in the Cus’Tom workshop: headlight mounts, fender mounts, and much more.

While there are a lot of CX-based café racers out there, very few of them are this well executed…and with big-bore power! And it sounds the business, too:

“The sound of the 80º twin cylinder is surprisingly soft and round, with a touch of harmonic aggressiveness which surprises each person who asks me to start the motorcycle.”

Good on Tom for not only rescuing this half-finished bike, but transforming it into one of the best CX café racers we’ve seen. Below, he gives us the full history and build details on this CX650.

In the Builder’s Words… 

The History:

The previous owner of the motorcycle was in the navy. He had this motorcycle (totally original) and he took it with him during a deployment of a few months on an aircraft carrier (which is a real mini city with workshops) in order to renovate the engine during his off-duty hours. He then sold the bike to Benjamin, the current owner, who was looking for a healthy base to make a complete café racer preparation.

He first entrusted the project to a motorcycle preparation association, but the project dragged on.  In three years he had bought spoked rims, the fork, dismantled various parts, and cut the rear of the frame. In short, Benjamin preferred to recover his motorcycle and keep it on a half-disassembled trailer in his garage for a while. Then one day, one of his work colleagues told him about the Cus’Tom Motorcycle workshop.

It’s not pleasant to take on a project half-started, and to discover surprises (like poor quality shock absorber rod welds) but I liked this base, and I hadn’t had the opportunity to work on this model.  Also, I didn’t want to leave Benjamin with a half-disassembled motorcycle when this motorcycle has a special history.

The Build:

The objective was to create a café racer with gray HRC decor, a pleasure motorcycle with a rare and accomplished look.

For this, we replaced the fork with an inverted model from an Aprilia Tuono/RSV4 + the Brembo Radial braking system.

A pair of half handlebars in anodized CNC-cut aluminum were installed, along with a KOSO round LED headlight fixed by a homemade CNC-cut mounting system.

It was necessary to adapt a Royal Enfield tank, modify its mountings, remove the fuel pump, and relocate a fuel tap.

The entire rear buckle was rebuilt as well as the rear hull, which was made from 1-mm thick steel sheet.

Benjamin wanted an exhaust under the bike (a smoking box as he calls it), so I made a curved stainless steel exhaust line and a homemade silencer with two outlets under the bike, hoping that it wouldn’t be too noisy considering the small volume.

So I did my best inside the box to absorb the noise, and surprisingly, the sound of the 80º twin cylinder is surprisingly soft and round, with a touch of harmonic aggressiveness which surprises each person who asks me to start the motorcycle.

Anodized mass-cut rear controls were adapted via custom aluminum plates, with a specific angle transmission system for the gear selector cam.

 

For the dashboard, the model from Motogadget suits the look of the motorcycle perfectly. The rest of the electronics are LED, with a Lithium battery from the specialized Aliant battery brand.

For fun, you can discover under the saddle, at the start of the rear buckle, a pair of K&N horns on the carburetors, which were completely restored, hydrogummed (vaporblasted) and tuned for this motorcycle.

Then to complete the finished look, a pair of 17″ spoked rims with stainless steel spokes were installed. A carbon mudguard fixed by stainless steel supports made in the workshop covers the front wheel.

There’s license plate support built in the workshop, with the wires for the license plate light integrated inside.

The entire paintwork of the motorcycle was redone. Powder coating carried out in the workshop for the frame and mechanical parts, and a magnificent body painting with gray HRC decor done by Bastien, the painter of the workshop’s major projects.

The saddle is tailor-made, cut by the workshop and covered by Laeticia, the saddlemaker for all the workshop’s projects.

And as usual for the workshop’s complete projects, aluminum details machined in the workshop, stainless steel screws, banjo screws with titanium bleeder and nut, and other “Cus’Tom” details and touches.

Follow the Builder

Website: www.custommotorcycle.fr
Facebook: Cus’Tom Motorcycle
Instagram: @custom_motorcycle_tom_boissel
Youtube: @custommotorcycle8364

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