Pancake Custom's CB550
By Anthony van Someren - 27 Oct 13
Amsterdam's Boy Janssen joins the crop of new shed-builders inspired by the cafe/custom scene to build their own bike and set themselves up with their own workshop brand - in this case, Pancake Customs, and their debut build is this Honda CB cafe/brat.
The bike is a '76 550 found locally before being given a prime spot in the living room for a strip-down and all the major spannerwork (we assume Boy is single?). Boy had "no previous motorcycle knowledge", but we don't just mean on the mechanical side, turns out he'd never actually ridden a bike... Talk about a leap of faith, but this is more common than you'd think.
The frame was modified for the new rear end and delugged while the engine had the top end completely rebuilt. The carbs were also stripped down and rebuilt with new jetting to allow for the pod style air filters and open pipes.
A custom seatpan hides the battery, electrics and the keyswitch (not sure you should be telling us where the switch is hidden, dude). From there the bike was put back together with a stripped and clear-coated raw metal tank, clip-ons, minimal lighting and clocks. Header pipes are fashionably wrapped in grey, while a shortie front fender pays lip-service to wet-weather practicality, although the back end is left clear.
So - with the bike built it was time to get out there and take his bike test - which might have been a bit awkward if he hadn't passed, but as the pics shows, all was good. Boy is now building more machines under the name Pancake Customs. See more on his Facebook page, and we look forward to his next build.