You don’t need to visit Taiwan to know that scooters are the island nation’s most abundant form of transportation. From the buzzing city streets to the brilliantly maintained back country roads, and everything in between, scooters are king. In fact, Taiwan has the highest density of two-wheeled twist-and-go machines of any country on earth. So, it should come as no surprise then that a bike like the Honda Dax is incredibly popular amongst those who want all of that convenience, in a classically cool style. Modifying them is big business, but for NeMoto Hidetoshi and Jzo Crafts, they knew that if they were going to make a mini-moto a show winner, it would have to be extreme. Enter their totally handbuilt Honda ST125 Dax, a trophy winner at the country’s top custom show, N.J. Raptor has a bite that more than leaves a mark.
For NeMoto Hidetoshi, mini bikes of all kinds are just what they do, turning out incredible customs using the smallest motorcycles on the market as their foundation. Meanwhile over at Jzo Crafts, they’re all about fabrication and are arguably the best in the country when it comes to custom aluminium work. So much so, that the king of the Taiwan scene, Winston Yeh of Rough Crafts, turns to them when he needs a tank or other major piece made from alloy. And Winston also runs and organises the country’s top custom motorcycle show, ‘Speed and Crafts’ at the Songshan Cultural and Creative Park in Taipei City. And it was with this event in mind that this Dax was built, with the singular mission of not just competing with other mini motos, but going up against every bike in the building, with the aim of taking home the event’s top trophy.
To achieve this lofty goal, all involved agreed that simply carrying out the usual modifications to any small motorbike or scooter just wouldn’t be enough. The country is awash with plenty of potent pocket rockets, with their owners having spent a fortune on all the coolest parts. No, this little Honda would have to be built to the standard of the best show bikes on the planet, it would just so happen that it was a Dax that was the donor, not a bigger bike. And when they say the bike is based on a Dax, the only stock ST125 component left is the factory pressed-steel backbone frame, absolutely everything else is either hand-built, a one-off creation or the best possible custom part that money can buy.
Starting with just that most simple of frames on the bench, the team started taking measurements and calculating exactly what they’d need to seriously overhaul the suspension. The headstock has been modified and it now accepts a custom set of CNC’d triple clamps from GTR, with a modified steering stem to make the wider clamps work. Dropped through the yokes is one of the first party pieces, the RacingBros front forks aren’t just a beefy set of USD units, they form the first part of the full air suspension setup. The airlines are then run through the clamps and into the frame where the rest of the system is neatly hidden. There is a radially mounted brake caliper and yes folks, that’s a ceramic disc you’re looking at.
The rear end is even more complicated and it all starts with the case of a dummy engine, used to help in the design process. The guys selected a slick as hell Over Racing all aluminium extended swingarm and manufactured a new pivot to make it work. For the rear shock they’ve once again gone with a RacingBros air lift system, but the shock is mounted midway up the frame, and a linkage is built to run back to the swingarm. More airlines are run and you can see part of the air suspension kit pocking through each side of the bodywork, and it allows for 4-inches of adjustment, with the photos showing the bike in the lowest position. There’s more ceramic and Brembo gear for the back end, and all of the brackets were CNC machined by NeMoto.
To get the bike rolling, the guys needed just the right set of wheels and settled on 12-inch multipiece items from Monkey Kit. The all aluminium pieces are ultra light and measure 4-inches at the rear and 6-inches at the front, a set of slicks is then stretched over them, and the 120-section rear leaves the rim exposed in true JDM style. Now the team could lock in their powerplant of choice and the engine is a 125cc single from a Honda Grom. The dimensions are the same as the Dax, but being a fully manualised gearbox, the guys decided to run a hydraulic clutch, with the second master cylinder sitting proudly on the clip-on bars. The angry little engine features a host of modifications, such as custom covers, a clear clutch and a bell mouthed velocity stack made by Jzo.
The full exhaust system is another Jzo custom piece, with the header and mid-pipe both beautifully fabricated from sections of titanium. It then runs inside the customised bodywork before blasting out of the rear, with the aluminium muffler cap serving as the tail of the bike. To make this all possible, plenty of work went into customising the stock steel frame, fabricating the opening for the exhaust, the custom cuts to view the air cylinder and a host of changes to extend the steel so that it forms a tight fitting fender around the rear tyre.
Then it was time to do what Jzo does best, fabricate the aluminium bodywork that serves as the seat base, lifting up to expose the custom aluminium fuel cell and filler, all of which is topped with a Chi Rui leather seat. The front number board and light surround are another of the handcrafted aluminium pieces, with three neat flutes added and a Baja Auxillary light used to shine the path forward.
Behind the new front end sits an aRacer iMode 5 controller, which serves as the dash for the bike, as well as being the control centre for the air suspension, and utilising a Bluetooth connection allows for the engine to be tuned via an iPad or laptop. This is one clever little machine, and NeMoto shows off more of their talents too, firing up the CNC machine to cut the rearsets, fork guards and rear sprocket carrier.
Then the bike was stripped down and ONEWAY was tasked with laying down the beautiful classic Honda-inspired paint and graphics. And come show time it’s fair to say the Raptor ran rings around the competition, taking home a host of trophies, and narrowly missing top spot, with the mighty mini-moto securing 2nd place in the best in show category.
