Honda cafe racer motorcycles

Honda SuperHawk

1975 Honda XL350

Honda CB450 Cafe racer

"Honda’s CB450 never quite met its sales expectations, despite being one of the few 1960s motorcycles to hit the magic 100bhp/liter mark. Honda claimed it was a 450 with the power of a 650—and yes, it was a technological step forward from the British twins of the time. Buyers got greater reliability, an electric starter and more advanced engineering inside the DOHC parallel twin, which included unusual torsion valve springs.

This elegant CB450 is a 1969 model that was rebuilt as a cafe racer by Shaun Stewart of Slingshot Cycles, [oops, the website has now crashed] a Virginia-based outfit that specializes in manufacturing brake hoses for classic motorcycles. The rear seat is actually part of a Yamaha XS650 fuel tank, while the front end is a hybrid mix of CB550/CB750F components strengthened by a homemade fork brace.

The stainless steel exhaust system is also homemade, and the headlight bucket has a built in tachometer. Shaun likes to customize a couple of bikes a year as a sideline, and he’s done a great job with his cafe racer: it’s the perfect machine for blasting around the Appalachian mountains and Shenandoah Valley."

Honda Evo concept

Very classy Honda CB160

I'll bet she sounds as sweet as she looks with that open pipe too.

Scott Biscotti from Milwaukee, the builder of this bike has contacted me and sent these details:

"The bike was a marriage of 2 seperate cbs I purchased off eBAY. One was a enduro and the other an actual early AHRMA racer. Im a huge fan of Nortons and love the look of the featherbed Manx but couldn't afford one.

So, I thought it would be cool to make a smaller cheaper version, aka the mini Manx. I approached it as a typical restoration by completely dismantling both bikes and using the best parts.

I purchased Akront rims and painted the hubs black krinklecoat. I also had stainless spokes and the rear wheel built to suit a wider tire in the back. The engine was basically stock. The AHRMA motor was toast.

Now for the best part. The tank was an idea I had to use 2 stock cb160 tanks and have one cross sectioned and add 6" to it to create that classic CR look the early Honda factory bikes had. My close friend Jeff Stephens did all the welding and custom work on the tank. You can check out some of his stuff on the MilVinMoto website under the name Godffrey's Garage. He does amazing detailed work and is a superb craftsman. He also incorporated the tank to be attached to the mounts the original tanks used.

I wish I would have taken close up photos of that but it was years ago. The seat was from the racer but it was too wide almost as though it was made for a larger racebike. So I had to split it down the middle and customize it to fit just over the frame tubes.

The paint scheme was something I thought up out of respect for the old racers. The old racebikes sometimes used other parts if needed after crashes and sometimes had to improvise by using different colored bodywork. And if you wonder how it sounded, it was ear-piercingly loud!

It only cost me about $1000 American to build this and only because of Jeffs' friendship. He told me if I had been some stranger who wanted the tank done like that, he would have charged at least $800. He only charged me $200.

After riding it around Milwaukee one season I ended up selling it on eBay to some guy down south. I totally regret selling it but I used the money from the sale to buy a wideline featherbed frame which now is a current project of mine."

If your into this stuff you should check them out. There's much more detail and photos on this red rocket available there.

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