Okay, so it’s not unusual for a CX to produce such a reaction, but it’s usually because people are puzzled at how so many seem to have survived (with the unkindest voices adding ‘Why?’). After all, ten or so years ago you barely saw one of Honda’s infamous ‘plastic maggots’ and yet now they’re everywhere. Perhaps some mad genius bought every example he could lay his hands on in the 1980s and has been quietly storing them away in a huge underground facility (that sounds much more impressive than a shed or a warehouse) and has now unleased them on an unsuspecting 21st-century audience. Or maybe they’ve been replicating in basements like some two-wheeled version of Night of the Living Dead.
Although Tweety, as this CX is known (there will be an explanation later), was basically completed surprisingly swiftly, it has been an ongoing project for Ger Conlon at C&C Choppers in Cork to fine-tune over the last two years. There are usually three distinct stages of reaction that people undergo when seeing Tweety for the first time. Trust me, I’ve watched it happen many times.
The first reaction is when people first spot the bike from a distance and the expression on their face says; “Oh, that looks like a cool streetfightery sort of café racer, I’ll go and have a closer look.”
As they get closer to the bike, the second reaction is—and sometimes you will hear this said out loud— “Bloody hell, it’s a CX500!”
The third reaction is when they are standing beside Tweety and you can watch a look of bewilderment and mystification spread across their face as they spot just how clever this motorcycle is and the first question is usually, “How does it work?”
هذه القصة مأخوذة من طبعة Issue 256 من 100% Biker.
ابدأ النسخة التجريبية المجانية من Magzter GOLD لمدة 7 أيام للوصول إلى آلاف القصص المتميزة المنسقة وأكثر من 9,000 مجلة وصحيفة.
بالفعل مشترك ? تسجيل الدخول
هذه القصة مأخوذة من طبعة Issue 256 من 100% Biker.
ابدأ النسخة التجريبية المجانية من Magzter GOLD لمدة 7 أيام للوصول إلى آلاف القصص المتميزة المنسقة وأكثر من 9,000 مجلة وصحيفة.
بالفعل مشترك? تسجيل الدخول
There's No Place Like Chrome
When settling down to write a feature for a magazine, it’s necessary to have two things, nay, three things in front of you. A computer is useful, it saves all that messy ink and blotting paper that we used in those long gone school days, a strong hot mug of tea should also be on the desk (goes without saying), and finally, a set of scribbled notes that a couple of months ago resembled a detailed description of a motorcycle, but that by now, are largely illegible…
Spike And Bob's Big Swedish Adventure: Part 5
In 1979 Hasse took Caprice to the Norrtälje show for the first time, but he had changes for the bike in mind and, during the winter, he picked up a jammer frame and a set of 20-inch tubes.
Black Dog Custom Show - The Black Dog, Broadmayne, Dorset
Named after the only pub in the village of Broadmayne near Dorchester, nobody there can quite remember how long the informal get together that is the Black Dog Custom Show has been going
TWEETY
Over the last couple of years, very few if any motorcycles have inspired such bafflement and scratching of heads as Dan Duggan’s Honda CX500
THE DOUBTER
Every project starts somewhere and this one began at the Bike Shed Show at Tobacco Dock in London or, to be more accurate, when my mate Matt Donaldson turned to me and said, “I bet you can’t build a bike good enough for here.” Well, that set me to work!
JBS SPECIAL
Jarno comes from a family with petrol in their blood. His father races classic motorcycles and Jarno was raised on a farm where the barns are full of motorcycles instead of cows! This is his very first project, the Jarno Bastian Special
CUSTOMBIKE Messe Bad Salzuflen, Germany
Sometimes what is missing from a show is more interesting than what’s present. With the German show Custombike celebrating its fifteenth anniversary, the event remains a showcase for European customising in all its diversity— with the additional benefit of a focus on parts that are homologated and approved for Europe
COVERT MISSION
It’s not often that I have to sneak in and photograph a motorcycle without the owner knowing anything about it—something that was made tougher in this case by the said motorcycle being kept at said owner’s house
Carry On Screaming
As is often the case, I first caught sight of Nige Biffin’s cool Honda CB750 at a local show last summer, standing out as it did from the stock stuff and the classics present. Not surprisingly, it wasn’t just the ace paint that grabbed my attention, but the obvious quality of the build throughout. I needed to know more…
Paul's Harley
Ensuring that a custom motorcycle will comfortably chew up the miles is perhaps not always one of the main priorities for every builder, but for anyone in the National Chopper Club, it’s essential. Never more so than when you happen to live in one of the far flung parts of this island which means that you’ve usually got a journey to do before you even start going anywhere, as Paul, NCC National Secretary and member of Chopper Club Kernow, knows all too well. This is the story of his latest chop.
