Written by Martin Hodgson | Photography by Kenny Smith
All that glitters is certainly not gold; what was supposed to be a quality custom café racer built by a hot shot from California arrived in Australia a disappointing mess. Some carefully taken photos and a host of hidden problems meant this wasn’t discovered until the CB550 had crossed the Pacific. But Justin Holmes of Australia’s PopBang Classics came to the rescue and every time the owner asked him to up the ante, he delivered. The finished product is a supercharged 1975 Honda Hot Rod that finally has the Hollywood happy ending.

The owner of the bike Aaron, is the proprietor of Ze Pickle restaurants, and Justin has worked on his bikes for years. But one day he got a call to come and check out this new ride that Aaron had brought over from the states. ?At that stage it was pretty stock, with bare metal tank that had knee cut outs roughly bashed into it with a hammer and a bare metal cafe tail that was just tacked together leaving sharp edges exposed (I sliced my hand open on it). The clear coat was flaking off from all the rust forming underneath, the brakes didn?t work, the wiring was a birds nest of just red wires and it blew more smoke than a coal train,? Justin recalls.
Not good. So after getting the call to repair it every time it broke down, Aaron finally looked over at his custom crafting mate and said, ?bugger it, cut it up and make something new, make it a PopBang bike.? He’d barely finis...