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The Kneeslider

Doers Builders and Positive People

CR-450 Clubman Café from Phil Little

By Paul Crowe

CR-450 Clubman Cafe from Phil Little
CR-450 Clubman Cafe from Phil Little

OK, you carved out that spot in the garage, you have some room, a nice set of tools, a workbench, everything you need to build your own little classic cafe racer, something with a bit of panache and classic good looks. What’s missing? Well, let’s face it, with a lot of us, it’s the skill necessary to figure out what bike to start with, what to modify, how to modify it, and of course, our actual hands on skills in the metal work or fiberglass departments aren’t much either. Dang! Well, before you kick your dog, slam the door and start watching TV, how about building your own CR-450 Clubman Cafe like the one shown here?

CR-450 Clubman Cafe from Phil Little
CR-450 Clubman Cafe from Phil Little

Phil Little, of Phil Little Racing, he’s the guy that put together the slick SXR Street Tracker kit for your Sportster, has once again done some magic, this time with the Honda CB450 and CL450 twins, those old tried and true friends you can find all over the place for very little money, like in your friend’s garage or in the back of the used section at your local dealer. Way back in 2003, Phil started this project and just this year finished it, you know how that goes, but, like his other offerings, it looks like a tastefully modified Honda with a lot of the cool factor engineered right in, yet, you can build one of these yourself. Imagine riding over to your local bike night, everyone loves your new wheels and you can say, “Yep, built it myself.” No one else will have one, everyone will think you’re some kind of super talented fabricator and don’t worry, you’re secret is safe with me.

CR-450 Clubman Cafe from Phil Little
CR-450 Clubman Cafe from Phil Little

Once you have an old CB/CL450, you’ll be like the Honda Kid following Mr. Miyagi’s rules, “Bolt off, Bolt on,” of course, you’ll need some elbow grease and time, too, old donor bikes tend to need some cleanup and care, but you knew that going in. I think this is a very nice resto-mod of the old Honda and it fits in nicely with the slow economy, a project for the “hands on” kind of guy, even if your building skills are less than expert.

CR-450 Clubman Cafe from Phil Little
CR-450 Clubman Cafe from Phil Little

Here’s the press release:

Mid sized Japanese bikes are ideal custom project candidates because host bikes and parts are plentiful and cheap. Performance and handling are locked in time but who cares…a bike like this is just rolling art anyway.

This CB-450 café was started in 2003 by Phil Little. The build was to be a showcase for his CR450 body kit and hard parts. The bike’s completion, in 2010, came after the Omar product line was purchased by Robert Ward of Concord, CA. Little now makes street tracker kits for Sportsters at PhilLittleRacing.com

Honda CB450 or CL450 motorcycles need no modification to accept the Omar kit. Other than fabricating a mount for the tail fender, the café kit is a simple bolt-on project. Builders do not have to pull engines or paint frames.

Most of the needed CR450 café products can be sourced from OmarsDTR.com: fairing, café bars, bar end mirrors, tank, tail, taillight, shocks and 2-into-1 exhaust. The front fender is a reshaped www.maiers-mfg.com ABS fender mated to the OEM CB450 fender brace. The CR450’s paint is Ford’s High Performance Red. The Clubman parts will fit motorcycles other than the CB/CL450.

On its first public showing, the bike won Best in Class at a Minnesota VJMC meet. Phil Little has been a custom builder of vintage motorcycles for 45 years and many of his projects can be seen at PhilLittleRacing.com/toys.

CR-450 Clubman Cafe from Phil Little
CR-450 Clubman Cafe from Phil Little
CR-450 Clubman Cafe from Phil Little
CR-450 Clubman Cafe from Phil Little

Link: Phil Little Racing
Link: Omar’s Dirt Track racing

Posted on July 16, 2010 Filed Under: Motorcycle Accessories, Motorcycle Builders, Motorcycle Kits


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Comments

  1. simon says

    July 16, 2010 at 10:51 am

    What a pretty little bike! Funny, I was just thinking, after seeing the Ryco Suzuki single, what a similar treatment to a Honda 250 Nighthawk might look like, and this comes along. I am tremendously encouraged to see smaller and mid-sized bikes being given this kind of custom treatment. These bikes have always been immensely practical, relatively inexpensive, and good fun, but they’ve always been lacking in the style department. (Manufacturers take note!) Not a lot of us can afford superbikes these days, and for that matter, the way things are out there, some of us can’t even afford one of these… yet, But something like this is not out of reach. I see a future project, soon as some bills get paid. Nicely done, Mr. Little.

  2. knotlinks says

    July 16, 2010 at 10:53 am

    Gorgeous. Gorgeous gorgeous. I love the color scheme, windscreen is killer, stance and level of “bling” is just right. Gorgeous.

  3. Willie says

    July 16, 2010 at 11:26 am

    Top shelf build. Interesting choice of bikes. The torsion rocker 450 is unique.

  4. mark says

    July 16, 2010 at 11:42 am

    Beautiful… except for the offset taillight and license plate. That just looks out of place. But tuck them in under the seat cowl, and it would be perfect.

  5. anon says

    July 16, 2010 at 11:46 am

    Stunning. The man is clearly a ‘do-er’ as is talked about here…

  6. Pizza says

    July 16, 2010 at 11:52 am

    Very nice… but I’d skip the fairing (looks like an 80’s BMW) and agree with Mark about the tail light and plate. Cafe racers should be stripped down and clean.

  7. coho says

    July 16, 2010 at 12:35 pm

    Slick, inexpensive and ‘real’.
    Very nice.

  8. Sick Cylinder says

    July 16, 2010 at 2:19 pm

    Very nice apart from the gold engine and gold rear drum and the license plate!

  9. todd says

    July 16, 2010 at 3:27 pm

    A little too much of the “Gold Touch” for me. Kind of like the extra trim level on Toyotas. Great, clean work but you wouldn’t even need to go through all the effort since a stocker is 90% already there:
    http://www.knucklebusterinc.com/features/wp-content/2008/05/P4231233.jpg

    If you want real cool CB450s, no need to look farther than Todd Hennings:
    http://web.me.com/thracing/THR/CB450_500.html

    -todd

  10. kneeslider says

    July 16, 2010 at 3:53 pm

    For those of you focusing on a color you don’t like, there’s an easy low tech fix, … it’s called paint. If you’re doing the conversion, you can choose whatever you like.

  11. BoxerFanatic says

    July 16, 2010 at 8:09 pm

    @pizza…

    That would be a ’70’s era BMW… The historic R90S.

    I was thinking that was a nice repro of the R90S fairing, actually. A pretty much direct, high quality copy.

    This looks like a great little bike… I’d rather have /6 or R100S or something fitted like an R90S-like resto-mod cafe racer. 😀

  12. pabsyboots says

    July 16, 2010 at 9:18 pm

    gorgeous ! with an overlooked motor

  13. Mule says

    July 16, 2010 at 10:50 pm

    There is an extremely fine line on a nice car or bike between just the right amount of gold and way too much. Close to the Mexican border we see tons of cars and bicycles with lots of gold paint. So that part is sorta over the top IMO.

    The thin cross-section tank looks awesome, but makes the fairing look very un-aerodynamic in comparison. For a stock framed bike it looks really good. I agree with the other comments on the protruding license plate bracket.

  14. Hawkeye says

    July 17, 2010 at 12:13 am

    Take away all the billet, spray it gloss black, add a kick stand, and I built one 22 yrs ago in Brockport NY, with tickets to prove it!!

  15. Hawkeye says

    July 17, 2010 at 12:21 am

    Actually that was 32 yrs ago…..sucks getting retired….

  16. Hammerspur says

    July 17, 2010 at 7:53 am

    “Pizza:
    Very nice… but I’d skip the fairing (looks like an 80’s BMW) and agree with Mark about the tail light and plate.
    “BoxerFanatic:
    @pizza…That would be a ’70’s era BMW…”
    OR most any ’70’s cafe’ mod.
    —————————-
    “Pizza: Cafe racers should be stripped down and clean.”
    Lines look pretty clean to my eye, plus authentic to the era, colors are one’s own choice.
    Believe the light/plate choice was just for some variety and to show the aft lines as a period club race modified woul have looked.

    Despite the Brit ‘cafe racer’ etymology of evening racing from one cafe’ to another, pub-to-pub (club-to-club this side of the pond) those of us in my area who built bikes like this (a small subculture compared to the ape-hanger n’ sissy-bar gang) nearly always fitted frame mount or large front end mounted fairings to our bikes…
    BECAUSE during daylight hours L-O-N-G high speed runs on regional highways mixed with almost equally fast riding on rural surface roads was the norm, sometimes on bikes very much like the example featured here.

    Nice to have aero bodywork to create the bubble for such use.

  17. Oldtimer says

    July 17, 2010 at 10:15 am

    I like it.
    As mentioned, the paint matters not one wit. Paint it.
    Taillight/license: move it.
    Looks like a 70s or 80s BMW or most any cafe mod……I am curious as to what era cafe bike would satisfy?
    By the way, the speedo needs to be mounted at a little more of an angle to be easily seen. Perhaps even that glaring flaw could be fixed…I don’t know.
    I still like it.

  18. Boog says

    July 17, 2010 at 10:37 am

    I always thought that this engine was one of the nicest looking ones Honda ever produced. SUCH and improvement in looks over the previous forward-tilted twin on the cb/cl 72/77 250’s and 305’s. Speaking of these, they were the original factory cafe racers…I still have a handlebar off one of these on my current bike.

    You don’t see many of the old “black bombers” these days, but apparently they were pretty tough as for 20 years or so after they came out I would see lots of them being used as daily drivers.

    Nice work… the style is right on…

  19. nortley says

    July 17, 2010 at 10:55 am

    In 1970, I bought a crashed Black Bomber for $50, put it in a salvaged but straight frame, put on a CB350 front end – it was free – made up a pair of rear sets, using a spare Ariel cable to work the rear brake, made a screwed on scoop for the front brake from a slice of Volvo piston, slapped on some Ace bars – about the only part I bought – and called it a cafe racer. About a year later, it started smoking, so when winter came I tore it down. I had to cut off one of the head to cylinder dowels to get the cylinder block off. When the bike had been crashed the head and cylinders had twisted in relation to the crankcase. The bores had interesting wear patterns. I only kept the bike a few years, and had at least as much fun with it as any other bike. And, that is one tough motor.

  20. Ken Fontenot says

    July 17, 2010 at 11:12 am

    I like it…..a LOT! Excellent look for a stock framed 450 Honda! That tank and tailpeice look incredable. I do agree that its too much gold but thats something you would do to your own taste when building the bike, no rules there. I have seen a few fairings that would fit the bike better and the front fender should be just a little lower, closer to the tire. I also agree the taillight and lic plate brkt shoud be under the tail but these are nitpicks on a wonderful execution! The Stance is just right, I like the old 450 Hondas, this is very inspirational to anyone wanting to build a nice cafe racer……like ME! I think that tank and tail would also fit nicely on an XS650….hummm, its got my creative wheels turnin.

  21. Steve W says

    July 17, 2010 at 10:55 pm

    I was a Honda mechanic when these bikes were new. The original “Black Bomber” was a real piece of —-, but as many motorcycles do they evolved into a very good package. The nice part of this is that what is done here can be applied to almost any vintage motorcycle with a little vision.

  22. woolyhead says

    July 18, 2010 at 4:47 am

    Reminds of the two 450’s I had in the 70’s………one a four speed and the other a five speed. Fiberglass tanks…..throw anything not needed in a pile and go riding (don’t forget the drag bars). They were pretty fast for what they were with a diet !

  23. Keith Y. says

    July 18, 2010 at 1:59 pm

    I would like to know the manufacturer of the speedo used on this project. I need one. Thanks.

  24. Keith Y. says

    July 18, 2010 at 2:29 pm

    Speedo looks like Drag Specialties. Thanks

  25. Rich says

    July 18, 2010 at 6:44 pm

    I like it. I prefer some sort of fairing, and that one fits nicely.

  26. DarmahBum says

    July 19, 2010 at 12:41 am

    Good stuff. Very nicely sorted. I wouldn’t change a thing. It’s dope as is!

  27. Pizza says

    July 19, 2010 at 9:53 am

    @ Hammerspur/BoxerFanatic

    I think the lines look pretty clean here also… as I said very nice. Fairing is just a matter of taste. I grew up in Britain where you never saw a fairing on a cafe racer – the idea was to replace heavy fenders/tank/seat etc with lightweight fibreglass and alloy bits – and remove as much unwanted stuff as possible. The riding position definitely wasn’t much good for long distance comfort and they were mostly still used for blasting from pub to pub. As I said, all just a matter of taste.

  28. jim says

    July 19, 2010 at 12:57 pm

    Wonderful effort — this is what club racers were in the 70s; but they never looked as professional and “together” as this one! Colors are a matter of personal preference; I agree that the gold looks a little cheezy, but paint covers a multitude of sins on a well-used donor bike. BTW — I’ve found that Rust-Oleum is a great paint for older bikes; it’s relatively cheap, goes on fairly easy and, with some elbow grease, rubs out to a good gloss like solid-color enamels of the 60s. There’s a decent range of color choices, plus it’s hard as nails and impervious to almost any fuel or solvent once it’s thoroughly dry (about three weeks).

    I can’t see any problems with the fairing in relation to the rest of the bike, as it has to provide some protection and aerodynamics. Love the idea of this treatment on an XS650. For some reason, it always gets around to those fabulous Yamahas!

  29. Scotduke says

    July 20, 2010 at 6:59 am

    That’s nice – not sure about the gold engine but the rest is excellent.

  30. Nicolas says

    July 21, 2010 at 11:28 am

    till a few month ago I had a CB500t (450 twin with longer stroke) cafe racer, the sweetest looking thing ever. Now it shaked like hell, didn’t haul much @ss, but it was bullet proof, fun to ride, definitely turned heads and drew compliments … way to go

  31. den says

    July 21, 2010 at 6:06 pm

    Lovely!

  32. Animedevildog says

    November 30, 2010 at 7:28 pm

    An excellent job. I do agree on the plate and taillight looking out of place. Other than that, it looks to me to be flawless. And the “it’s called paint” comment… THANK YOU! I have always been a fan of people doing their bikes the way THEY want it, and not what everyone else THINKS they should be. If I were to listen to the majority when it comes to my bike, I would be riding either a bone stock ACE (my ACE is a work in progress), a 250 Ninja, or a Hayabusa. Kudos to Mr. Little for building such a wonderful bike. It reminds me a lot of what i want to do to the new VT750RS

  33. jj2k says

    April 8, 2011 at 12:17 am

    This bike is perfect just as it is.
    Would I change something if I owned it? Sure. But then don’t we all?
    This bike is great and if I owned it, I’d leave it alone …. till it’s time to “freshen it up”.
    (grin)

    jj2k

  34. Brent says

    August 26, 2011 at 8:56 pm

    I like it. Even the BMWish headlight fairing. My only quibble would be that it isn’t a CR450. I have a CR450 in my garage. It’s probably one of the very few CR450s that is license for the street, because it’s a two-stroke motocross bike.

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