This Honda Bike Made Out of Rock Is Stone-Cold Awesome
For when Fred and Barney go cruising.
It began, as so many questionable things do, as a challenge. German magazine Custombike invited readers to build the baddest MFer they could for a contest with only two rules: the cost had to stay below 5,000 Euro, and the resulting machine still had to ride under its own power.
Chris Zernia thought the toughest material he knew is the basalt mined from the Eifel Mountains, so he got a 990-pound slab delivered and proceeded to carve out a hollow fuel tank, seat, side covers and headlight fairing for his 1982 Honda CX500.
At 780 pounds, this hard rock Honda weighs about double its original curb weight, so Zernia reinforced its frame with additional steel tubing.
He apparently hopes to set a world speed record for stone motorcycles. There probably isn’t a current record holder, which is good, because with its factory-stock 500cc engine’s 55 horsepower, this bike isn’t going to go very fast.
The CX500 has long been ignored as custom bike fodder because of its homely lines and small engine, but some imaginative builders have shown that was a mistake, with impressive custom examples like these from Blacktrack and Auto Fabrica.
h/t: InsideHook