Scotty Dont’s 1980 Honda CM400E Build

As a fan of the Honda CM400 series, I’m frustrated by the lack of builds I come across on the web. I think it’s a great bike for people who haven’t chopped a bike before, and even people that have chopped before. They are super cheap and easy to find on craigslist.

If I had to guess why the lack of support for the bikes I would have to say, it’s the lack of factory and aftermarket parts. Lack of parts usually means fabrication is needed or shelling out cash for someone else to do the work.

The cool thing is, when you do find a CM build on the web, because of the lack of parts, these people are forced to use their imagination. They are forced to come up with their own solutions and not just opening a catalog and busting out the credit card. So when I come across a build I get pretty pumped and try to follow it from start to finish.

Scotty Dont’s CM400E build over at the MassDriven forums, is one of the build I’ve been following. He took a 1980 Honda CM400E and created a nice “Cafe/Bobber Bastard Child”.

Head over to the massdriven forums to check out the build from start to finish.

Another Great Honda CM400 Chopper

Since getting the Harley I’ve pretty much given up on the idea of chopping a Honda CM400. I could give you a million excuses about why but I will save you that.

Even though I’m not doing my own, I still appreciate it when I come across someones else’s CM400 build. These builds are not something you will find a lot of on the web. Sure, you will find people saying they have done one and may even post a blurry picture of something that may be a Honda. But there is next to no information out there about customizing these bikes.

Knowing the frustrations with trying to find information and inspirations for these builds, I try to post any information I came across. Today I have a new find I want to share. This new find is hands down the best CM400 build I have seen.

This build comes from a shop in Dallas, Texas called Slaughter City Customs. I came across the build on their Myspace page. They have a bunch of pictures, starting from the stock 1990 Honda CM400T bike to the beautiful finish work.

Head over to their myspace page to check out more pictures and ask questions.

1981 Honda CM400E

I don’t think I’ve ever blogged about this.

Last September I bought a 1981 Honda CM400E to act as my beginner street motorcycle. I bought the bike on the cheap(which means it’s not in the best running condition) and quickly sent it off to a shop to rebuild the carbs. Since I got the bike back in October it has been an awesome ride. The only problems I have with it are that it’s ugly and I’ve outgrown the power. In January I started thinking about restoring or doing some custom stuff tot he bike. I was looking around on YouTube to see what other CM400 owners might be doing. In my search I came across this sweet looking thing.

I immediately messaged the guy and asked him a ton of questions. After a few back and forths he sent me a breakdown of his build and some more pictures.

Rob,

Basically i started off with a $250 dollar 81 CM400 and started goofing around with it as a joke. It obviously turned alittle more serious as parts started to actually look cool. What you see is still pretty close to a stock frame, tank, tires, and engine. The tank is the stock tank, i just molded the outside with bondo to make it look custom, then painted it with high gloss rust oleum (waxed it like 30 times, it looks like real automotive paint now). The frame was cut right behind the shocks, then the shocks were removed and replaced with 10 inch peices of steal makeing it a hard tail. I cut the stock rear fender and tucked it farther in the frame, and removed the front all together. Got the solo seat off ebay for 25 bucks, its got 3 inch springs that level it pretty well. The bars are Z-bars off a triumph, but can be purchased at www.jcwhitney.com for cheap and look great on these bikes. All the stock cabes matched right up with the higher bars. The exhaust is just 2 shorty pipes from jcwhitney and i have them wraped with black header tape for a v-8 muscle car (nice old school look). As for the electrical, i took the iginition and rewired it to be down by the carbs where modern bikes have it, and took the whole spedo and tack assembly off. I replaced the spedo with a small one from jcwhitney for about 40 bucks. The headlight is stock, but i got new brackets again from jcwhitney for 10 bucks that look much better. I made the rear plate holder with 2 pieces of steal and a license plate frame, then hooked up the maltese light. Also replaced the signals with vintage looking marker lights, not bad looking for 7 dollars a piece. I tried to keep it cheap, but looking good. It gets lots of looks and total price in parts is about $250 making it a $500 dollar bike! Anyway, these 400s are great bikes and they run forever if they are well taken care of. I have 18,000 miles and it runs strong. Here is the list again in short of what i did.

* Chopped rear frame
* Cut rear fender
* Solo Seat w/3 inch Springs
* Hard-tail Struts
* Smaller Speedometer (no tach)
* Re-routed ignition from handle-bars to the side (more modern)
* 12’ shorty exhaust pipes
* Wrapped Header pipes
* Side Mount License plate with Maltese cross taillight
* 4 vintage style turn signals
* 10” Z-style handle bars
* Maltese Side Mirror
* Stock gas tank, molded to look more custom
* Red Under-body lights
* New Grips
* New pegs
* New rear tire

Good luck with your build, and again if you have any ?s i can try to help. Ive attached some pictures, hopefully they can help give you some ideas. Also Id like to see pics when you are done, its always cool to see what other people do with vintage bikes.

The thing looks so sweet. I will be definitely using it for inspiration.

I plan on doing something with my CM400 but not entirely sure. I’m going to start putting more thought into it and should have some ideas soon.