This custom-built Honda Goldwing is almost unrecognisable!
Death Machines of London’s Kenzo is built around a classic 1000cc Honda Goldwing with samurai-inspired bodywork
YOU may not have heard of Death Machines of London (DMOL) although after seeing this stunning reimagining of a classic Honda Goldwing, you’re not likely to forget the name!
Built around a 1977 Honda Goldwing, the bike has been totally stripped back to the core and rebuilt using modern techniques like 3d printing and computer-aided design. DMOL took inspiration from samurai warriors, elements that can be seen in the overlapping bodywork that apes that of a warrior’s armour, in making their ‘most radical machine to date’.
The front end of the bike is suspended by a set of updated Öhlins forks, with bespoke internals designed specifically for this machine. Shrouding the forks is a bespoke made blade structure that runs around the top of the headstock and down the other side of the bike. The fork shroud was built using aluminium panelling 3d printed composites.
The back end of the bike has an interesting suspension setup, with twin Öhlins rear shock absorbers mounted centrally, directly linking the rear subframe to the swingarm. The shocks are updated ACOU 60 Öhlins, with springs made specifically for the build by British manufacturer Hagon.
Speaking about the bike to Design Boom, the builders behind it said:
“The inherent asymmetry of handmade aluminium panelling, the slightly more symmetrical composites, with the high-precision 3d prints and CNC parts, created the most instances of wanting to kick everything across the workshop floor and yell ‘f**k it’.
“[Kenzo is] our most radical machine to date. it combines traditional metalwork with composites, 3D printing, CNC, precision-etching, holographic lighting and exquisite leatherwork.
“It is a testament to Honda’s engineering prowess that very little work needed to be carried out on the 40-year-old engine: a horizontally opposed 1000cc flat-four, which was dismantled, inspected and refreshed.
“The carburettors were tuned to complement the DMOL slash-cut mufflers. painted in satin black, cosmetic detailing features head case plates with ‘kenzo’ written as 建造.’
If you have a Kenzo shaped hole in your garage, the bike is for sale for £56,000.
Simon (AKA Toad) has been working within the motorcycle industry for more than twelve years, and a member of the motorcyclist family since birth. Growing up around British-built single and twins, it was inevitable that a life on two wheels was on the cards, from a very early age!
