There’s rather a lot to like about Honda’s present crop of pint-sized trendy classics—significantly the long-lasting Honda Dax. But for some riders, the fashionable facilities hiding beneath the brand new Dax’s retro aesthetic are a significant turn-off. Not everybody desires (or wants) gasoline injection and ABS-equipped disc brakes on their scoot.
Mike Chen is a agency fan of the old fashioned. He runs the {custom} workshop Mike’s Garage in Taipei, the place his focus is on constructing wheels and customizing sub-400 cc bikes. He has a factor for road trackers but additionally loves American chopper tradition—so his bikes usually resemble the previous whereas borrowing cues from the latter.
Mike’s newest {custom} construct is all chopper and all retro. Inspired by the brand new Dax however cautious of its modernity, Mike developed a sudden urge to place a traditional Honda Dax chopper collectively. So he shoehorned a Cub-clone engine into an previous Dax body, after which went wild on the finishings.
Mike earmarked two donor bikes for the undertaking. The chassis comes from a 1980 Honda ST70, whereas the engine was scalped from a 1996 SYM Cub 90 that had been gathering mud in a nook of the workshop for years. Once Mike confirmed that the engine swap would work, the ‘ST90’ undertaking was formally underway.
Both the body and engine had been displaying their age, so Mike needed to refurbish the whole lot. The engine was rebuilt and handled to an upsized consumption, a brand new carb, and a {custom} chrome steel exhaust system. The muffler is especially curious; a trumpet-like affair with ripples labored into its shaft.
The Dax’s unmistakable pressed metal body wanted much more work than the engine did. It took hours of sheet steel shaping and welding to carry it again to a usable state. In the method, Mike welded in probably the greatest options of the bike—a 70s chopper rear fender from Crazy Frank.
The Crazy Frank fender not solely hosts the taillight and appears bananas, however it additionally makes the right bum cease to compensate for the Dax’s excessive using place. This pocket chopper stands impossibly tall, because of a set of lengthened forks that measure a whopping 45.3 inches. They’re held in place by a set of yokes from a 125 cc Kymco commuter bike.
The rear finish is propped up on a pair of aluminum struts that, from a distance, might go for a set of shiny new shocks. Mike turned them on a lathe to create the fake spring impact, machined down the ends, and polished them to an excellent end.
At the other finish of the Dax, slender risers grip an equally slender set of custom-made drag bars. They’re adorned with little greater than a set of white grips, a throttle, and a classic swap for the flip indicators. The cockpit is devoid of any instrumentation, whereas a tiny headlight hangs off a home made bracket up entrance.
Mike relocated the ignition barrel and a few key switches to the left aspect of the body. And he ditched the entrance brake lever by lacing the 12” entrance wheel to a brakeless spool hub.
If you’re having a tough time recognizing the entrance tire, it’s as a result of it isn’t a bike tire in any respect. It’s a 12” Vans x Cult BMX tire, and is just on the bike for photographs and reveals. A 12” whitewall trailer tire from Duro does obligation out again.
Pushing this zany Honda Dax chopper over the end line is a retina-searing scorching pink paint job straight out of the 70s, courtesy of Jeffery Chang. A furry wool seat extends the size of the body and provides an enormous dose of unapologetic impracticality to the construct. (You want to make use of a wrench to take away the seat each time you wish to replenish.)
Mike’s ST90 chop will little question have its detractors (there’s no entrance fender, in spite of everything), however he can rely us as followers. As far as we’re involved, a {custom} bike doesn’t have to make sense if it leaves you with a large enough smile in your face.
Mike’s Garage Instagram | Images by Persist Motorcycle Co. | With particular because of Barry Lim
Source: www.bikeexif.com