BikeExif

Woke up this morning to see my CB on BikeExif. Chris, the editor of BikeExif, had mailed me a short while ago with a link to Zegraignos and a few questions about the CB so I kind of knew it was coming. For the people coming to this blog via BikeExif a short introduction about me and my projects. On this site you'll also be able to see the whole build of the CB and the current XV920 project.

My bike building addiction started with this bike:



It's a Honda CX500 I bought together with a friend. We turned it into this:




It turned out so much better than expected!



The next project came when my girlfriend wanted a bike for herself (I was still riding my first bike at the time, a Yamaha YZF750). We found a CX500 in mint condition (only about 18.000 miles on it!) in parts in a shed somewhere. I turned it into a mild cafe so I could easily return it to it's original state (my girlfriend insisted on that):
as bought:

As it is now:

All this could only lead to one thing: Me selling my Yamaha to build a bike for myself. I decided to go for a wrecked BMW R80. It was a wreck, but it was cheap, had upgraded suspension and a 1000 cc engine.



I turned it into this.

In the mean time I'd also bought a Yamaha XV920 Virago together with the same Guy I build the CX500 Chopper with.


It's not finished yet, but we're getting close to the first test ride...






It didn't end there.... I'm an addict, so I had to build something after finishing the CX500 and the BMW. The Virago is a bike we build with the two of us and we can't work on it as often as we'd want to, so I bought another project for myself. A Suzuki SP370.

Another ULTRA low budget project. When it was finished I liked it, but didn't love it. Mainly because a 400cc Thumbert is just not big enough for me 6'7 frame.




So I sold it and bought a Honda CB750, the bike you can see me building on the last couple of pages of this blog.

As you can see I really got addicted to low budget bike building/customizing. Before I started my study I worked and had money to buy a Yamaha YZF750. It was a fabulous bike, but when we bought the CX500 for my girlfriend two things became obvious: 1, A relatively new supersport and a old bike don't mix. There was no way the cx could keep up with the YZF, even while riding slow on the YZFG. So if we wanted to ride together, something had to change. And 2: Old bikes are way more fun.

Besides from being cheaper old bikes live more. You can feel the vibration when accelerating, you can feel the frame flex a little when you throw it in the corner, it can be a moody starter on cold, wet mornings, it can be kicked to life in one kick when warm. It has a soul.

Nothing beats racing one of these old bikes you've build up yourself over a twisty road on a quiet Sunday morning, no matter what the add of the new R1/GSXR/ZX-R is trying to promise you.