The arrangement holds two 4.5” Purpose Built headlights. Tom bent up a set of rods that flow up over the yokes, and end in a ducktail that matches the sissy bar’s. “For a chopper, I’m thinking, ‘What is the best looking, and most elaborate way, to get this job done?’”Ī lot of this approach translated into the Honda’s intricate new headlight mount.
But for this bike, Tom deliberately wanted to add some flair. Purpose Built Moto usually focus on simple and clean results on their cafe racer builds. That design was then CNC cut and polished up, and now holds a set of narrowed 1” mini-apes. Up front, Tom designed a vintage style top yoke, taking inspiration from vintage Ceriani parts. Jamo at Timeless Autotrim kicked out a sublime nubuck leather cover, with pleats that run all the way over the back of the seat. Tom then whipped up a new seat pan and electrics tray, and shaped up the foam. The arrangement was finished off with a prototype tail light that’ll be joining Purpose Built Moto’s extensive parts catalog soon. Tom started with a lipped rear fender, then bent up some bar with a trio of curved ends that match the fender’s lip. Then came the trickiest part: getting the balance of the seat, rear fender and sissy bar just right. “It fitted with my ideas for the bike, and it allowed the huge engine to protrude from under the tank,” he explains. The CB had come with a huge mustang chopper tank-but Tom thankfully swapped it out for a Honda CB750 K2 unit. Next up, the crew turned their attention to the bodywork. Finally, Purpose Built Moto mounted up a set of shrouded 10” shocks, from Ride Dynamics.
Then the swing-arm was shorted about 50 mm to tuck the rear end even more. “A new set of geometry dynamics to work with, to achieve a good and solid chopper look.”Ī new subframe was fabricated using 28 mm Chromoly tube, and a pair of new shock mount spigots turned up.
“This whole process was foreign to me,” he says. Since the Honda’s frame had been done well the first time around, Tom focused his energy purely on rebuilding the rear section. kept the 17” rear wheel the bike had come with, but re-laced the front hub onto a 21” rim. PBM decided to build their own take on a Japanese chopper: “Something the owner would be proud to ride and show off to his mates.” So they stripped the bike down, ripped out the dodgy wiring and got cracking.įirst on the agenda was the CB’s stance. One thing I will say, is that the frame that was build from scratch was very well fabricated, an amazing job.”
“He was never happy with it,” Tom tells us, “which, after waiting so long, is understandably a kick in the guts. He originally found a builder on the Sunshine Coast-but the work took literally years to complete, and the bike looked horrible and didn’t run right. The shop’s client had bought it wrecked, ten years ago, and decided to have it rebuilt as a chopper. And one that came with its own baggage, too. Purpose Built Moto worked with an unusual donor bike for this project: a Honda CB900. “The skills are the same,” says Tom, “and I love the style just as much-it’s just a different thought process.” The PBM portfolio is stacked with cafe racers and scramblers, but that didn’t stop them from tackling a chopper…and knocking it out the park. And Tom Gilroy at Purpose Built Moto on Australia’s Gold Coast gets it too. We don’t often go in for choppers around here-but we do appreciate the skill and effort that goes into building a truly stellar chop job.