One great by-product of the current explosion of shed built customs is that there are now even more people to hang out with, ride bikes, talk bikes and share a beer with. Matt is one such guy that seems to have life dialled in, he lives in Bude, Cornwall with his wife and six year old son. He surfs, has built this bike, wants to start flat track racing and would love to be on the spanners as a permanent occupation, which is an idea supported by his son, who with just half a dozen years under his tiny belt, wants a custom bike of his own. Good lad! Sitting on this 1980 CX500 will have to do for now.
Matt is, for the time being anyway, a panel beater and sprayer so we know the finish will be good in the flesh. You know the drill by now, grind the welds, de-tab, chop and loop the tail, hide the battery and wiring. This prerequisite process was carried out by Matt who is pretty handy with a welding torch.
The seat pan was fashioned from 3mm UPVC and covered with a good thick piece of foam and stitched brown leather. The natural hump of the CX’s subframe makes a completely flat Brat seat a tricky fabrication but in my opinion the hump works well and balances out the heft of the V-twin motor.
The MotoBat gel battery now hides low down beneath the transmission; their warranty department is very efficient should you manage to melt one. I’m sure Matt’s is fine but CL77 boiled one when the reg/rec vibrated itself off.
Standard shocks have been replaced with Konis, which look better and combat bouncy squashiness, definitely a good thing on Cornwall’s narrow country roads. Smaller, sportier foot pegs for the rider but pillions look elsewhere, this is solo steed.
Heat-wrapped headers meet a modified stubby silencer pinched from Honda’s big brother, the GL, or Goldwing as many know it. Not much in the way of decibel killing there then. Pod filters on re-jetted carbs improve forward shove and acoustics.
Properly prepped and gloss black painted frame, swingarm, carbs, shaft drive unit and wheels contrast against the silver engine cases. Rocker covers are satin, which is the right thing to do just below the metalic blue and Old English White fuel tank.
Up front the bars are modified Ace-style with a CR250 clutch lever, the front brake lever and master cylinder is from a CBR125. Tyres are Maxxis, I could guess the tread pattern if they were more off road spec but I’ll leave you to work out what these are.
Details are a little bit light on this build as Matt has already sold it to pay and make way for other projects. a ’75 Bonneville, ’88 CD250 and another CX500 await treatment.
If you’re lucky enough to live in Cornwall and fancy pre-buying any of Matt’s next builds get in touch by emailMattwoodgates@yahoo.com.
the Bike Shed
