Custom Eye Candy: The Shape-Shifting Honda CX500


a rebuilt 1997 Honda CX500 christened ‘the Biancaneve,’ or ‘Snow White’, courtesy of Dotto Creations

Yanko Design has been covering some custom beauties lately – and this time, they’ve gone and found a ‘shape-shifting’ motorcycle. 

Let’s get into it. 

The brains behind the process included Italian automotive designers Gianluca Bartolini and Francesco Iannuzzi, who purportedly “parted ways with the renowned design house Pininfarina to spin-off their own venture dubbed Dotto Creations,” according to the report from Yanko Design.

The brainchild of their first venture – a rebuilt 1997 Honda CX500 christened ‘the Biancaneve,’ or ‘Snow White’ – was completely stripped, retaining only the most base functional parts to keep it a solid build. 

a rebuilt 1997 Honda CX500 christened ‘the Biancaneve,’ or ‘Snow White’, courtesy of Dotto Creations

Then, the process began to turn the bike into a ‘classified work of art.’

a rebuilt 1997 Honda CX500 christened ‘the Biancaneve,’ or ‘Snow White’, courtesy of Dotto Creations

“The original V-twin engine and the carburetors are refreshed for better performance, and the original Comstar wheels have also been retained, as one can see,” comments the article from YankoDesign

“The streamlined look is exemplified by the flowing bodywork with the dominating lines swooping back from the tank area to the tail section.”

a rebuilt 1997 Honda CX500 christened ‘the Biancaneve,’ or ‘Snow White’, courtesy of Dotto Creations

The most unique feature, though, has to be the seat. 

When stationary, the bike’s beautiful leather seat is hidden, protected underneath what appears to be a monocoque (single-shelled) white body. 

But when ready to rumble, the back portion of the while chassis unfolds to reveal the seat, with the unfolded portion of the chassis leaning back to imitate an angular tailpiece, still in line with the rest of the body. 

a rebuilt 1997 Honda CX500 christened ‘the Biancaneve,’ or ‘Snow White’, courtesy of Dotto Creations

Just don’t sit on it.

“[the bike] wants to be a sculpture to look at when it’s parked and give a smooth experience when ridden. Nothing more, nothing less. This approach gave us the opportunity of starting to model it as a pure shape, not caring much about the driver position, with the result of a body that seems to flow even if it’s still.”

“Only after that, we started taking care of the riding experience. Ensuring a comfortable driving position and an efficient and easy way of using Biancaneve.”

a rebuilt 1997 Honda CX500 christened ‘the Biancaneve,’ or ‘Snow White’, courtesy of Dotto Creations

Be sure to check out the photo gallery below, and let us know what you think of this build (and if you think another bike model might have served them better). 

In the meantime, check out other news from our archives, and as always – stay safe on the twisties.

*All media courtesy of Yanko Design*

1 Comment

  1. Arbiter
    December 13, 2021
    Reply

    I KNOW I am not the only person who is tired of motorcycles which have received “design” treatments like this.

    Yeah, some people might like this thing, but some people also drink Budweiser and eat at McDonald’s. In other words, some people have NO taste.

    The bike is utterly useless as a street-ridden motorcycle, with no fenders, a seat which should qualify as a torture device, and straight pipes that are going to make every person who doesn’t ride hate motorcycles.

    Please quit giving space to stuff like this, it only encourages more such pretentious garbage to be perpetrated. Or keep putting this sort of thing on your website and I’ll delete you from my RSS feed. Your call.

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