There’s nothing pretty about the Honda CX500, but it does have its charms. Case in point: the owner of this CX500 picked the bike for its engine’s industrial looks and rev-happy nature. For the rest, he turned to BJ English at Brick House Builds in Missouri.
BJ’s no stranger to the humble Honda V-twin, and has a few CX- and GL-based builds under his belt. ?It’s a very versatile bike to build,? he says. ?Think of them as Sportsters, in that they aren’t excellent at anything, but decent at everything!?

His casual attitude belies just how much work went into turning the 1981-model CX500 into the spicy street tracker it is now. The project started with a less-than-ideal donor bike, and a brief loaded with expectations. ?The customer wanted a very trick high-end custom that was also comfortable and fun to ride,? says BJ. ?When it arrived, the bike was in very sorry shape. It had already been modified but was incomplete, and unfortunately had very poor work done to it. As I went to push the bike into the shop the entire seat and tail literally broke off in my hand… it was that bad.?

One of the biggest upgrades here is the motor, which BJ swapped out for a 1983-model Honda GL650 Silver Wing mill. Since the engine had been pulled from a wrecked bike found at a junkyard, he had no idea what condition it was really in?so it underwent a full rebuild.
The job included some light porting work, along with custom intake manifolds. Some of the inte...