Milwaukee’s Mama Tried Show is one of the most eclectic shows on the calendar. Choppers, flat trackers and café racers all vie for attention, in a jumbled sea of custom motorcycle goodness.
To get noticed, you either need something extremely classy, or totally over the top. This Honda CX650 is a little bit of both?with tasty mods and a paint job that’s as cool as gelato on a hot day. So it didn’t take me long to sniff it out at the show earlier this year.

It’s the work of the Chicago shop Federal Moto, which is headquartered just 100 miles down the road from Milwaukee. As the shop’s ninth build, its official designation is ‘FED-009’?but the guys have taken to calling it ‘Two Scoops.’
The donor was a 1983-model Honda CX650 Custom?a rarity in the US. ?The CX650C was only available in the States for one year, before Honda pulled the plug,? explains Federal’s lead builder, Michael Muller. ?So when we stumbled upon it we knew it needed a Federal makeover.?
As it turns out, it needed more than just a makeover. Federal had to give it a ?quadruple bypass? engine overhaul to get it up to spec. That meant a full top to bottom rebuild, with new gaskets, new piston rings and some honing work.
They also upgraded the cam chain, tensioner and guide blades, the stator, the cam shaft seal and the starter clutch springs.

Like the CX500 Custom, the CX650 Custom was Honda’s attempt at building a cruiser on the CX plat...