This Honda CX400 café racer cuts a pointy silhouette regardless of its quirky DNA, due to Tokyo’s Minami Motorbike.
‘Final simplicity’ is not fairly how we’d describe the fabled Honda CX500. Its blocky longitudinal V-twin motor was an oddball, paired with an ungainly silhouette and bodywork that by no means fairly harmonized.
The later Honda CX400 Euro—a smaller displacement mannequin bought in Europe and Japan—was a slight enchancment, with bodywork harking back to the CB750. However it was nonetheless fairly gawky, making it a questionable donor for a minimalist café racer.
Nobody informed Kenji Heianzan, although. He heads up Minami Motorbike within the quiet ward of Meguro in Tokyo, Japan. Clear café racers are the same old fare at Minami, the place the philosophy is “quiet confidence, steadiness, and avenue presence, with out pretense.”
“The idea was final simplicity,” says Heianzan-san of this challenge. His method to customization favors subtraction over addition, so the primary job was to strip off the entire 1982-model CX400’s bodywork and begin over.
The CX now wears a modified gas tank from a Yamaha SRV250—an early-90s roadster with retro underpinnings. “It is a frequent selection at Minami Motorbike,” Kenjo tells us. “It is easy to supply and café racer-friendly, outlined by its distinctive upward-sweeping rear line.”
One of many CX400 Euro’s defining options was its fashionable (on the time) Professional-Hyperlink rear suspension, which shed the CX500’s twin shocks for a single unit. That gave Minami area to manufacture an ultra-clean subframe to interchange the inventory piece. Ending touches included a hidden splash guard to maintain muck off the engine, a classy solo saddle, and a 3D-printed cowl.
Transferring to the entrance, Minami shunned the CX400’s anti-dive forks for the much less fussy entrance finish from a Honda CB750F. The forks have been lowered by lower than two inches, with a brand new YSS shock wedged into the again finish. “It isn’t extraordinarily lowered,” says Kenjo, “so it may be ridden safely and with out stress.”
The highest yoke is a customized half, adorned with an etched Minami brand. It is flanked by clip-ons, fitted with new grips and simplified switchgear. Handmade rear-set foot controls do obligation decrease down, whereas aftermarket grasp cylinders help the refurbished OEM brakes.
For the reason that CX400’s engine was operating robust, there was no must rebuild it. Minami upgraded it with a pair of Keihin CR Particular carbs—additionally lifted from a CB750, however rebuilt to work with the CX. “This half was difficult,” Kenjo admits.
Gasses exit through twin stainless-steel exhaust headers with reverse cone mufflers. Minami additionally put in a Pingel gas petcock, rebuilt the radiator, and stashed the bike’s battery within the new tail cowl.
True to Minami’s vibe, the Honda CX400 Euro’s livery embodies subtlety—a glassy midnight blue base, punctuated by low-key graphics. The engine and arduous components are completed in black, together with the Honda’s quirky ‘boomerang’ Comstar wheels, which Kenjo held onto for his or her distinctive Nineteen Eighties vibe.
Each final element is exceptionally well-judged, leading to an extremely smooth Honda café racer that surpasses its quirky DNA.
Minami Motorcycle | Instagram | Pictures by Yuhei Kodaka
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