Picture this, you’re wearing a full black suited tux, you look in the mirror and adjust your medium size bowtie, and you feel like a million dollars. You look at your watch and notice you’re running late, you race outside jump on your custom made Honda CB550, press the ignition and VROOM that sound! You rock up to the outdoor event, fairy lights hanging from the awnings with everyones eyeballs staring in your direction. You park right in front of the entrance and people start taking photos of you and your bike.
Now you know how I feel about this amazing cafe racer by Seaweed & Gravel. I’ve always been a fan of Cafe Racers from the aesthetics of the bikes and the different customisations you can do. First impressions of this bike my eyes opened, my head forced against the screen and let out a loud holy sh*t. We could get into the finer details but I have attached the original article below for all the rev heads out there. I know one day I will own a cafe racer like this, as one can dream. Enjoy the eye candy.
Do you have a cafe racer or just love the this bike? Let us know in the comments below.
Seaweed & Gravel – CB550 Custom Build by S&G builder Brady Young
All images sourced by Seaweed & Gravel
Below is the article by Seaweed & Gravel – http://www.seaweedandgravel.com/
Custom build by Seaweed and Gravel in southern california built by Brady Young (previously of UGLY Motorbikes.) The inspiration for this build was spawned from a previous personal bike of Brady’s, made from spare parts and a few weekends. The bike was rough, full of character, and frequently saw the dirt. Nonetheless, it caught the eye of the client that commissioned this build, but with new shoes and a classy attire.
Our goal for this build was to create a simple, clean, minimalistic bike with an aggressive, low stance; pulling elements from both the cafe racer and brat style palettes, whilst preserving the classic lines that were buried in stock form. Once the form and stance of the bike was set, we moved forward with making it function.
The top end was rebuilt with new internals and tuned by a retired racer and mechanic of the time, making it a true one kick cold started. The client wanted a kick and electric start, so we called upon the guys at Antigravity Batteries. Their compact, powerful battery powers the new from scratch harness with an updated rec/reg combo. With this setup we were able to retain our goal of a clean and minimal design.
Our theory on the finish of our bikes is overall modesty with bold features. With an all black bike we incorporated matte, satin, and gloss finishes to add some contrast. We here at Seaweed And Gravel feel we’ve produced a bike that we can be proud of, and have welcomed a new member into our family of weirdos. –Brady