Custom roundup: Three eye-catching, creative motorcycles from around the world

Editor's note: Geoff Baldwin launched the website Return of the Café Racers in 2006 and has been obsessed with custom motorcycles and the scene that surrounds them ever since. He’s also been the editor of an Aussie print publication, launched Australia’s first communal motorcycle workshop, hosted several custom-focused events, and contributed articles to other websites, including BikeExif and Pipeburn.

In this edition, we take a look at an award-winning BMW HP2 Sport by the Japanese workshop Cherry's Company. We then head to the UK to learn more about deBolex Motorcycle's dB25 series. And finally, get up close with Kully Mileage's Ironhead Tracker from the 2023 Mama Tried Show.

Cherry's Company Midnight Dancer BMW HP2 Sport

Tokyo-based Cherry's Company (Instagram) is a one-man workshop owned and operated by Kaichiroh Kurosu. Each year at the world-renowned Mooneyes Yokohama show, Kaichiroh displays one of his latest masterpieces. For 2022, it was the imposing Midnight Dancer.

The Midnight Dancer was built for a customer who'd crashed his beloved 2008 BMW HP2 Sport. Knowing full well that the Beemer was a thoroughbred, Kaichiroh focused his efforts on styling, rather than trying to make an already fast bike any faster.

Much of the HP2's original bodywork is made from carbon fiber, so Kaichiroh opted to use the same material for his own creation. To achieve a quality finish worthy of the HP2, he utilized a technique relatively new to his skill set, carbon fiber vacuum infusion. Along with a quality finish, this approach allowed him to create forms he couldn't achieve with metal shaping techniques. The results are a muscular carbon fiber front cowl, custom belly pan, fenders, and a pair of slick cylinder head covers.

Kaichiroh's decision to build the tail from aluminum was influenced by WSBK bikes. Before receiving their race livery, WSBK bikes often sport raw aluminum tanks and bare carbon body panels. To mimic that look, Midnight Dancer's tail, which doubles as the exhaust housing, was hand-beaten from aluminum sheet.

Finished using hot-rod-scene-inspired gold leaf pinstriping, the Cherry's Company Midnight Dancer is likely the wildest-looking BMW HP2 Sport on the planet. So wild, in fact, that the Mooneyes judges named it Best Café Racer and Best European Motorcycle at the 2022 show.

deBolex Motorcycles dB25 Series

Hailed as the motorcycle that saved Ducati, the Monster went on to become the brand's top-selling motorcycle of all time. Over the years, the Monster has evolved from a parts-bin special to a well honed, stand-out model, offered in many variations. At the peak of the lineup is the 147-horsepower Ducati Monster 1200.

UK outfit deBolex Motorcycles (Instagram) is well known for its high-end builds. As is often the case with workshops at the top of their game, they have developed a limited-edition series of made-to-order custom motorcycles. Coined the dB25, each bike in the 25-unit series is based on a Ducati Monster 1200. However, rather than sticking to Ducati's naked configuration, deBolex has transformed the Monster into a fully faired retro racer.

The body panels of each dB25 are made using premium prepreg carbon fiber. They form 21 of the 100-plus custom components used to create each dB25. Some of the other remaining components include 60 laser-cut segments, 22 CNC aluminium parts, a polymer fuel cell and a lightweight CNC alloy subframe; all of which are made in-house at deBolex HQ.

Building each dB25 isn't simply a cut-and-paste exercise. deBolex offers each dB25 customer the ability to customize their purchase, ensuring each one is unique. Customers can choose the exhaust system, wheels, paint scheme, seat upholstery, and a range of different lighting components from the Motogadget catalogue.

This bike is dB25 #10 and was built for UK body coach Joe Wicks. Joe's bright yellow dB25 is the first in the series to be based on the higher-spec Monster 1200S. Complementing the yellow livery is a tan Alcantara seat that leads into a color-matched speed stripe running the length of the fairing. The bike's Öhlins suspension has been anodized black and the wheels are powder-coated charcoal to match. To give the Monster a bit of extra poke, Joe's opted for a Cerakote exhaust system and titanium SC Project silencer.

I am pleased to report that the deBolex crew has informed me that this bike isn't spending its life locked up in a garage. Last summer, Joe put it through its paces in the Pyrenees Mountains and, by all reports, had a hell of a good time doing so.

Kully Co. KC900 Ironhead Street Tracker

The 2023 Mama Tried Show took place last month in Milwaukee and for Kully Millage it was more than just an excuse to check out some world-class custom motorcycles and party with like-minded folk. Kully attended the show with his latest build, a flat-track-inspired 1960 Ironhead Sportster, and came away with the Bell Helmets Best in Show award.

Kully's business, the aptly named Kully Co. (Instagram), is a byproduct of his upbringing. Growing up around motorcycle racing, he's become a dab hand at fabrication and now runs his own motorsports retail business. As a creative outlet, he builds custom motorcycles, and KC900 is a street-going interpretation of his love for flat-track racing.

Built around a 1960 Ironhead Sportster V-twin, the KC900 features a one-off titanium frame built using geometry borrowed from flat-track race bikes. For the rear suspension, Kully built his own torsion bar setup while the front end utilizes Öhlins racing components. To keep weight to a bare minimum, the pie-cut exhaust and muffler are all titanium, too.

One of the biggest challenges Kully faced with this project was fabricating the Harley's fuel tank, tail unit, and oil tank. Despite very little experience in metal shaping, he's hand-built them all using aircraft-grade aluminium and the result speaks volumes of his talent.

Along with all the components on this bike built using traditional fabrication techniques are several made using modern tech. These include a 3D-printed headlight fairing and air intake and CAD-modeled and CNC-milled foot controls. Rounding out this impressive build are matching 19-inch flat-track wheels laced to A&A racing hubs and wrapped in Hoosier flat-track rubber.

Kully says his aim with this bike was to "Engineer an incredible machine, with new concepts, and exotic materials, but maintain a classic, timeless, Harley-Davidson finished product." I think it's fair to say he's done precisely that.