Salty Speed Co's CB100
By Anthony van Someren - 28 Oct 13
Matt Hipsley is a 25 year old civil engineer who first came to our attention on The Bike Shed when he built a lovely little CB250 which was nominated for Bike of the Month on the Do The Ton forum. Since then Matt has set himself up as Salty Speed Co, a garage in Wollongong, NSW, Australia, around an hour south of Sydney, building bikes after hours with the assistance of his good friend Sam Connelly.
"The CB250 Brat Tracker started out as a project between friends, and when it stirred up some interest online we had a couple of people interested in us building them something similar." Their first client, Liza, had a modest budget with few features she knew she wanted on this Honda CB100, but the rest was up to Matt & Sam.
The CB now rolls on Dunlop TT100's, 3.00 front and 3.50 rear, which the guys just managed to squeeze into the tiny frame and stock forks. The bulky stock speedo was replaced by a mini Daytona unit mounted on a custom bracket that also houses LED warning lights, and the bars were replaced with Ventura 'Suzuki style' wearing Posh grips. The lighting has been updated with Posh indicators and a DCC taillight.
The frame has been tidied up with a rear hoop to accommodate the custom seat, trimmed in black leather. The stock front fender has been shortened, with the rear fender made from an off-cut from a Royal Enfield. The tiny black-painted engine has been left mostly stock, but has been given a bit more bite with a stainless 'quiet-core' muffler from Cone Engineering.
The tasteful retro paint is what really sets the build apart, with a custom mix of grey, black and white tones sprayed by Dutchy's Motorcycle Spray Art.
By retaining the stock headlight, sidecovers and original style graphics the bike could pass as a simple restoration to the untrained eye, but those in the know are treated to a clean, simple custom build - perfect for hopping around the beaches on New South Wales.
"This CB100 is our first completed commissioned build, along with a recently completed cb400f (of which there is a video up on our website and we are currently processing the photos). We are also currently building a Yamaha Scorpio tracker and SR400 brat. Soon we will launch our online shop featuring a bunch of custom parts for Honda CBs and Yamaha SRs."
Nice work Matt & Sam, and thanks for sharing. We look forward to seeing more from Salty Speed Co on The Bike Shed. You can also follow the guys on Instagram.