Many issues can stall a {custom} bike challenge, however the most typical culprits are money and time. So what does it take to get a construct again on observe? For Ian Ketterer, the reply was a little bit serendipity and the correct consumer.
Based mostly in Cape City, South Africa, Ian is a educated plane machinist who has plied his commerce in the whole lot from the aeronautical trade to wastewater administration. He retired seven years in the past, turning his consideration to constructing {custom} bikes as BlackSilver Customs. However the story of this 1982-model Honda CX500 goes additional again than that.
Ian began engaged on this sharp street tracker a decade in the past, with a slew of modifications on his listing. He made good progress, too, however consumer work and monetary priorities finally pressured him to park it.
The challenge was kick-started once more when a brand new consumer noticed the partially accomplished CX500 on Ian’s social media channels and requested him if he’d contemplate constructing one other one in the identical vein. “I might see that I wasn’t going to get to it in a rush, so I provided it to him,” says Ian. “The deal was finished, and he paid me to complete it off.”
Fortunately, Ian had a strong basis to work with. He had already rebuilt the CX500’s quirky V-twin motor, with contemporary black and silver finishes on the skin. The air field and inventory wiring had been gone, and the gas tank had been lifted on the rear to stage it out and to supply house for the electronics.
Additional again, Ian hacked off the CX500’s awkward subframe. He changed it with a chic unit that makes use of a conventional tubular building up prime, supported by a pair of waterjet-cut metal plates.
“The subframe was designed old skool fashion, with a chunk of cardboard and scissors,” Ian tells us. “Clint Hudsonberg from Alpha Design and Tech Providers helps me create digital recordsdata from my tough sketches and concepts, and arranges waterjet chopping for me.”
Ian had lofty concepts for the CX500’s operating gear, beginning with a serious front-end replace. On went the forks and brakes from a Kawasaki ZX-10R, gripped by a set of machined yokes.
For the again, Ian designed a singular center-mount setup that makes use of two shocks, linked to a chunky machined brace on the swingarm’s facet. Ian searched excessive and low for an acceptable set of shocks, finally touchdown on a pair of faux-lins models from a pit bike. “They work surprisingly effectively,” he provides.
An entire lot of labor went into the stylish laced wheels, too. Ian began by disassembling the OEM Comstar hoops earlier than machining a set of flanges that would accommodate spokes. He labored extra magic on the rear hub, which was transformed to a disc brake association with a Yamaha XJR1300 caliper.
The edges had been shod with 18” Kenda K280 tires in matching widths, giving the bike a lithe road tracker vibe. And that is about so far as the bike obtained through the first part.
When Ian’s consumer finally stepped in and satisfied him to pull the CX500 again into the workshop, the fee got here with a laundry listing of latest options. The primary large job was constructing a bespoke wiring harness round a Motogadget mo.unit Blue, together with a keyless ignition.
Up entrance, low streetbike bars had been fitted with Motogadget grips, switches, and bar-end flip indicators, small bar-end mirrors, and gold-anodized levers on Yamaha R1 perches. A Motogadget speedo, housed within the prime yoke, and an LED headlight had been added to finish the cockpit. The again of the subframe sports activities a slim LED taillight, and a pair of LED flip indicators which are wedged into notches that Ian reduce out of the tubing.
Ian additionally designed a one-off radiator cowl and enlargement bottle, added an electrical fan, and swapped all of the brake traces for Venhill elements. Ending touches embody a two-into-one exhaust system with a Geoff Talbot finish can, Arata rear-sets, and custom-made brake fluid reservoirs.
The Honda’s shimmering paint job appears unique, but it surely’s truly model new. Expertly executed by Ian’s go-to man, Mo at Spraybikes, it is a reproduction of the colour scheme that adorned the consumer’s father’s Honda CX500 Customized, again within the day. Neat vinyl upholstery by Alfin—a third-generation automotive upholsterer in Cape City’s outlying suburbs—provides an additional sprint of fashion.
BlackSilver’s long-running Honda CX500 road tracker has lastly crossed the road—and it’s finished so with panache. The stance is spot-on, Ian’s craftsmanship shines, and the livery drips with nostalgia.
Like a braai and a chilly beer on a scorching summer time’s day, it satisfies on each stage.
BlackSilver Customs Facebook | Instagram | Pictures by Wes Reyneke
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