Let’s face it. We don’t all possess the ability to rebuild an engine, to hand form steel or to even swap out a set of indicators. When you don’t have the skill, the tools, the time or the inclination to build your own bike custom workshops like California’s Seaweed & Gravel are there to lend a hand. Bryan stepped away from his sports bike past in favour of riding a more stylish and less aggressive steed and Seaweed &Gravel’s Brady Young delivered…
“I had originally contacted the guys at Seaweed and Gravel around the summer of 2014 after seeing some of Brady Young’s custom builds floating around various sites online. I have been a sports bike rider for the last 10 years, but had recently sold my Honda 600r and was looking to pick up something cool to bomb around the city on.
The cafe scene up here in Calgary, Canada is pretty weak – the 8-9 months that you can’t ride might have something to do with it! After putting some thought into it, I decided to put down the original deposit to secure my place in the queue, and was given the schedule with a completion time of summer 2014.”
“I started a pinterest board collecting bike images from all over the internet, and started documenting things I wanted to incorporate into the build. Eventually the goal of the 550 was distilled down into something low, minimalistic, and dark. Past a few other small details, the overall creative direction was left to Brady to do what he thought was best.
A few months later, the guys found a ’77 CB550 in incredible condition, and the teardown begun. Throughout the process I received photos and updates, and by the tail end of summer, the bike was complete, tuned up and ready to be shipped.”
“I couldn’t be happier when I started it up for the first time, as it blew all my expectations. Everything had been blacked out, the matte tank with gloss Honda lettering was a nice touch and the riding position was perfect. The seat and tailpiece were all custom made and the leftover seat leather was used to wrap the grips. There is a custom 4-2 exhaust with shortly Cycle X mufflers, and there is an electric start in addition to the kick start (the antigravity is mounted near the bottom of the bike). Although the performance of the tires isn’t the greatest, I couldn’t resist getting the Firestone Champions to complete the look.”
