And it begins...

I've always wanted a Cafe Racer.  A lot of it, admittedly has to do with style.  Where I live, the realities of owning a modern performance motorcycle is the following:
1.  You have do drive/ride for hours to find any roads with curves in them.  Smooth roads with curves are nonexistent.
2.  Our riding season is short.
3.  My riding season should be great, as my job in education gives me summers off; however, summer is also the time for "getting things done" in terms of the house, holidays, and of course racing.  I have "given up" on streetbikes several times in the past as an expensive, fast machine has sat idle for days or weeks at a time, while I have been preparing to go to the track.
4.  I want to modify and customize everything.  Everything.  I've kicked the habit with cars we own, as I can now see them as simply tools.  Bikes on the other hand...  Modification is expensive, especially on new machines.  An older bike allows for tweaking and improvement on a much lower cost scale.
5.  The government in my province is anti-motorcycle.  Anything over 500cc costs in excess of $1000/yr to insure, and that does not cover fire, theft, or vandalism.  Count on double that for that coverage.  Add some extra power, and extra cost, and the price creeps closer to $2000.  My last bike, a 2006 Kawasaki 636, was nearly $1500/yr to insure.  That is obscene!

So the goal is to find an older (there is some relief given to older bikes), under 500cc machine that could be made into a cafe racer.  Obvious choices were honda cbs or Kawasaki KZ machines.  I though I had something when a 73 CB500 4 showed up on kijiji, but it was sold before I could get to it.  I also didn't want to re-do or un-do anyone else's work, and cheap was the order of the day.

So, I put a "wanted" ad up, and someone responded.  The bike in question was on the list in terms of possibilities, but it was, honestly, on the outer fringes of what I was looking for.  A CX500.  Liquid cooled, v-twin (mounted transversely, like a Guzzi), shaft drive.  There was one model line that was more desireable, with an 18" rear wheel and a cafe tank.  However, this was not the case. Worse yet, its former life saw it indignantly suffer as a Shriner's Parade bike.  When it rolled off the truck, this is what I saw...

It is huge!  These bikes were always heavy, but what made things worse in my case were the sturdy saddlebags, the crash bars, and the stock exhaust.

That being said, goal 1 of any cafe project is to lose some weight.

Massive headlight!  The price was right, however, and money changed hands.  At the price I paid, the bike was a non-runner.  I wanted to be very careful of how I spend my money, so I hooked up a nearly dead battery after replacing the very dead battery it came with, and got the headlight, horn, turn signals and idiot lights all to work.  I even got the starter to turn over a bit, but the bike was nowhere near running.  Just as well, as I need to drain the fluids and start from scratch.

The good news is, there may be some value in some of the items I want to remove from the bike, so that is always nice.  I have, already, purchased my first "new" part.  A pair of clubman cafe bars.  Let the games begin...