Entries in Honda CX 500 (2)

Saturday
Nov242012

Garret Dietz's '79 CX 500

In my limited and very humble opinion, there are two kinds of Dads in this world; Dads who like motorbikes and Dads that don't. And although I love my father very much and deeply appreciate his inherited love of all things mechanical, upon telling him that I'd decided to get a bike he told me he thought it was “a bloody stupid idea.” Ouch. Fast forward to now and the vitriol has settled to a feigned disinterest for the most part. And I say“feigned” because every now and then I see a dim twinkle in his eye as he asks me a question about shaft drive versus chain drive, or air cooled versus water cooled. It's as if he's holding himself back from getting enthusiastic about the machine because he doesn't want to encourage me. Which, as a very long way around the block to visit your neighbour, brings us to Garret Dietz and his Dad. See, G's lucky enough to have a Dad that falls firmly in the "likes bikes" pile. Hmmm. I wonder if he'd swap for a month or two? The time would fly by once he really got into my new build...

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Sunday
Jul292012

'80 Honda CX 500 Cafe Racer - “All Business”

If Pipeburn was a wild animal, and you were a custom bike builder looking to trap it, you'd have to lure us with something we'd find tempting. Really tempting. Now blind Freddy could see we like cafe racers, so that's a baiting given. Then there's CXs which Scott and I both seem to have a "thing" for. I'm currently building a bike with R1 front forks on it, so that's also a pretty tempting inclusion for me - not to mention that my build is also a v-twin and a shaft drive. Add that to the fact that the number 7 just happens to be the combined IQ of Scott and I, and you're probably starting to see that we don't so much like this bike as want it like a hipster wants a beard. Quite frankly, this bike is a perfect storm of Pipeburn temptation. And who, I hear you ask, is the genius poacher behind this irresistibility of a bike?

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