CB550 Custom Build by S&G builder Brady Young

CB550 Custom Build by S&G builder Brady Young

May 2013 Black and Tan
Custom build by Seaweed and Gravel in southern california built by Brady Young. The inspiration for this build was spawned from a previous personal bike of Brady's, made from spare parts and a few weekends. The bike was rough, full of character, and frequently saw the dirt. Nonetheless, it caught the eye of the client that commissioned this build, but with new shoes and a classy attire. 

Our goal for this build was to create a simple, clean, minimalistic bike with an aggressive, low stance; pulling elements from both the cafe racer and brat style palettes, whilst preserving the classic lines that were buried in stock form. Once the form and stance of the bike was set, we moved forward with making it function.

The top end was rebuilt with new internals and tuned by a retired racer and mechanic of the time, making it a true one kick cold started. The client wanted a kick and electric start, so we called upon the guys at Antigravity Batteries. Their compact, powerful battery powers the new from scratch harness with an updated rec/reg combo. With this setup we were able to retain our goal of a clean and minimal design.

Our theory on the finish of our bikes is overall modesty with bold features.  With an all black bike we incorporated matte, satin, and gloss finishes to add some contrast. We here at Seaweed And Gravel feel we've produced a bike that we can be proud of, and have welcomed a new member into our family of weirdos. --Brady

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43 comments

Seriously the best looking cafe/brat racer I have ever seen!!

Please – if you ever make one like this and are able to ship it to Denmark, Europe, I’m definitely on ;-)

Thanks,
Martin

Martin

Incredible bike! Just absolutely beautiful, I will be using her as inspiration for a build of my own sometime soon. Interesting how many times I’ve seen this bike all around the internet so apparently it is well like by many others as well. Congrats on designing and building such a thing of beauty!

-Matt

Matt Bruns

Awesome job! It’s the gnarliest cb550 i’ve seen. I’m working with one of these and it would be amazing if I can make it as half as nice. Did you use original tank and mufflers?? The only thing you do to the frame was cutting the tail??

Cheers,
Ben

Benjamin

What $ does this look cost to transform from stock?

Kyle l

Saya suka sekali hasil modivikasi nya tuan. Saya rencana akan modif motor saya seperti motor tuan. Motor saya gl 100 tahun 1982. Mohon beri masukan nya agar motor tua selalu sehat mesin nya?? Thanks

Awwe putra abhie manyu

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