How do we get young people into biking? That has been the question the motorcycle industry has been asking itself for years. And now, Honda might just have come up with a concept that captures the young ‘un’s imagination. Seven young artists, all from different European countries, have been invited to collaborate with established bike builders to create custom minibikes like you’ve never seen before.
The bikes are based on Honda’s standard minibikes, the 125cc Dax, Monkey and MSX125 Grom. They are all rather niche and original designs to begin with, but with a bit of creative flair and custom expertise, they have been transformed with some very interesting results. The fruits of this labour were first on display at the trendy Wheels & Waves festival in Biarritz, and an online poll at www.hondacustoms.com will crown Europe’s favourite Honda minibike.
Bike 1 (UK): Hold On!
Hold On! Is a Grom by artist Matt B, famous for his trainer customisation for A-listers such as Ed Sheeran, Ariana Grande and Marcus Rashford. Matt worked with renowned builder Guy Willison, known for his work on Henry Cole’s TV shows, and the Grom they produced is not only stretched and slammed like a Pro-Street drag bike, it’s also sporting a turbocharger and nitrous oxide injection. Nuts, right!
Bike 2 (Spain): Driving Me Mad
Coco Dávez, is an artist based in Madrid with a career in painting, photography and art direction. Together with builder UFO Garage she has turned the Dax into a two-wheeled visual pop of joy, with bold splashes of primary colour and chunky block tyres.
Bike 3 (Austria): Monkey X Business
Austrian artist Boicut, inspired by popular culture, skateboarding, everyday objects and urban environments, has worked with collaborator Titan Motorcycles to produce their take on the classic ‘70s chopper design with radically raked front end, mini-ape ‘bars, chromed grabrail and upswept exhaust with fishtail-style end cap.
Bike 4 (Portugal): Furiosa
Mad Max and Tank Girl inspired Tamara Alves and her builder, Art On Wheels Garage, who turned a stock Dax into a toasted post-apocalyptic roadrunner with block tyres, a wolf motif, graffiti signatures, bespoke exhaust with wire mesh cage, and glimpses of tartan peeping out of the scorched seat cover.
Bike 5 (France): Tokyo
Tokyo is a riot of colour from French artist Grems, known for his music as well as his art, and builder George Woodman. Pop-art visuals are pumped with vibrant colour in abstract – and subtly meshed – patterns on every square centimetre of Monkey available.
Bike 6 (Italy): Let’s Grom
Italian graffiti artist Franceso Marchesani’s Let’s Grom, produced with ex-racer Alex Polita, features tiny LED indicators, lever-protecting knuckle guards, graffiti (natch!), and no mirrors.
Bike 7 (Germany): Manjushage
Manjushage is a subtle café racer drawn from a Monkey base by @lanaarts23, a German artist recognized for her hyper-realistic artwork. She worked with Maximilian Zech on the bike, adding a Yoshimura end-can and aftermarket remote reservoir rear shocks, and decorating the fuel tank and fender with spider lily motifs (Manjushage in Japanese). Note the tiny monkey on the downpipe heat shield…
We’re big fans of Honda’s mini bike range here at Insidebikes. You can read our review of the MSX 125 Grom, and the new ST 125 Dax in our Bike Review section.
