LIKE most like-minded bikers, we love a trawl of the weird and wonderful that can be found on eBay. But it’s been a very long time since we came across anything as cool as this wickedly custom Honda ‘Baby Blade’.
Okay, so the term Baby Blade might not be totally accurate in this case. Yes, the nickname was given to Honda’s screaming CBR400RR that joined a hoard of other grey import 400s that flooded the UK in the 90s and 2000s. This, well, this isn’t that bike. It is undeniably cool, and when you dig into the work done, it is a fairly special piece of motorcycle engineering work.
It’s not easy to see it, but this miniature marvel is based on a Honda MSX125 Grom! Yep, wrapped beneath that iconic HRC custom fairing and paintwork, is a Honda Grom… well, some bits of a Grom anyway! You see, this isn’t simply a pastiche of a sports bike with stock running gear beneath the skin. The builder of this bike, they absolutely went to town on the thing.
First up is the engine and gone is the weedy 10hp unit of the standard bike, and in its place sits the motor out of the 27bhp Honda CBR300R. And it seems this wasn’t enough for the builder, who then decided to bolt on some extra juicy goodies to get a bit more poke from the engine. It’s running an 84mm piston, boosting the compression ratio to 12.5:1 and a new cylinder kit. To help get the fuel into the engine better a 42mm Throttle body has been bolted on, along with a 6-disc clutch pack. And they didn’t stop there, it’s also running an oversize injector, a custom aluminium 90-degree intake, a hot cam-shaft, new springs, and valves. That’s a hell of a lot of work to put into a funky little mini-bike!
Sadly, the seller doesn’t post anything about the power output, but to be honest in a bike like this it really doesn’t matter. It started life with 10bhp, they bolted on another 17bhp, and if the modifications have added another 5hp at most, this thing would be seriously good fun around your local go-kart track!
It does though have a catch… well, a couple of catches. First up, it’s based in the USA, meaning you’ll have a hefty (and costly) job getting it back to Blighty. The next issue is the price, it’s $10,000. Granted, the builder probably did put that much into building the thing, along with a shed-load of working hours, but $10k for what is effectively a novelty motorcycle… that’s a fair chunk of cash to shell out for raising a smile at your local bike meet.
Full information on the bike can be found on eBay.
