Mokka’s xs250

Árpád Bozi is 24 and lives in Hungary where he’s at University studying to be a program developer – which is extremely sensible – but he also has a need to escape from his digital, homogenised world and back into the analogue, organic world of burning fossil fuels the old way; powering dangerous, home-made, two-wheeled deathtraps, otherwise known as; custom motorcycles.

Arpi loves the purity and quality of vintage machines, and his passion revolves around the idea of bringing old machines back to life with modern techniques and quality parts to create reliable machines with character and a soul. Right on, dude. We’re 100% with you on that, …so let us begin.

Arpi’s first bike is this Yamaha xs25o in Japanese/Euro spec, the perfect bike for city riding plus perhaps the occasional longer adventure. The bike was completely stripped back to the bare frame, which was lopped at the rear (as you’d expect) to allow for a ‘proper’ seat which he put together himself. It has a gentle slope down to the tank, suggesting mild gravitational support under hard acceleration but with a brat look . The tank was replaced with another from the Yamaha xs range as Arpi felt it had more ‘cafe’ shape to it than the 250 item.

His goal was to have a factory look, not rough and ready, so many of the brackets and replacement parts were CNC machined for a quality fit and finish, from the rocker caps to the indicator brackets, which use a single bolt to clamp to the frame and hold the indicator, and work at the front and back of the bike. As a perfectionist Arpi needed everything to be exactly as he had imagined. He had the seat re-upholstered three times to get exactly the look and shape he wanted.

Despite all the clever new bits, it was all about having a timeless look, in keeping with Árpád’s vintage aesthetics and taste, and we think he’s done a great job, especially for a first time shed-built bike.

“As I mentioned, it’s my first bike. I’m not a pro builder, I’m just learning, but I’ve got ambitions. I also have  another project in progress, it’s a moped-based cafe racer… so I’m on the way to try to and build a brand as well, this is MOKKA Cycles.”

Árpád and Mokka, …welcome to The Bike Shed. We look forward to seeing many more builds from you in the future. You can see more of this bike on Arpi’s Blog.

The Bike Shed

The Street of Dreams: Martin Scorsese's D&G advert starring Scarlett Johansson

Cult director Martin Scorsese has created an advertisement which not only stars Scarlett Johansson and Matthew McConaughey, but also a no less handsome Alfa Romeo…

Entitled ‘The Street of Dreams’, the all-star advert uses black-and-white imagery to showcase the power of love and imagination. A director’s cut of the short clip – which promotes Dolce & Gabbana’s latest perfume – has also been released.

More information on 'The Street of Dreams' advert, and the accompanying images taken by star photographer Peter Lindbergh, can be found at dolcegabbana.com.

1970 Honda CL175

A deliberately small-capacity bike for city traffic and runs to the surf, she's equally at home on the streets of Tokyo or by the sand at Bondi.

To create the desired proportions, handmade mounts discreetly lower the headlight, instruments, and battery on a shortened 1970 Honda CL175 frame. Parts bins were raided for sympathetically sized parts of SL, CB, and XL stablemates, while VW Beetle tail pipes cap long lengths of plumbing concealed in exhaust wrap. Finally, an inlaid-timber 70's skateboard makes the perfect seat, it's road-scarred tail guard now the stop light

JOLIE FLEUR §