Growing up near the Barber Vintage Motorsport Museum, it comes as no surprise that Anthony Scott has always been intrigued by motorcycles.
But it wasn’t until his later years that his passion became uncontrollable, and he had to dive in headfirst. “I returned to the US after being overseas for seven years. Truthfully, times were pretty hard, and so was my cash flow. Sometimes I tell people motorcycles saved my life,” Anthony explains.
“After so many years overseas and countless deployments down range, it was civilian life that almost put an end to me. Then one day, a guy rode past me on his café racer.
“I had never seen one in person, and I literally just stared for the entire ten minutes he was pumping gas,” Anthony laughs.
“From that moment forward I had to find one. And I did: A beyond-repairable Honda CB550, rusted and brittle to the touch.”
Unfortunately, the bike was vandalized and stripped down to a rolling frame just a few weeks after he purchased it. So it took Anthony almost four years to finally live his CB550 café racer dream.
Meantime, he decided to start Enginethusiast, a company catering to people passionate about vintage cars and motorcycles.
He began traveling across the US taking photographs of cool engines, and helping builders and owners to get their work showcased in magazines and media outlets.
It’s done at no charge. “I see it as enriching the passion. You never know what picture or article might encourage someone to go after their own dreams.
“I think we are all ‘enginethusiasts’ at heart—emotionally attached and greatly affected by how a machine makes us feel,” says Anthony.
Anthony knew he wanted Little Horse Cycles to complete his CB550. Based in Portland, Oregon, Little Horse has fast become one of the best builders of custom motorcycles in the Pacific Northwest.
Anthony’s request was to make the bike “look fast, but retain the vintage feel.”
When the 1977 Honda CB550 arrived at the shop, it already had one foot in the grave and the other slowly creeping in. However, during tear down, the team found that the CB550 was a low-mile bike.
After freshening up the standard pistons, it was a quick and easy top end job. The tappets were replaced, and an eye catching clear point cover was added. The carbs were rebuilt, and the motor was power washed and painted with a satin black finish.
Velocity stacks with mesh screens were the last item to finish off the motor, which was now sporting 4 into 1 Mac exhaust headers with a reverse cone muffler.
“Due to the fact that we had plenty of other bikes to work on, we figured we would get the toughest work out of the way before we let it sit,” Andrew told us.