The American powersports scene is a $48 billion playground, but no one plays quite like Deus Ex Machina. The Sydney-born brand treats motorcycles the way Willy Wonka treats chocolate—every build starts familiar and ends fantastical. Below, meet ten crowd-favorite customs whose back-stories are as entertaining as their spec sheets.
1. Grievous Angel (Yamaha SR400)
Deus’s first “signature SR” shed 18 kg with alloy bodywork, then wore all-black “Henry Ford pink” paint. TV presenter James May loved it so much he kept one in his living room before selling it to another collector—still showing only museum mileage. Even parked, the cafe-tracker looks like it’s plotting a jail-break.
2. The Onyx (Triumph Scrambler)
Asked for a surf-commuter “NASA would sanction,” head tech Jeremy Tagand rerouted the oil through the sub-frame, dropping temps 20 percent, and welded on a stealth rack for a full-size longboard. The matte-black Scrambler now hauls both barrels and boards—and makes Ducati riders glance twice at traffic lights.
3. Boodaak (Honda XR650R)
“Torquey, fairly smooth, with a big, long power band and super-good turning,” grins designer Michael “Woolie” Woolaway. The name mimics its exhaust note: booo-daak. Five hundred build hours produced a chromoly frame, dual-port high pipe, and a Johnny Campbell-spec Baja engine—all for a client who’s logged barely 200 miles because the bike “scares traffic”.
4. Dakdaak (Honda CRF450X)
Boodaak’s lighter twin revs to 12,500 rpm and was built to stay pinned “all day long—or for about 50 hours anyway”. With titanium exhaust and a stage-two head, it weighs a little more than a mountain bike. Riders joke the throttle is a time-machine: twist it and tomorrow arrives sooner.
5. Beastie (Ducati 1198R)
After finishing Pikes Peak in 11:40 on an earlier prototype, Woolie rebuilt everything except the front number plate, shaving the superbike to 340 lb and 180 hp. “If I don’t need it, it isn’t there,” he said of the magnesium swingarm and SBK pivot link. Rumour has it that it wheelies in first, second, and third gear.
6. The Framer (Yamaha FZ-07)
Legendary chassis guru Jeff Cole laid out his final frame for this street-legal mile-racer. Oversized pistons bump the twin to 750 cc; M50 Brembos and 19-inch RSD wheels finish the look. Third-gear wheelies are routine, yet it still sports mirrors—tiny concessions to DMV reality.
7. Dani Pedrosa CR500
MotoGP star Dani Pedrosa’s retirement present was a CR500 two-stroke in a bespoke chromoly frame, trimmed to 108 kg. A compression-release head keeps the 5’ 2” rider from launching over the bars when kick-starting, but friends still place bets every time he tries.
8. Young Jerk MT-07 Kit
Tagand and New York design house Young Jerks turned CAD dreams into a bolt-on monocoque that installs with five billet brackets—no cutting required. For $4,950, weekend wrenchers can give their Yamaha a Deus silhouette and an SC-Project bark, proving couture can, occasionally, be IKEA-simple.
9. Westlake Tagand Special (Moto Guzzi 850 T3)
Jeremy Tagand’s personal “bitsa” mixes a 1970s Dresda seat, alloy tank, and Matris shocks for vintage swagger with modern corner speed. Owners say the torquey twin “hits like a hydraulic hammer,” while the electronics count remains blessedly at zero—just analog fun, Italian style.
10. Aka-Tombo (Yamaha XSR155)
Built in Bali for Yamaha’s Yard Built contest, the “Red Dragonfly” keeps its tiny 155 cc engine but gains an 18-inch wheelset, lattice swingarm, and removable surf rack. Hand-beaten aluminum panels and SuperTrapp exhaust make it look ready for Mad Max: Island Edition—yet it still sips fuel at 55 mpg.
Why These Bikes Matter
From oil-cooled scramblers to 200 hp hill-climbers, Deus proves performance doesn’t have to be po-faced. Each machine carries an inside joke—engine sounds turned into names, surf racks on café racers, superbike parts on dirt frames. In a market that sold 547,000 new motorcycles in the U.S. last year, Deus reminds riders that the real upgrade is a grin per mile.
As Woolie likes to say, “They’re art you can ride.” Grab the throttle, and the canvas moves with you.
