How Much Did the Build Cost? | CX500 Cafe Racer Build Project 

Inja can't count kicks. Proof he's a real thug because they don't count past 3 in the hood.

That's a dope ass $1700 bike man. But money aside, having a bike you basically made yourself is priceless

The CX 500 engine was originally designed from the beginning to be turbo charged. That’s why the cylinders are cast into the block,. The clutch spins in the opposite direction of the crankshaft, illuminating torque reaction. The cylinders are twisted 23° bringing the carburetors closer together so you can use a bell crank instead of two separate cables, and the exhaust ports Will allow the exhaust pipes to miss the frame down tubes and make room for the radiator. One of the magazines did a story I think it was motorcyclist about a guy and his girlfriend that went around the world on a CX 500 on the cheap. Camping, cutting their own hair, cooking on a small stove. it is my favorite Japanese engine. The CX 650 was better. The first CX 510 week ignition systems causing them to have starting problems. They would crank and crank and crank, but when you would let off the starter button is when they would start. when they switched to transistor ignition systems I think at 1981, they started much easier.I had a CX 500 deluxe that I put a Canadian CX 500 turtle backseat on much like a BMW R 100 RS seat, I put on CB 400 F bars, koni shocks, and a tank bag. I loved the way that motor made power.. very smooth, Torquey,. I had about $1000 into it. Some older guy in his 60s saw it and asked if I would sell it. I told him to make me an offer everything‘s for sale. He offered me $1600 for it. I sold it and I have regretted it ever since.. he loaded that bike into a moving van with his daughters furniture, and moved her from Pennsylvania to Seattle Washington, and he dropped off the moving van and rode the bike back the long way, down to San Diego, across the southern route from California to Florida, and up route 19 from Florida to Pennsylvania without a single problem... The only reason I parted with that machine at that time which was the late 90s, was, I figured there were hundreds of these bikes sitting in garages forgotten, that will be coming up for sale. They’ll always be another one I thought. There never was a clean CX 500 deluxe with the original exhaust intact again..

Hey man I just came here to apologise. In your initial "reveal" video you had a ruff photo shop version of this bike. And I couldn't see your vision. And I left a rather nasty comment that went something along the lines of "instead of ruining a classic and chopping it, why don't you restore it?" I shouldn't have judged your dream so abruptly, and for that I am truly sorry my guy. You've created one bad ass beast that looks and sounds like a million bucks. Congrats man.

If I had the mechanic know-how, this is what I’d be saving up to do right now. Relatively cheap and being able to build exactly what you want? Sounds like a no brainer.

Wow! Honestly dude i thought this bike was gonna cost upwards of 5k. I can't believe you built such a sweet bike for that price

I have this bike in my garage. My son got it for free and said I could have it if I wanted. Was debating on whether to sell it or do a cafe racer build. Well, debate over. Time to get parts and get on it. Even if I have to pay for work outside my skills it'd still be worth doing. Thanks for the inspiration and well done on your build!

In germany most of the parts need homologation licenses which you also have to pay. Buying shocks, exhaust, lights very likely would already costs that much like all parts you mentioned ... but the result looks nice!

“YOU CANT PUT A PRICE ON HAPPINESS” Nice build!

I have a 81 gl500 basically same bike bought it running and riding for $150 with a clean title, needs mostly cosmetic work but watching this you listed out almost everything I need to get it in great shape! Can’t wait to get mine done now lol

$1700 for a custom bike you built yourself is such a steal. I love the way it came out. I'm going to build one of these one day using my OCD skills.

Just checked out your website, I am working on doing something similar. I can only imagine the amount work you've already put it, I look forward to seeing your business grow.

Parts came out way less than I guessed. Definitely gonna do the same to a Yamaha. Subscribed 👌

Very nice budget build cafe bike. Your vision, your bike. Don't sweat what other people say your bike should look like. SUBSCRIBED!

Came out great! I used the same headlight on my Ninja 250 cafe build but i got it for $13 steal! It's fun building a bike especially when its your first time!

Dude, that's nothing! Bought my bike for like $150 bucks and spending a ton load on it! Nice work, be proud! Enjoy your it best you can!!!

As comfortable as I am turning wrenches I doubt I could do something like this and not fuck it up. Great bike and way cheaper than I expected.

$1,700 for that bike really is a steal... That doesn't account for the hours you spent on it, but there's nothing like the feeling of riding something you built.

Now I am afraid to total my build cost list. Great job on the cx.

Sound is BEAST!!

Man this is a beautiful bike but that gap between the seat and the tank looks kinda bad...

I have an old '82 honda 400 just sitting and rotting in my garage, seeing this makes me kind of want to actually fix it up similar to this.

Its cheaper than a lot of bicycles and nicer than brand new models. Nice job!

Fantastic, not much more to say .👍👍👍👍👍👍👍👍 1.700 wow for anyone who wants a bike that looks that good it's a steal

In love with vintage bikes.

Honestly, for something like that the price is 3 times what you invested. It's amazing what you did. I think it looks stunning and sounds amazing! I don't know how long it took you to build it but you could even make a living building those.

that is preaty good man, a great deal a cool bike for less than 2,000? is great

I’m just starting to get into bikes and this thing is awesome. Sounds amazing, looks super cool, and it didn’t cost a ton. Gives me some vision for what I want.

Good work. There's just one thing. Buying all those Chinese parts. You'll probably get much of rusted parts afrer one year's riding. They are decent quality but all the screws and metal parts usually needs just a few rains to show the first rust. So i suggest you check the connections inside the headlight often so they don't corrode and same with the turnlights and rearlight. I have had many problems with them. Especially that same headlight. I made a silicone gasket for it to keep the most of the moist outside it

That total in the end was way lower than I was expecting!

What an achievement, really surprised on the budget, looks like a hell of a lot more has gone into it! Mind you I bet when you take into account hours worked those costs skyrocket 😂 I've tried to set quite a restricted budget for my cb750 build, but it's going to have a mono shock conversion if I can get over a design issue I'm having, as well as r6 front forks... So I'm having to extend the budget a bit, managing the project and design myself so shouldn't be too bad. Definitely inspired me to have a look at some more cost effective options on some things though, especially if it can still look like that afterwards!

Didn’t think I would hear a snippet of Fragile. Tremendous

Nice build man! I finished 90% of my 78' cx500 standard last summer and my total came to about $1400 including bike cost but I just need to finish my exhaust setup on it. When I get around to it this winter.

Awesome bike, I built a Cafe Racer from a CX500 Turbo.😁

LOOKS SO GOOD DUDE, THIS VIDEO HELPS ALOT AS WELL

Nice buddy! It came out real nice!

I had a '79. My first bike.

It is a beauty!! Enjoy mate!

Looks great. Only thing is the seat gap drives absolutely nuts. Engine could be painted, but I like the vintage look.

The intro to your video made me leave because that wasn't a cx500, then I researched and saw the thumbnail again so im back lol

What a sick build bro you did fantastic job

Damn thats a great sounding bike

That is a wicked bike nice job man!!

How did you wire your new brake levers and clutch to fit the old system?

Beautiful bike btw! Sounds awesome!

That brake light hoop is one of the most creative solutions I’ve seen without welding on the frame. What went in to building/mounting that?

Dude, awesome video and awesome build. You found some great deals on some really killer parts. Thanks for sharing.

Some nice builds around 3k around my area contemplating building or just buying one

This is a great build. AWESOME JOB!

Currently rebuilding a cx500... it’s a lot of work

Thats a sick build! Looks like a $10k bike to me haha

You have to fix the line that runs between the tank and seat and lower that seat height. Totally ruins the flow on the bike.

Very nice work! getting me pumped to work on mine

1700 is coming off pretty cheap for a bike build. i'm well over 3k into my sx650

Wow... I just wanna get my cb500 up and running :( Awesome stuff bro

Love the bike build!

Nice ! Great exhaust sound

I would literally buy this for 3’000 easy 😍😍😍

Bike looks so dope

Looks sharp!

Bike looks awesome nice job

$1700 is not bad for a custom bike. If I would critique anything it would be the fork maybe something beefier 🥩. Otherwise great build man!

Sweet build bud!

well you can cut half of the price if your bike in good condition.the maintenance price put aside if u have good bike. for beauty list i thing .first folk,headlamp, speedometer,handle,seat,rear lamp,seat,suspension,tyre. and i think thats it .400$ roughly

Sweet ride. Great job

Great job dude!!

That's real nice dude

Any bike is comfortable if you're a short dude

Small price to pay for the bike , and the experience. The only thing that is wrong with this build is that it's not in my garage :)

Not bad at all for a sexy bike like that.

I like your opening

Love the bike. I want it

That’s a really nice bike

0:34 *smiles in JoJo*

You got a new sub buddy awesome job!

great job!

Looks clean

It sounds like you got some excellent prices on the items that you bought for the bike. Nice work. Are your tires Kenda Challengers?

How does it run ? Im curious , is it as fast as 2000s bike or slower

Love your videos man, great work, this one is super helpful. I'm considering taking off my H-Box (ugly rusty exhaust box on the bottom) as well, but I've been worried about having to tune everything after. You said you stuck with the stock jets, did you change anything else but the mufflers?

Wow thats cheap... just my rear fender was 500€ and 800€ for the paint job(tank and fenders) when I did my Vstar 1100 bobber... sucks to live in finland :P Cool vid man and amazing looking bike

Great bike !!!☺ ride safe! ! ! ! ☺☺👍👍👍

Do you have a vid on installing that custom seat? I just bought one and would like to see what all goes into it for modifications.

Looks amazing

Dope bike. Appreciate the break down. Any chance of building one for me? I'm interested!

Nice Bike, Great Work.

Beautiful !

Cheap cheap cheap parts. If / when those start failing let us know. Would love to know how that ages with use.

you wanna come to Australia and work on my CX Custom. It has been sitting in the shed for 15 or so years. Would love to do what you have done, but one thing for sure, the prices here are no way near as cheap as what you quoted. I replaced the stator about 20 years ago and that was expensive then and a nuisance to get to behind the water pump.

Yo your bike looks amazing! What bars did you end up going with?

So dope🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥

For those who want the no non-sense version. The total build cost: $1,708.16

The water pump seal goes on these bikes from sitting....gotta pull the engine to change it

Hi. Did you do anything to the engine? Relay the valves? De-coke it? Also, they are the newer Honda wings, that you have put on the tank. Nice bike, though. I just finished a Honda CX500 eurosport. All in all, including buying the bike, it cost around £1,500. Ride Free.

Really nice!

What size in mm did you get for your brake line? 900mm or 1200 mm? Also could you give me the dimensions of the battery if its not too much trouble?

Where is the license plate mounted on your sweet custom $1700 bike? Also, are you going to do anything with that open space under your seat?

I mean how much cheaper can it get for a bike that nice haha

you have an awesome logo

Did you modify the left side handlebar control or buy a new one - I noticed you have a separate clutch handle setup.