Back to the Future 3, Beverly Hills Cop 3 and Superman 3, ‘threequels’ that never quite lived up to the first. Luckily here in The Shed we like to buck such trends and and welcome back Mokka Cyles, last seen here, with proof that the third can be just as good, if not better than the first.
Searching for a donor bike with rarity value is pretty tough these days but Árpád, owner of Mokka Cycles, thinks he’s found it with this CL250. Honda borrowed the 249cc XL single, added electric start and popped it into the proven CL frame. A nimble city scrambler right off the production line, but blend a host of modern parts, hard graft and natural bike-buildability and what you get is something a bit special.
Due to the scarcity of CL250 tanks, the original remains, with a silver base coat and subtle red and blue chevron stripe, broken up by the smart Mokka logo. Árpád says studied programming at uni, but his keen design eye must have be honed elsewhere. The frame received the industry standard shortening, de-tabbing and rear loop with the aim of giving a base to a Scrambler-Cafe Racer hybrid.
Forks are Kawasaki ZXR, the Öhlins-esque gold contrasting well with the subtlety of the rest of the machine. The original D.I.D. front rim has been kept but laced to a disc-hub, both black anodised, before adding a GSXR disc. With a front end this stiff and sharp, I hope the ‘endo’ does not carry too much of a penalty with Hungarian coppers.
The engine has received the same level of attention as the aesthetics with a full rebuild and new internals. Outside the cases, barrel and head have been stripped and painted with all new fasteners. A Mikuni flat slide carb with a K&N filter and custom exhaust help squeeze a bit more power out of the high (ish) compression single and no doubt make it sound raspy. The headers were bent and mated to an aluminium muffler with machined end cap, all done in-house.
The controls are all by Accossato from Italy, beautifully engineered clutch and brake lever are mounted to matching clip-ons. Nothing garish, just quality and function with a slight hint of decadence. In between the fat fork legs sits a simple headlight, neither too big nor too small.
The battery box has been replaced with a lighter and smaller unit containing the revamped and simplified wiring loom powered by a tiny Ballistic 4 cell Lithium Ion battery. Atop that sits the fabricated seat pan and stitched cover which kicks up toward the back, treading a fine line between Street Tacker and Cafe Racer. The lack of pillion pegs suggests the tucked position for V-Maxing the 250cc motor will utilise the rear angle of the seat, rather than accelerating the acquainting of passengers.
The stance is about right and all the components work cohesively with nothing jumping out. Even the tyre choice looks right, Firestones would have been overkill and knobblies stolen the limelight.
Arpi seems to know his way around a machine shop as many components, bolts, brackets and spacers had to be designed and made in-house. Combined with a vision for quality and blending old with new, his formula seems to be working. Hopefully build number 4 is in the pipeline and we can gawp at it once finished.
The sheer number of bikes that come through the metaphysical doors of The Shed mean we don’t have time for an imaginary ride on all of them but there is something about this one that I would find a spare hour for. See more fromMokka on the Bike Shed, Facebook and thanks to Peter Mosoni for the photos.
