I just want one!!!

[Graeme M]

The Deus Ex Machina guys really have an eye for what looks good. I just love this thing and if I could scrounge up the necessary dollars I'd be cruising down to the milk bar on one of these! It's HOT!

[Lozza]

Pity none of it's there own work it's just a rip off of the Japanese cult following for the Yamaha SR400 and Kawasaki WR650(I think is pictured).I have a yellow pages thickness book here 'somewhere' that has shops catering to customise to something J style.Not that hard to do and NOWHERE near these prices if you want to do it yourself.   

[Graeme M]

I have no idea about their prices, but I still think it looks cool. I'd have killed to ride something that looks like that when I was 20. Speaking of modifying bikes, I saw a DR750 with RM250 bodywork etc done to look like a supermotard bike in a Pommy mag once. I bought an old DR750 to do just that and then got bit by the VMX bug. Sold the thing to pay for a couple of old MXers and still regret it...

[vmx42]

Hey Lozza don't be too harsh on them. They are catering to the boutique Latte set and have priced themselves accordingly. I too have seen some of the Jap mags [you can even buy them at Deus]. Yes you can do it yourself and you can buy the individual parts from Deus if you don't want to import them yourself.

But it is a cool shop, the staff are friendly, Rod is really enthusiastic and it is a fun place to go and have a coffee and a bite to eat [I actually went there on the weekend 'just because']. Compared to your average bike shop [with their snotty nosed kids behind the counter] it's a breath of fresh air. I know it is style over substance, but hey it's cool and different - gotta love those crazy Japs and their love of old British and US style [something that the Poms and Yanks have fogotten].

Your right, the bikes are over priced compared to doing it yourself [you can't blame them for trying to make money], but there isn't a cookie cutter modern bike in sight and I agree with Graeme that the W650 looks great. I have been searching for the right dirt track chassis in the US for myself as I want one too.

These guys have more in common with VMXers than with most of their other road bike cousins. Bring it on!!!!
VMX42

[Graeme M]

Where is their shop? It's in Sydney isn't it? I must come over for a visit - I met the guys at CD5 and they seemed an OK bunch. I love some of their bikes, even if they are overpriced (hey, how can we talk about overpriced when you see how much old dirtbikes fetch nowadays?). And any shop where you can eyeball some cool bikes, grab a coffee and not have to put up with some inattentive kid behind the counter gets my vote.

And I still really WANT that W650. I put it to my wife this morning and she actually looked at me like I was nuts. "You want to spend how much on that... thing?"

Looks like I shan't be lining up for a Latte on one any time soon.

[Yamaboy]

I've been to Duex ex Machina a number of times to ogle at the bikes and to eat in the great resturant and reckon they do a great job with their bikes. Like VMX42 says, they have a closer afinity with the VMX movement than any other around. Who gives a shit if they follow Japanese trends, the street tracker trend is just a continuation of the old Brit cafe racer idea but with a dirt emphasis. Sure the Duex bikes are expensive but they're selling like lattes to Eastern Suburbs types. Us poorboys can copy ideas for our own homebuilt versions. I've had an old CB350 under the house for a few years and I've recently decided to build a cafe racer/street tracker style bike to cruise the sunday morning capachino stations. The Kevlar boys are also getting on board as well with Jonsey converting his '69 Bonny to a bobber chopper or maybe a desert sled, he changes from week to week, and Firko is converting his Hinall Ducati over to street tracker use befeore the bike ever sees the dirt as a VMX bike. Frank started the trend with his registered Manx Norton Metisse and Phippsy has his 750 Triumph Metisse ready for the street.
I like this trend.

[vmx42]

Graeme,
the Deus shop is located on the corner of Paramatta Road and Missenden Road Camperdown. Really easy to find.

Stop in for a Latte and have a look around, it is a breath of fresh air, and a bit of fun [and the food is excellent].
VMX42

[Hoony]

And I still really WANT that W650. I put it to my wife this morning and she actually looked at me like I was nuts.

hey, i thought this was a family friendly forum ?

[yzhilly]

That is shit hot,i luv it and i want one i just need more cash and a bigger shed  i have wanted to build a street tracker and i'm still looking for something to build it with one day !!!.

[E74]

One of Nigel Beggs bikes.

[Lozza]

Sorry but I don't see $18,500 there and at those prices I would want a lifetime supply of free coffee. If anyone wants a hand to get bits and pieces for these out of Japan just pm me.It might be me but there looks to be a ducktail, K&N's ,a tank and a pipe added and the rest is taken away. I'm sure Matcho Mick could make FRP stuff like that.The ducktail looks just like a cutdown CB1100R  or is it TZ500/750  Mick

[E74]

I am half way into building a replica of this, difference is mine is a '74 model XS650 and eligible for vintage flat track..

[mainline]

I understand exactly what you're saying Lozza, but the proportions and styling of that bike are spot on.  How many times have we all seen bastardised versions of bikes, and cars, and houses, pretty much everything, where the punter doing the work just doesn't have the "eye" for it. They've been picked apart on this forum many times before.

There's nothing I can see on that bike that doesn't jell.

These guys aren't just bike enthusiasts, from what I understand there's a fair amount of background in design work amongst those running the show.

[firko]

As Yambo stated above I've decided to turn the Hindall Ducati into a street bike in a similar vein to the Deus Ex Machina concept. The grim reality is that the bike wasn't going to be all that hot as a motocross bike unless I spent a shitload on the engine which would have maybe then bought it up to Honda XL standard. I didn't want a garage queen and the fact that I've got other three bikes for the same class also helped me make the decision. A couple of lattes at Deus a few Saturdays ago convinced me and Jonesy that it'd be fun to build and ride one of these gizmos.
I like the street tracker look and the mixing of new and old technology so I'm going to use the big front brake look similar to the above XS650 and will use a '96 CR250 back wheel with it's disc brake that I've already got. Not sure what forks but I may look into Chinese USD items off those mid sized pitbike things or USDs off a big roadie. I managed to pick up the cheap as chips seat/tank combo shown for $79 US initially for my Trackmaster but it'll now go on the Hindall. The rest of the little things will be the old hotrodder wrecking yard scrounge kind of fun. Itll be cool building a bike using my imagination as a guide rather than the MA rulebook.

http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&sspagename=STRK%3AMEWNX%3AIT&viewitem=&item=250290276544

Here's a Hindall frame the same as mine (only Trumpy powered) that is similar to my vision.

[Tony T]

Is that frame nickel plated?
There's something about a nickel plated frame................