When I was a kid, my skateboard took me everywhere. It was a chunky Variflex (that’s all I could get in our small town), complete with neon rails and a tail guard. I couldn’t do a kick flip and I could barely ollie—but I could go anywhere, and I had fun along the way.
These days I ride motorcycles, but the vibe hasn’t changed; wheels equal freedom, with a dab of self-expression thrown in for good measure. And that’s the idea behind this dope little custom Honda CRF250L, built by Deus ex Machina Japan.
Inspired by a scrambler built by Deus’ Bali outpost, the customer on this project wanted something to revive the passions of his youth. “When talking about custom builds, you find about the customer’s hobbies, tastes, occupations and childhood memories,” says our man at Deus Japan, Lloyd Seino. “Then you realize that these custom requests are often generated by one’s mid-life story of self-reflection.”
With the brief locked in, the customer had one final request. “He added, ‘let’s mount a skateboard rack on it while we’re at it’,” says Lloyd.
Deus Japan’s head wrench, Tomoyuki Soeda, started off with a stock Honda CRF250L. The wildly popular dual-sport is known for being light and practical, but also ultra reliable. Perfect for the needs of this scrambler project.
Soeda-san stripped the CRF250L down, ditching all the plastics, save for the OEM fork guards. Then it was time to re-dress the plucky little single.
The Honda’s new outfit uses a mix of aluminum pieces, and new parts formed using fiber-reinforced plastic (FRP)—an increasingly popular choice on custom bikes. Deus Japan used FRP for the CRF’s asymmetrical side covers, and its vintage-inspired headlight nacelle. A pair of mismatched LED headlights pokes out the front.
The ‘fuel tank’ is another FRP part, but it’s really just a cover. Hiding underneath it is the Honda’s OEM fuel cell, accessible via a classic-style polished gas cap.
Popping against the clean off-white backdrop of the bodywork is a collection of polished aluminum parts. Tomoyuki fabricated a new radiator shroud (on the left), and a custom electronics box (on the right), which also now houses the ignition. Vintage enduro-style fenders sit at both ends.
Hand-bent steel protectors adorn the left and right of the bike. Tomoyuki also made a new bracket for the stock speedo, and a mount for the front fender.
Out back, the frame’s been shortened and looped to match the CRF’s slim new synthetic leather seat. Behind it, an LED taillight sits in a custom housing that also acts as a plate mount. The rest of the mods are minimal and tasteful.
Deus Japan kept the stock handlebars, but fitted them with new grips and a single rear-view mirror. The suspension and wheels are stock too, but fresh Shinko rubber has been spooned on. A Yoshimura muffler rounds out the parts spec.
One of our favorite mods takes a couple of passes to spot. Check out the gear shifter, and you’ll notice that Tomoyuki has welded a brake lever to it, pointed backwards, to act as a heel shifter.
And yes, the client got his skateboard rack too. It sits on the left side of the bike, and is designed to accommodate a cruiser-sized board. A strap keeps the board secure, and the whole thing can be removed with a couple of socket wrenches.
To some, cruising around on custom scrambler with a skateboard strapped to it smells like a mid-life crisis. But to us, it just looks like the most fun you can have on six wheels.
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