1978 Honda CB550 Cafe Racer

This is an interesting bike with a mix of cool/new parts and a couple of relatively major things that need to be fixed. Easily, the best aesthetic feature is the cafe-style seat with the frenched taillight. And the paint looks really deep and glossy on the seat, tank, and the one side-panel that is visible in the pictures. I personally don’t really get the upside-down superbike bars, but there are a fair number of “cafe-style” bikes out there with them. The motor has a number of internal performance parts, and there are a lot of new consumables that come with the bike. It does, however, need a new stator and a ring job (according to the seller). I am pasting a full list of the mods and parts after the pictures.

I’m not quite sure what to make of the Buy-It-Now price of $2,500 for this bike given the re-ringing and stator replacement that the buyer will have to do. But the auction is currently at around $700 with 4 bidders and a little less than a day left. I would guess the bike won’t pass the reserve price, but we shall see where the sale of this bike ends up…

Hand made “Frenched” Tail light Café Racer Seat
Chrome mini Bullet Turn Signals
Gloss Black Single Stage Paint
“Kreemed” Gas Tank
Flanders Café Bars
MAC 4:1 Exhaust System
Web Cam Springs & Titanium Retainers
Web 58B Camshaft
Ported and Polished Head
Head Decked for Higher compression
New Old Stock BETOR Racing Shocks
New EBC Clutch and Spring Set
New Sunstar Sprockets
New EBC Brakes, Front and Rear
New Wheel Bearings Front and Rear
New Fork Seals and Bushings
New Battery
New Petcock
Carbs have new needles, seats, and gaskets in them
New points and condenser

Needs to be done:
Stator has an issue on charging side, works sometimes, needs to be replaced.
Will need new rings, smokes at start up, goes away as engine warms.

1973 Honda CB500 Cafe Racer

Here’s a nice home-brewed cafe racer up for auction on eBay that includes some nice upgrades. The best upgrade as far as I’m concerned is the 605cc big-bore kit. While this isn’t the shiniest, prettiest cafe racer on the road, chances are it will surprise just about any trailer queen it finds on the road. Some of the other mods done to this bike are hyrbridized tank and guages from a couple of different period correct Honda twins, bobbed front and rear fenders, and an electronic ignition.

While bidding is low on this bike right now (about $450), reserve hasn’t been met and the Buy-It-Now is $3K, so I would suspect that the reserve is pretty close to the BIN price. Because of the not-so-perfect aesthetics, it may or may not hit reserve. But with a little bit of cosmetic work, this bike could be a screamer and an eye-catching Sunday morning ride.

Honda CB Oil Cooler

So you’ve got a Honda CB that you’ve converted into a cafe racer? And you’ve got it pumped up with a big bore kit or a jet and pipe combo? Or maybe you just ride it like you stole it?

I found this oil cooler on eBay that will help your motor stay cool and survive for the long haul. And it’s vintage NOS for that proper look. It won’t work on my SL350 twin, so I will have to find another solution and leave the bidding to everyone else. It’s currently at $76, with just over a day left in the auction.

1978 Honda CB550 (Stock and Conversion Ready)

Sometimes, stuff happens. For the next 15 minutes I am going to put aside “stuff” and tell you about this bike I found on eBay. It is a conversion-to-cafe ready CB550 that appears to be a perfect candidate. It has relatively low miles, nothing ostentatiously wrong about it, and only has 6 hours to go until the auction ends with zero bids.

“Why zero bids?” you might be asking. Well, the starting price is a mite bit high at $1,499 for a start. However, if you have seen some the CB550 cafe racers that I’ve posted, you know that this is such a great starting point for a conversion. And the bike is all there, it just needs a tune up and a carb clean-up. If I hadn’t just picked up an SL350 this week as the basis for a cafe racer, I might be all over this bike.

One thing to note: the seller does have 3 negative feedback in the last month from buyers of smaller items, but if you read them, they probably won’t stop you if you are interested in this bike. The other positive feedback seem to indicate a seller who isn’t out to screw with anybody…

Steve “Carpy” Carpenter is holding a garage sale on eBay…

For those of you who follow the world of cafe racers, you probably know of Steve “Carpy” Carpenter. For those of you who don’t, he’s a transplanted Brit who has got a shop in Southern California from which he builds some of the best cafe racers on the planet. He primarily uses the CB750 SOHC bikes as his starting point. Over the last couple of days, I posted two items that he had listed before I figured out he has a whole bunch of stuff up on eBay. The link in the photos below goes to his “View seller’s other items” page on eBay. It looks like he’s clearing out some extra CB750 parts (plus the CB550 I posted yesterday). Good luck if you try bidding…

1976 Honda CB550 Cafe Project

From the extraordinary cafe builder Steve “Carpy” Carpenter comes this “I’m clearin’ out the garage” project bike up for sale on eBay right now. It’s a 1976 Honda CB550 with a bikini fairing, aftermarket seat, and a need for a good home with a patient mechanic. Lots of parts are missing, but the price is right ($152 with 22 hours left in the auction). Maybe you have an extra set of carbs, a pipe, some brakes calipers, and miscellaneous other parts sitting around? Good. Then this is the bike for you…

1969 Honda CB450 Cafe Racer

Up on eBay right now is this super nice 1969 Honda CB450 Cafe Racer. The seller did such a good job of describing, that I just cut and paste all the factoids below. I really appreciate the fact that the seller was honest with the comfort factor (it isn’t) since so often eBay sellers neglect to inform…



The bike is a 1969 Honda CB450 with 3,160 miles on it. Bike has had many upgrades, while the perfect running engine has remained stock.
The front end is modified with Cb750 F forks and tubes with CB550 triple trees and new roller bearings.
The rear suspension is gas dampening adjustable with preload adjustment and raised 1.5″ to lower rake and trail. A custom fork brace was made (you can’t buy one of the shelf for this hybrid front end) and looks great while really making the front end for so much more confident. The bike handles great with this suspension and setup.
The headlight is a custom fiberglass bucket with built in tachometer (1974 CB550 tach used as its larger but still has same ratio). The bike has no speedometer in the pictures but uses a digital setup similar to a bicycle computer as to not be visually obtrusive.
The handle bar switches have been replaced with a smaller unit as there are no longer turn signals on the bike (legally not needed, and a commonly removed item when cleaning up the looks and making the bike lighter).
The tail light is a 1930’s replica English design.
Exhaust is custom made and is full 304 stainless steel. Complete system is less then half the weight of the original but is also much louder.
Tires are matched Avon Road Riders.
The seat was hand made from a sheet metal and also is much lighter then the stock seat. Padding is around 1″ and was modeled off of what these bikes used in their prime when modified to “cafe racer” duty.
Bike has electric and kick start. Paint is House of Kolor raspberry pearl (very close to original candy color but is urethane base, clear coat. Color is much more beautiful then pictures let on to.
*******the engine cases and cam covers have been polished since the pictures*******

*******the drive chain has also been replaced since the pictures*********
This bike would make a great addition to your collection and displays the style that was popular back in its day. Please email to setup time to view this beauty. Bike is very rideable but not necessarily comfortable. This should be noted so that the new owner is happy with their new addition. Riding the bike an hour at a time isn’t out of the question, but longer rides will make you ache, and want to get on your cruiser. Then after you see 5 cruisers just like yours or hit the curves, you’ll want back on this one!

Honda CB550 Cafe Racer from Lossa Engineering

Wow. Wow. Hmmmm. Yeah.

This Honda CB550 is sweet. I was reduced to single syllables when I first saw the pictures of it. I think I may have seen it before on eBay, but it is still so beautiful even this second time around. While not as classically understated and true to the original as maybe bikes from Steve “Carpy” Carpenter, Lossa Engineering seems to build cafe racers with a lot of “look at me” to go along with the cafe styling.

Reserve is nowhere near met at its current bid of $1,125, but you could have a lot of fun bidding right now and not run too much risk of actually winning the bike for a couple more thousand dollars at least. This is a beautiful bike that seems like a no-brainer to buy if you have the money.

Honda CB550 Chop/Drag Bike

Here’s a bike of a different color (so to speak). It’s a CB550 that’s been chopped into… something different. It’s not a cafe racer, but it is an interesting build that is actually pretty well done. The lettering on the side panels reads “Pro Street”, and this is a pretty cool drag-style bike. There was some online chatter dumping all over this bike, but if you are not planning on hauling ass through the twisties, I don’t see a problem with the bike. Yes, it has no front brake. But neither do most purpose-built drag bikes, which this is imitating. Really, who needs a front brake at the end of the 1/4 mile?

It’s from the pages of SOHC4.net, so visit if you want to read more from their forum pages.

CB550 Cafe Racer Seats

Marc posted a comment on the blog asking if I had any CB550 cafe racer style seats for sale. I don’t personally sell anything. I just find cool stuff and post it for all of us who love cafe racers to look at. So, I googled, and here’s what I found. As usual, I don’t sell it, I just find it…

It was interesting that Marc asked about CB550, because I’ve been getting a ton of traffic from CB550 searches. Not sure why the sudden interest, but seats in general are one of the top things I blog about. I suppose it is because the seat is really, at the end of the day, what distinguishes a cafe racer from a bike that simply has clip-ons or clubmans thrown on it.

CB550 Seat at caferacer.com

CB550 Cafe Seat at benjiescaferacer.com

Cb550 Cafe Seat on eBay