10 Awesome Custom Honda Rebels From Wheels And Waves 2022

Honda showcased 10 of the best custom Rebels from builders across Europe at this year’s Wheels and Waves festival in Biarritz, France, and so here they are for your perusal. Enjoy!

1. MOTOVEIGA

Bike: CMX500

Builder: Motoveiga, Braga, Portugal

This one is all about the paint with a distinctive design that took inspiration from 16th Century Spanish armour and Florentine lilies. They’ve used it on the tank, side panels, mudguards, headlight shroud, and the clutch cover. They’ve topped it off with a seat from the Honda accessories catalogue with a press diamond pattern (£84, also comes in brown), fork boots and covers, and a black Vance & Hines silencer that ought to add a touch of spice to proceedings.

2. LUCY

Bike: CMX500

Builder: Honda Garonda, Portugal

This white and gold creation takes its inspiration from two places - firstly the Portuguese sunshine, and secondly the classic CB175 of the late 50s and early 70s. So there’s custom paint on the wheels, mudguards, headlight shroud, and fuel tank, along with a custom Rebel logo and white-walled tyres. This one also gets the fork boots and covers, the diamond seat, and the V&H silencer, as well as some upgraded rear shocks and a beefier looking radiator guard.

3. 5FOUR HONDA REBEL STREET

Bike: CMX500

Builder: Guy Willison, 5Four Motorcycles, UK

I’ve been lucky enough to meet Guy Willison and film a tour of his workshop while he was building some limited edition bikes for Honda, and I loved that he was still fabricating parts by hand and doing pretty much everything himself whilst knocking out bikes for the world’s biggest selling manufacturer.

Again, no corners have been cut with this build that takes the 500 platform and turns it into a flat tracker for the street. So we’ve got custom spoked wheels on red hubs and sticky Metzeler Roadtec rubber, wavy discs, upgraded rear shocks from YSS, a tracker style tail piece with a custom diamond stitched seat, a different tank (anyone recognise it? Let me know in the comments!), Brazilian hardwood grips, a mini speedo, custom bars and levers, a stainless number board with LED projector lights, mini LED indicators, a mirror polished under tray, a Racefit stubby silencer, aaaaand I think that’s it. The paint is absolutely cracking too - literally!

4. MANNBOARD

Bike: CMX500

Builder: MAAN, Motocicli Audaci, Sardinia

Another build with a lot of effort here, and this one takes inspiration from the sand racers of the 1930s. The big change is the front end with a proper old school looking springer fork and 19-inch wire spoked wheels. The front brake is gone because who needs those on sand, knobbly Mitas tyres contribute to the look, and there are upgraded shocks at the rear courtesy of Ohlins. It gets a custom number board both front and rear with popping gold leaf paint, a custom leather seat with some MAAN detailing, super-wide sand racer bars, and a custom exhaust system with stainless steel headers and an SC Project silencer to finish it off. It looks like this one will be LOUD!

5. AKAIMOTO

Bike: CMX1100

Builder: Akaimoto, Barcelona, Spain

This 1100 goes in a completely different direction, with retro sports bikes and Honda’s own Neo Sports Cafe lineup cited as their inspiration. As such they’ve fitted it with some custom bodywork like the belly pan and cafe racer seat unit, and they’ve also lifted the tank a little to flow into the seat. Custom paint is from the designer Chopinart, and to finish it off they’ve gone with gold wheels, clip on bars, and then a wrapped exhaust system with a cheeky little gold end pipe.

6. MIKUNIGURO

Bike: CMX500

Builder: Ikono Motorbike, Madrid, Spain

Now for something a little more subtle but I must say I rather like this one. The inspiration is said to be the Honda D-Type, brat style, and the Japanese Bobber scene, and as such it’s got that custom short rear mudguard with the flick, the chunky retro bobber tyres, and some mini-ape handlebars. They’ve also neatened it up by whipping off the mirrors and adding some micro-indicators, and you’ve also got the diamond seat and V&H silencer that we’ve seen on a couple of the other bikes. The paint is also subtle but cool, and it comes from Dave Designs who is actually responsible for painting the lids of none other than Marc Marquez and Pol Espargaro!

7. MALLORCA MOTO

Bike: CMX1100

Builder: Mallorca Moto, Mallorca, Spain

This Rebel 1100 goes in for the Neo Retro look with the bars flipped for a clip-on aesthetic and an underslung bar-end mirror, and they’ve even modified the exhaust from a CB300R to fit. Gone is the rear mudguard, and some striking colour is provided by a metallic green wrap with matt black and white accents. There’s even a little Mojito logo on the front mudguard (a reference to the lime green?) but perhaps Honda’s legal team got their hands on the tank with a contradictory and sensible motto running down the spine.

8. THE SPORT

Bike: CMX1100 DCT

Builder: FCR Original, Chauvigny, France

Sportiness is the name of the game with this 1100, with a modified swingarm that allowed them to fit a pair of Ohlins shocks and a 17-inch rear wheel taken from the CB500F. That’s allowed them to fit some sticky Dunlop D212 tyres with a fat 190 section rear, and elsewhere they’ve neatened it up with a lower front mudguard, shorter rear, and a speedo relocation to the top yoke.

A complete 3D scan helped FCR Original to design the new bodywork including a custom polyester-carbon fuel tank, and there’s an Alcantara seat, a custom rear LED light, hand-built footrests, and a bespoke stainless steel full exhaust system. But for me the best part is the paint job, with lots of red accents in all the right places.

9. THE BOBBER

Bike: CMX1100 DCT

Builder: FCR Original, Chauvigny, France

Another bike here from FCR Original, and this one takes a more retro route with a bobber aesthetic that comes with the big chunky retro Bridgestone tyres, bobbed rear mudguard, wider bars and the custom ribbed leather seat. They’ve also slipped the forks down through the yokes by 25mm to lower the front end, and it also gets that custom tank that we saw on The Sport. This time it’s finished in black, mirrachrome, and satin blue, and it looks so good that Enfield put it on their Interceptor.

10. HONDA CMX REBEL WAVES

Bike: CMX500

Builder: FCR Original, Chauvigny, France

And last up, FCR Original’s third bike in the show and this time it’s a 500 dedicated to the Wheels and Waves show. They’ve gone in for the surf vibe with the choice of colour and the wave details on the tank and side panels, but they’ve also upgraded the rear shocks, fitted one of their custom exhaust systems, and given it some beach bars, a custom ribbed seat, and a rear rack that will take a skateboard. Lovely stuff!

VOTING

Now that you’ve seen all of the entrants, you can head to the Honda Customs website to vote on each bike and download your favourites as a desktop or mobile wallpaper. The winner will be announced at the end of August.