There’s lots to like about Honda’s present crop of pint-sized fashionable classics—significantly the enduring Honda Dax. However for some riders, the fashionable facilities hiding below the brand new Dax’s retro aesthetic are a serious turn-off. Not everybody desires (or wants) gas 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 Storage in Taipei, the place his focus is on constructing wheels and customizing sub-400 cc bikes. He has a factor for avenue 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. Impressed by the brand new Dax however cautious of its modernity, Mike developed a sudden urge to place a basic Honda Dax chopper collectively. So he shoehorned a Cub-clone engine into an outdated Dax body, after which went wild on the finishings.
Mike earmarked two donor bikes for the mission. 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. As soon as Mike confirmed that the engine swap would work, the ‘ST90’ mission was formally underway.
Each the body and engine have been exhibiting their age, so Mike needed to refurbish all the pieces. The engine was rebuilt and handled to an upsized consumption, a brand new carb, and a {custom} stainless-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 metallic shaping and welding to deliver it again to a usable state. Within the course of, Mike welded in among the best options of the bike—a 70s chopper rear fender from Loopy Frank.
The Loopy 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 driving 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 a superb end.
On the reverse finish of the Dax, slim risers grip an equally slim set of custom-made drag bars. They’re adorned with little greater than a set of white grips, a throttle, and a classic change for the flip alerts. The cockpit is devoid of any instrumentation, whereas a tiny headlight hangs off a hand-crafted bracket up entrance.
Mike relocated the ignition barrel and a few key switches to the left facet of the body. And he ditched the entrance brake lever by lacing the 12” entrance wheel to a brakeless spool hub.
When you’re having a tough time recognizing the entrance tire, it’s as a result of it isn’t a motorbike tire in any respect. It’s a 12” Vans x Cult BMX tire, and is simply on the bike for pictures and exhibits. 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 sizzling pink paint job straight out of the 70s, courtesy of Jeffery Chang. A furry wool seat extends the size of the body and provides a large dose of unapologetic impracticality to the construct. (It is advisable to use a wrench to take away the seat each time you need to replenish.)
Mike’s ST90 chop will little question have its detractors (there’s no entrance fender, in any case), however he can depend us as followers. So far as we’re involved, a {custom} motorbike doesn’t must make sense if it leaves you with a large enough smile in your face.
Mike’s Storage Instagram | Photos by Persist Motorbike Co. | With particular because of Barry Lim
