honda cx500 bobber by michiel

you f***ers don’t want me to quit. remember, i don’t owe you sh*t. regardless, one nice message came from michiel recently. he’s a student in the netherlands and digs building low budget bikes. we all dig that, too.

michiel believes that when building a bike on a tight budget people tend to become more creative. instead of being able to order a cafe seat online, people use their imagination more and discover items found in their own house or even out of a trash bin or junk yard. these found and often modified-to-fit parts are not only original and unique but in the right hands become better looking than parts out of a big catalog filled with billet bulls**t. everybody has those parts. screw that.

this is michiel’s latest build. it was created with the help of a friend named vincent. it’s an old and rusty honda cx500 that was worthless past the motor, transmission, drive, and frame. for this cx500 bobber, the guys used a modified mustang gas tank, a ural seat, found mufflers and fenders modified to fit, suzuki savage shocks, a kawasaki handlebar of some sort, and a cool heinkel headlight they tweaked.

starting with cutting up and modifying the frame using “the most crappy welder ever,” they made their own forward controls, tons of brackets, built their own levers, created their own mirrors and emblems, re-did the electronics which they shoved into a custom box, and much more. they even painted it themselves.

it’s a great low-budget build with many nifty one-off elements which make it something i haven’t seen before. you can view the build from beginning to end on michiel’s blog, bmw cafe. check it out for some good inspiration from a garage builder doing the best he can with what he has, and succeeding in living up to his belief that low budget does not mean less creative.