Cool bikes made out of iffy ones.

[BattleRabbit]

Old advertising literature seemed to point to the Honda CM400 being an homage to old brit bikes. In reality it was a cruiser-ish standard with a slightly curly stamped frame and an ok small parallel twin. They've become pretty popular for bobbers, and that's about it. I've seen some compelling builds on Do The Ton for these bikes though. Because very little is available over the counter to turn a CM into something it's not, owners have gotten creative.

This is one of the simpler ones(IE least cutting) and it's one of my favorites. I'll get more pics eventually, but it's a nice bike, good attention to detail, and looks a heck of a lot more like what the advertising literature promised.

[turbinepowered]

This is one of the simpler ones(IE least cutting) and it's one of my favorites. I'll get more pics eventually, but it's a nice bike, good attention to detail, and looks a heck of a lot more like what the advertising literature promised.

I'm not a fan of people chopping into frames, especially good clean straight frames. I see FAR too many "custom" or "chopper" or "bobber" projects that are for sale when the person all gung-ho to do "whatever [they] want to [their] bike" discovers that building to some idealized look results in an unrideably uncomfortable garage queen of a bike.

[GoRacers]

I'm not a fan of people chopping into frames, especially good clean straight frames. I see FAR too many "custom" or "chopper" or "bobber" projects that are for sale when the person all gung-ho to do "whatever [they] want to [their] bike" discovers that building to some idealized look results in an unrideably uncomfortable garage queen of a bike.

Couldn't agree more. There aren't enough clean, minimally-rusted bikes around as it is; I hate to see people chopping up good frames.

This bike is AWESOME, though. I'd ride that all day, every day.

[Metallitubby]

Not really iffy, but cool nonetheless. Started out as a KTM 525 EXC

[Diesel Smugness]

^^
That's freaking cool.

[Metallitubby]

^^
That's freaking cool.

Roland Sands does some cool stuff with dirtbikes, ala SuperSingles.

[Mtl-Marc]

1980 Honda CB650 Custom

Before:


After:

[mad8vskillz]

lately, why is everything "cool" only come in "cafe"
silly fad.

this is "cool" to me

450 kit converting dirtbike to a full gp chasis
http://www.450gp.com/

[turbinepowered]

lately, why is everything "cool" only come in "cafe"
silly fad.

Nostalgia and faux-nostalgia, mostly. Personally I like the retro look, and most modern faired sportbikes look too blobby to me.

I wasn't kidding, I love the 70s and 80s styling cues, especially the 80s combination of hard angles and sweeping curves.

[VR]

lately, why is everything "cool" only come in "cafe"
silly fad.

this is "cool" to me

450 kit converting dirtbike to a full gp chasis
http://www.450gp.com/

[kerridwen]

lately, why is everything "cool" only come in "cafe"
silly fad.

this is "cool" to me

450 kit converting dirtbike to a full gp chasis
http://www.450gp.com/

Pretty cool, but ridiculously expensive and still far from "full gp chassis", all the kit includes is suspension, brakes, wheels and fairings. You keep your stock engine, cooling system, electrical system, frame, etc.

For the same kind of money of the kit + dirt bike you can build a 600SS that will spank the 450.

[mad8vskillz]

Pretty cool, but ridiculously expensive and still far from "full gp chassis", all the kit includes is suspension, brakes, wheels and fairings. You keep your stock engine, cooling system, electrical system, frame, etc.

For the same kind of money of the kit + dirt bike you can build a 600SS that will spank the 450.

you still end up with a ~250lb bike and the target audience is europe (they have spec-races for these)

[rpmk4]

i want!

[mad8vskillz]

i want!

for the 250 flavor, it's cheaper (and faster) to just buy a moriwaki md250

[Chomp On This]

In it's defense, and depending on how easy it actually is to assemble/disassemble, you get a GP/Supermoto/Dirtbike for the price of the bike and kit. Seems pretty cool to me!