The early 80s Honda CB900C is one of the most unusual bikes Honda ever made. It has a ten-speed gearbox: five ?normal? ratios and then a dual-range high/low selector, much like you?d find in a vintage Land Rover.
It also has shaft drive adapted from the Goldwing, air-assisted forks and shocks that need to be pumped up with a bicycle pump, and a kerb weight of nearly 600 pounds. Most definitely not material for a café racer conversion then, unless your name is Grzegorz Korczak and you run Poland?s Unikat workshop.

Grzegorz is a man who likes to look for positives in anything, and in the case of the CB900, one of those is the engine: a 902 cc DOHC mill with four 32 mm Keihin carbs and 84 hp, and electronic pointless ignition.
?I bought the Honda in 2014 because I wanted to build a ?strong? café racer for myself,? he tells us. ?I was a bit afraid of the unusual construction and the 10-speed gearbox?but the year of manufacture was the same as my birth, which told me it was destiny!?
Unikat have spent over five years building up this CB. ?That may seem like too long, but all that time I was slowly and successfully reaching my goal,? says Grzegorz. ?Today, only the engine, drivetrain and frame cradle remain from the original. Every other element is either built from scratch or heavily reworked.?
He?s shortened the front suspension, remodeled the tank and airbox, and repositioned the electrics under the seat. All the new aluminum components are hand-polished, and many othe...