When you hear the phrase “custom CB650” you probably have a pretty good idea of what to expect. Odds are, it’s going to be some 1960s or 1970s cafe racer-inspired machine, maybe with a bubble fairing thrown in if they really want to get fancy. Probably the last thing you imagine is a hard-tail dragster dripping with chrome, but that’s what AMS Garage from Bali has built. Friends, meet the Pitbull.
It's Cafe Racers All The Way Down:
Strict laws make importing large-displacement bikes into Indonesia difficult, so this Honda entered the country in pieces. It arrived at the AMS shop as an engine and a frame, which worked out just fine since basically everything else would have wound up getting scrapped anyways. Even with that, only the neck and the top rail of the original frame remain, the rest is all custom fabricated. Out back is a rigid frame, and up front is a custom girder fork for extra brownie points. Custom clip-on bars and rear set footpegs help get the stance right. This is meant to be a drag bike, so a Race Master drag slick in the rear is wrapped around a 19-inch wheel.
Gallery: AMS Pitbull
The bodywork is all hand-worked aluminum which was then welded together and the fuel tank and tail section are one solid piece. Running down the center of that monocoque is a tank strap that also becomes the seat pan for a crocodile leather seat. Then there’s the front fairing, which is more aluminum and wraps around the girder forks to shield the rider at speed.
Of course, if this is meant to be a real race bike, it needs some go to back up all that show. That’s why the engine got a full rebuild with 100 over pistons and CR Keihin round slide carburetors. Velocity stacks help on the intake side, and a custom 4-into-4 exhaust setup helps on the exhaust side. Plus they just look super rad. Sadly, the Pitbull has yet to do any runs down the track, but we look forward to seeing what it can do.
Source: Return of the Cafe Racers