HONDA CBX1000 SPECIAL
Aussie Jeff Ware on one very six-y special!
Honda’s CBX was a game changer in its time, boasting in excess of 100hp when first introduced, with the unusual characteristic of being a six-cylinder. It packed some real punch with DOHC, four-valves per cylinder and six carbs. Okay, it may not have been the first or the last six-cylinder motorcycle but the CBX remains to this day one of the most instantly recognisable classics. So what happens when you take old-school cool and give it a touch of new life? Well, that’s the question Vaughan Ryan has answered in this epic build, where the focus has been on creating a motorcycle that is as much art as transport. The concept all started with someone else’s bike, almost a decade ago when Vaughan was commissioned to work on another rider’s Honda CBX with the aim of making a RC174 themed racer – this was all before he became a full-time college teacher. Halfway through the build he was really inspired by how well the CBX lent itself to a racer-themed custom build and realised that a café racer would be a great proposition. For Vaughan the idea of a café racer CBX had well and truly dug in. “That planted the seeds,” he explains. “I liked the engine, I liked the styling. To convert it into a more race-orientated bike, well, it really lent itself to the whole process…” You’ll notice that with this build plenty of the components are Motorretro custom items, with Motorretro being Vaughan’s brand/business, which he runs with his mates Georgio and Julian in their spare time. He originally went teacher training with Georgio, when he studied automotive body repair, coachbuilding, hand forming, styling and design. Julian on the other hand is the engine and electrical expert, while Vaughan admits he’s more into the aesthetic and detail orientated design. The CBX project was started about five years ago, when Vaughan saw this particular bike on sale on ebay in the US, for $6000 USD – it wasn’t in great condition, with Vaughan describing it as a five out of 10. Once it arrived Down Under the work began, with the project concentrating on transforming the stock CBX into something a little more extreme – visually at least. The bike was stripped right back to basics, with the engine removed and sent off for
vapour blasting, with the block ceramic coated and various pieces, including the engine mounting brackets, painted in black and polished to a high sheen. Julian rebuilt the engine, keeping it relatively stock but with new pistons and rings, cleaned-up cylinders, cleaned up porting, rebuilt carbs complete with velocity stacks, new inlet manifolds, as well as new seals and bearings. “It’s had pistons and rings and we’ve gone one size over, but it’s fairly conservative, and is all tuned up by Julian,” explains Vaughan. “Horsepower isn’t great but it can certainly keep up with a lot of things – it’s just no Fireblade.” A digital ignition unit from Elektronik-sachse – ZDG3.3 – was also added to replace the original CDI ignition and comes complete with a new sensor unit, while the ignition coils were also replaced with aftermarket items, with Julian adding a new fuse box while redoing the majority of the wiring loom. Other additions also included Spiro-pro spark plug leads, a K&N crankcase breather filter, as well as Titanium bolts from Poggipolini. The CBX clutch on early models is also notorious for rattling in a manner which suggests some kind of fatal flaw and was rebuilt with Barnett plates and springs, with EBC friction plates, while the clutch basket was sent back to the US where it was modified, with new cush-drives and a spring loaded adapter plate. The frame was stripped back, before receiving Motorretro attention in the form of bracing and gusseting, particularly around the headstock, while the rear sub-frame was cut down to suit the custom tail being created. The swingarm was also heavily modified, including being widened to take a larger rear wheel, lengthened for better stability and handling, and raised for ride height – assisting in matching the new front. The frame was then powder-coated white, with a Motorretro top triple fabricated to hold the Ducati 1098 R forks that Vaughan sourced, with the lower triple from the Ducati being retained. The Ducati 43mm USD forks also came complete with Brembo calipers, a lightweight 10-spoke alloy wheel, carbon-fibre guard as well as the Brembo brake master-cylinder and attached lever. Venhill braided brake lines replaced the original Ducati offerings, both front and rear, while a set of adjustable Speedymoto clip-ons were added and now hold micro switches, a single aftermarket bar-end mirror and aftermarket grips. Holding the reservoir to the Brembo master-cylinder is a custom bracket. An old-school single headlight, reminiscent of the CBX era, was sourced, along with Emgo Rabbit Ear indicators for both the front and rear. The single headlight is mounted via custom brackets, with an integrated front headlight surround holding the ignition, idiot lights and a SPA Technique speedometer, with the indicators fixed to the engine mounts on the front-end. Moving back a totally custom fuel tank was fabricated for the project by Vaughan and Co, with a thinner profile towards the top of the tank, as well as a more flowing style, especially when viewed from the headlight all the way through to the tail. It’s easy to see the passion that went into these stunning fabricated parts when talking to Vaughan: “My training was restoring old sports cars and restoring them to a concours standard requires a lot of detail. So I’ve just put that skill into a different area. That’s what I like about it – attention to detail and finding something visually challenging.
“The CBX was fairly ordinary-looking, and rode fairly ordinary too! It’s just about offering something different,” Vaughan adds. “Tying it all in isn’t just aesthetics, it’s the colours, the detail, the quality of the components – quite often you look at a bike and can pick out cheap components… The tank, tail, rear hugger, front headlight mount, we made them all. For the first 1000 miles it was all in bare metal – when we first completed the bike. We made sure everything was okay – no rubbing or scraping. Once we did the test miles and ironed out any bugs, then we moved onto the paint.” The tail is another work of art, with stunning flowing lines that help accentuate the minimalist brake light, indicators and plate mount, as well as the rear shock mounts, which peek out from behind the bulbous tail section they connect under, with the Ohlins reservoirs clearly visible. The integrated seat also matches the tank and tail perfectly, for the perfect café racer look and is finished with red stitching for those that go in for a closer look. The Ohlins shocks are HO 140 items, specifically for Hondas and are joined by a Ducati 999 rear wheel, including the Brembo underslung caliper and master-cylinder, while the rear guard is a custom item made to match the front carbon-fibre guard. A particular feature that helps emphasise the CBX’S six-cylinder nature is the six-into-six exhaust system, which includes the headers and mufflers, with the former painted black to match the various black engine components, while the mufflers are retained in the original chrome finish, albeit with black end caps. The system is a hefty unit too, weighing in at 17kg, but is hand-crafted, much like all the components. As already mentioned, the bike went through an extensive testing period when it was first put together, with the various components left in bare metal while put through their paces. Once this was complete the components were painted by Vaughan, Gary Hall and Brad Franklin using House of Kolor and PPG paints and were based on the Mike Hailwood RC174 race bike, albeit without the fairings! Final details include the Tommaselli footpegs and rear brake lever, as well as a custom front sprocket cover in bare aluminium. The end result is, needless to say, an astonishing piece of work and certainly a unique creation, especially considering it all started with Vaughan sourcing the Ducati 1098R front end and evolved from there. Vaughan also estimates the bike has taken between 350 and 400 hours of manpower: cost unknown! No further modifications are planned for this particular bike but Vaughan does admit: “We enjoyed it so much that we’re going to do a BMW café racer kit, with twin plug heads, engine covers, streamlined tail and fairings but we just started mucking around in the garage together, doing what we like doing.” So how does the CBX handle now? “It’s certainly not a stable queen and rides more like a modern bike,” explains Vaughan, “We’ve stripped out about 25-30kg but the modern front-end is fairly heavy. It’s definitely a gain in performance though, especially as far as handling and braking go – which are the areas it was flawed in before!”