Class Act: Noah Blum's 1980 Honda CX500 custom

The Honda CX500 is a stern test of any builder’s skills: although it’s cheap and readily available, it’s not an attractive starting point. But Santa Cruz-based Noah Blum took this as a challenge, and he’s scored a convincing win. His CX500 is one of the classiest garage builds we’ve ever seen. “I bought a 1980 CX500 as a beat-up pile of parts,” says Noah, “with the intention of getting it running and using it as cheap transportation. I was itching to get into a little project, to do some tinkering and get back to riding—even if my ride was going...