Building a bike with appeal that fires on all cylinders can be a challenge for custom shops, as creations can easily fall from their design balance point and end up far from the stabilized look intended for the build. David Widmann embarked on fabricating his most recent custom build with this harmonious approach in mind, and with the help of his crew at NCT Motorcycles of Austria, made good on that promise with ‘Highflyer,’ a race-ready 1978 Honda CX500.
The NCT team set the stage for the racer by tearing into all of the unnecessary extras on the CX, beginning with completely scrapping the subframe in favor of a custom unit and junking the factory front end for an inverted fork from a Ducati 749. Now requiring a custom triple clamp, David’s team took the opportunity to integrate a Motogadget LED display behind the now fairingless headlight bucket. Hydraulic master cylinders from Magura update both the front brake and clutch controls, giving the new Brembo calipers up front smooth actuation. An all-to-fitting set of handmade exhaust pipes add major bark to the V-Twin monstrosity, and provide flat track ready harmony for the Honda. Final touches were paint trim, with a fresh coat of black covering the mechanics, then a silver coat laid down on the tank and seat cowling, finished with classic blue and red stripes with gold lining. From tip to tail, this is a comprehensive build that yearns for time on the track.
