Comments on: Deus 1200 V-Twin café racer

By: scott

scott — Sat, 20 Nov 2010 03:32:50 +0000

Well, it’s the best looking Harley powered bike I’ve seen. Considering that custom choppers run in the neighborhood of $40-80K, the price isn’t that bad. If you want something for around $10,000, I’m sure you could pick up a W650 or a Ural. But who cares, they’re shit.

By: Rob K

Rob K — Thu, 28 Oct 2010 21:01:02 +0000

Being a good way into my second ground-up cafe build, (a ’76 KZ900), I have to laugh at the posts saying that ‘you could build this for half the money’. I’m going to go ahead and guess that you are billing yourself at about 3¢/hr.

Building a custom machine takes time. Time to figure out what over-all design you like for this project. Time to hear what the bike is telling you it needs. Time to source the right parts (for the right price). Time to actually do the work and time to solve those problems that inevitably show up when you re-purpose parts.

I lost count of the hours on my last project and I’ve probably already have something like 60 hours into the current build and I’m still working on the frame and suspension.

If, like me, you like to wrench in the pre-dawn hours before work, you can build a bike for half that amount. I love it. If, however, you just want to ride and have the means, $26k for a beautifully realized custom, doesn’t seem half-bad to me.

By: Mammapazza

Mammapazza — Tue, 29 Jun 2010 21:25:37 +0000

Since I saw this beauty for the very first time I fell in love…If I’ve had 26k I certainly buy it…but I don’t. Instead I’m the proud owner of a red Triumph Thruxton ’08 which is already a beauty but by picking few ideas from this one…It’ll look even better. Thanks

By: Chris

Chris — Mon, 28 Jun 2010 13:49:04 +0000

If you have the time, the design nous and fabrication skills to be able to produce something like that for US$12,000, you should set yourself up in business and go for it—you’ll make a killing. Assuming you allow yourself some profit margin.

By: BRENT

BRENT — Mon, 28 Jun 2010 13:42:15 +0000

looks great, but why would I pay 26,000US when I could copy it for 12,000US

By: SkipW

SkipW — Fri, 02 Apr 2010 12:37:25 +0000

Look, I think it’s a pretty cool looking bike, however, I built a Harley 1200 bike about 15 years ago that was way cooler. When you get a chance check out Steve Storz’s Cafe Racer. I based my bike on his, except I fell in love with a Corbin flat tracker saddle, so didn’t put the dug-out single seat on it. I suppose I had a kind of hybrid cafe/tracker bike (next month Deus will probably be building one of those). I sprayed it the same Harley orange as the XR750 flat trackers of the 60′s. One of the things that I did on mine which Deus, shame on you, haven’t done, is put longer shocks on the back to make the bike sit up and turn quicker. The Deus bike would still handle the same way as the original bike, which believe me, ain’t good. Only problem with these kind of bikes, and it’s what Eric Buell figured out after about 20 years playing with Harleys, is that the engines make a great sound, but don’ t go very hard. You can look as cool as hell, but if you keep getting dusted at the lights, it gets a bit embarrassing. As Dave Pearcy said, the engines are a bit tractor like. Having said all that, I like the Deus brand, and so what if it’s overpriced, they sell bikes to blokes who have the cash and can’t be bothered spending 3 months in the shed cutting bits off a Harley.

By: David Pearcy

David Pearcy — Thu, 07 Jan 2010 16:10:05 +0000

I’ve just seen this bike in the British MCN and it blew my socks off. I’ve been looking at cafe racers on and off for years but there’s always been something wrong with the designs. However, for me, Deus have hit the nail on the head (except for the drillings). What a mean machine but what a shame its based on a tractor.