Fernando Casado has quickly become one of our favorite builders. A 23 year old design student at the State University of Maringá in Brazil, Fernando grew up in a family of men who’d ridden many of the legendary street bikes of the 60s and 70s in their heyday — from the Honda CB750 to the Yamaha RD350 and more.
When Fernando moved away for design school, he needed affordable, reliable transportation. Whereas many of his peers resorted to utilitarian scooters, Fernando studied his options, deciding that he could build a stylish, practical cafe racer from the affordable Honda CG125 platform. The lines lent themselves to the retro racer aesthetic, and the bike was economical enough for a young college student to afford.
This led to Fernando’s first Honda CG125 cafe racer, which we recently featured. He manufactured many of the parts in his university’s prototyping lab, and imported a few components from US and European distributors. The result was a lovely, balanced 125cc cafe racer that was big on heart.
Now Fernando is back with another Honda — this time it’s his CG125 cafe racer deluxe. With this build, he wanted to try something new, placing fairings on a CG. We especially like that Fernando made the entire build reversible, managing not to cut a single hole that was not there from the factory.
This is quite the achievement, and required that much more forethought and ingenuity. We also love Fernando’s dedication of the bike:
“I dedicate this project to all my family and especially to my grandfather for always believing and encouraging the follies of his grandson!”
Below, we get the full story on this lovely cafe!
Honda CG125 Café Racer Deluxe: In the Builder’s Words
In March 2017 I had the opportunity to buy another CG 125, this time from 1982. I had several ideas and concepts of beginning, but I wanted to explore and risk something that had not been done, a CG 125 fairing!
The biggest challenge was to make this whole motorcycle reversible, because I have a great respect for old motorcycles, and I believe that using design tools to preserve these historical elements is very important. This design does not have a single hole or cut apart from the factory originals, and all parts and brackets are secured in the original hole in the frame.
The concept of the project is to transform a motorcycle that Honda has made to be standard, that is, urban and simple, in a luxury motorcycle that transpires luxury, that has charming and elegant lines, from its form, to its coloring. The design resulted in a classic motorcycle, with a hint of aggressiveness and very luxurious.
I dedicate this project to all my family and especially to my grandfather for always believing and encouraging the follies of his grandson!
Follow the Builder
- Website: Behance
- Instagram: fernando (@ferndc_) • Instagram photos and videos
- Facebook: Fernando Casado
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