HONDA is getting a bit good at these custom build competitions based around its Neo Sports Café naked machines.
It was only May this year when they needed the public to pick a winner of the CB1000R custom competition, with the CB1000R-adical from Fuhrer Moto in Switzerland eventually taking the top prize.
Honda CB650R video review:
Now the pretty looking CB650R is the bike with which the builders are looking to wow the crowds with, and some of the entries look absolutely stunning.
To try and level the playing field a bit, the guys and girls at Honda are setting strict rules around budgets for parts and paint, to try and keep the competition competitive. Each builder has just €2,000 to spend on parts and accessories, and another €2,000 for paint and final finishes. Turning a CB650R into a full-on Honda custom for just €4k seems like a tough ask, but as these pictures show, it’s not impossible.
Far from it in fact, some of the machines lining up to take the top spot are just as sweet looking as some of the entries in the CB1000R competition from a couple of months back, with the retro racing designs looking best of all. Furthermore, the bikes entering the battle do not have to be road legal, meaning the designers really can throw everything at these funky little roadsters.
Here’s a selection of our favourite machines, details of how to cast your vote can be found at the bottom of the page.
Wingmotor
Taking its queues from the rally and Dakar bikes of the Honda line-up, the Wingmotor-built machine is probably the least recognisable as a CB650R. Aside from the obviously off-road-only tyres, the bike now features long-travel front forks, custom Dakar inspired bodywork, and the obligatory rally headlight assembly, complete with roadbook and a trip computer.
Whether it’s any good off-road, we’ll probably never know. What we can say is, it sure does look the part!
Mallorca Motorcycles
If there is one thing Honda has that pretty much no other manufacturer can match, it’s racing pedigree, from the early days of the brand right through to the present day. The entry from Mallorca Motorcycles looks to pay homage to that history, as they turn the CB650R into a retro-racer, inspired by bikes like the RC166, aka the Honda Six.
Hakuba Motor
One of the cleanest and freshest designs goes to this sleek looking café racer from Hakuba Motor. Of all the bikes in the competition, it looks like the one that could make it to market, and it’d sell like hotcakes if it did.
A neat trick with the styling is to keep it simple, with minor changes to the seat unit completely changing the bike. They’ve also painted the usually black frame of the bike silver, tricking you into thinking this is a far lighter and sportier machine than it is.
Esteban Parres
If you’ve ever wondered what a Supermoto version of an Africa Twin would look like, take a look at this – and squint your eyes a bit!
The Parres bike is a mixture of CB1000R seat and tail unit, with a pair of headlights from the older generation Africa Twin thrown in for good measure! It’s a mixture that shouldn’t work but it actually kind of does. We also love the tiddly little Akrapovič end can making it look every inch a race bike for the road!
The decision on which bike wins this edition is made at the end of June with the votes of all those fans who have participated through the website hondagaragedreamscontest.com, or directly at the Revival Café in Madrid.
