"Kamikaze Pocket Rocket CX 500" - The story behind the bike

I’ve always been interested in bikes since I was a kid ,but never thought we would be able to build one!

 

I moved from the UK to Finland 20 years ago and since then have been in and out of the bike scene.

Riding anything from streetfighters to choppers and bobbers. Every year we attend the Swedish Custom Bike Show held in June in the town of Nortälje and since my son is now old enough to ride himself he’s been coming along with me.

 

A few years ago they introduced a Cafe Racer class and we both said: “This is what we should do!“-a father and son winter project, so the hunt for a donor bike began.

 

 

After searching for months with little success we found a 1982 Honda CX 500 C for a mere 800 euros!

The bike had been stripped and parts of the frame had been hacked off.

It seemed like it would be a big project for me and my son who had never built a bike before,

to get this Honda CX500 up and running.

 

But in the winter of last year we set to work with the idea of entering our bike in the digital (because of Covid) Custom Bike show 2021! 

 

Caferacerwebshop had plenty of parts we could use at good prices and we started to make a list of what we could buy. New seat pan, mirrors, mufflers, grips etc.

 

We did everything ourselves in our basic garage at home after borrowing a welder to get the structure right. We decided as it was going to be in a show dominated by american bikes we would pay homage to Hondas Japanese background and have a "Kamikaze" theme.

 

I did the paint job by hand myself using only spray cans and was happy with the result. The total cost of the bike with donor has been €1.500,- and although the competion didn’t go in our favour (american bikes won again!) We were proud of what we had achieved ……….Maybe this is just the start?