Six Squared

SIX SQUARED

NO EXPENSE SPARED ON THIS CUSTOM HONDA CBX

GARY INMAN

A custom-made T45 steel-tube chassis has helped transform Honda's paddle steamer into a café racer. That is some trick to pull off, but it wasn't easy, says CRC of London. Six Keihin FCR flat-slide carbs and six Racefit titanium headers bookend the air-cooled block. The Honda’s new Öhlins FGRT 430 fork, TTX shock, and Brembo HPK calipers would make most AMA Superbike racers salivate. But those are all

the obvious elements. The detailing of this bike is what makes it one of the most memorable specials I’ve seen.

“One thing we really struggled to find was neat switch gear,” CRC’s Will Allen says. “It either looked too chunky or too oldfashioned or too custom. When we saw the Ducati Multistrada switch gear, we knew we had to use it.”

While the Ducati switches weren’t expensive, even brandnew, they work on a CAN-bus-style system of pulses. If they were a telephone, they’re a touchscreen smartphone, while, by comparison, the CBX’s loom has a rotary dial, is avocado green, and is screwed to your grandma’s kitchen wall. Amini-ECU allows the disparate components to communicate.

Frame and alloy tank were made in-house at CRC, as were many of the one-off components that make the bike stand out in a world increasingly awash with so-called café racers.

The front fender bracket, which incorporates the radial caliper spacers, is one example of superior, whole-motorcycle thinking. Then there are the brackets that mount the oil cooler. And the paddock-stand forks that incorporate laser-etched axle adjuster plates. And the fact there isn’t a zip-tie visible anywhere. Instead, cable ties are machined from aluminum.

The CBX was built to show what CRC could do, so the company was reluctant to cut any corners. The result is a bike with a price tag of about $65,000. Quality rarely comes cheap. CW