Max's custom cx500 brat style café racer

‘Spike’ is the multi-bike brain child of Sydney’s Max Hughes of Double Barrel Garage. Starting with an ’81 CX500 as a base, the final product before you is an amalgamation of several different CX’s from all over the world.

“In the end the design brief was pretty simple. Throw out all the plastic parts & out of all the parts I have in the garage, use the ones that I mix & match to get the bike looking its best.” – Max

The result of such a mashup leaves the bike now sporting a single disc front end from a 78 CX500 with a disc & caliper from a CX500 euro. The rear wheel is of a CX500 Custom & a motor comprised of two different ignition systems.

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Copious custom builds consume the moto interwebs where craftsmanship is paramount, originality is a requirement and ride-ability usually rides pillion to aesthetics. Max’s CX however seems that hit the nail on the head, without ‘keeping up with the Joneses’ in the process.

It’s built to ride around the city and beachside suburbs so no unnecessary Ohlin’s suspension here. The instruments have been cleaned up but with a little ingenuity the idiot lights are in relocated into the headlight housing. Every decision is sensible but beautiful, leaving us with a rock star build with a down-to-earth personality.

Max prides himself on the effort and details that has been lovingly wrenched into ‘Spike’ over the past few years.

“A lot of time was spent on the details. The custom made tank & motor badges. The oil temp gauge that screws into the dipstick hole & the tank paint & pin striping that was done by Smiths Concepts. The fenders were made & modified. The speedo now sits neatly beside the front fork. The exhaust is a custom stainless 2 into 1. The seat was fabricated from scratch & the battery box was made to fit where the old collector box went.”

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With a skinny rear end and broad shoulders the build was lovingly dubbed ‘Spike’ by one of Max’s friends. Named after the bulldog character in the TV show, ‘Tom & Jerry’. Whilst the bars themselves are quite narrow and lend themselves well to the inner city riding style, it’s the lines from the tank that fill out the shoulders leaving a stance that leans forward like a physically dominating Prop set to plough into a rugby scrum.

Not a game changer, but a touch that’s worth noting is the effort required to hand drill the 6mm holes, equally spaced between every spoke of the mag wheels. They not only bring another unique feature to the CX, but with the rear wheel being filled in so much with the shaft, the holes add an stronger consistency between the front and back rims.

Tucked neatly above the front wheel are two details that sum up the bike. The thoughtful pin-striping that flows from the tank through to the front guard, and the barely visible speedo, nestled behind the left fork that finds the riders eye line as you hunch down over the low slung bars. Everything is in its place, in clean fashion with no mess, no clutter and no gimmicks.