Some builders work from a brief. Others from a napkin sketch. But when this 2021 Honda XR650L rolled into the workshop with just one instruction, “build something cool”, it set the stage for something far more exciting: full creative freedom. And what you’re looking at is the result of that rare opportunity. A brutal and beautiful supermoto that borrows from the past, charges into the future, and flies the colours of one of the greatest racing liveries of all time. The master chef mixing up all the ingredients is, of course, Spencer, from Indiana’s Parr Motorcycles and his take on a Rothmans Honda is as cool as they come.
The build started with a single vision: a street-legal dirt weapon inspired by the iconic Honda Rothmans NSR500, a bike that still gives race fans goosebumps decades later. With that, the plan was set. It was always going to be a supermoto. And it was always going to wear those colours. From there, the teardown began. Anything unnecessary was stripped and shelved. The first item on the fabrication list? A brand-new subframe. The old one got the chop, and in its place came a sleek new unit built off the original mounts, with gentle curves in the support arms to give it a unique stance. An electronics box was fabbed and welded in, laying the foundation for clean wiring and an even cleaner silhouette.
With the bones sorted, attention turned to arguably the most important part of any custom build, the tank. After test-fitting a few options, Spencer landed on one of his true favourites, the signature lines of a 1978 Honda XL350 tank, a classic in both shape and scale. But it wasn’t a plug-and-play job, and there is plenty of work that goes into making such an old tank work properly and sit right. The front mounts had to be trimmed, the rear underside cut out and moulded around the XR frame, and the petcock relocated. To finish it off, two fresh mounts were welded to the frame’s neck for a rock-solid fit.
Spencer is all about building bikes that perform on the street, fast and aggressive urban assault vehicles. To transform the Honda, the stock rear shock was resprung to suit the owner’s weight and riding style. Up front, things are serious with a set of 2004 Honda CRF450R forks, rebuilt and re-sprung, mounted via RSW Racing triple clamps. Rolling on a Warp 9 17” supermoto wheelset, this XR is more than ready to tear up the tarmac. Fender-wise, the front is a 1972 Honda SL350 aluminium unit, a go-to part that brings vintage vibes and proper dirt cred. Out back, a custom aluminium fender was fabricated, complete with an integrated taillight and a swingarm-mounted hugger for good measure.
Then, to handle performance from a power perspective, Spencer has a tried and true recipe. The exhaust is pure craftsmanship, 1.75” stainless tubing from Stainless Bros, shaped into a tidy 2-into-1 system and capped with a Cone Engineering muffler. A combo the Parr uses on most of his bikes for a reason. It’s timeless, it’s tough, and it sounds damn good. Fueling is handled by a Lectron carb paired with a pod-style air filter, and with the main body in black, it stealthily hides away behind the engine to keep things clean. The Lectron is also very simple to tune and offers great gains; it’s a no-brainer!
Before the bike could go out for paint, a seat had to be sorted, fabricated from steel and locked down with a slick hood-latch style mechanism; it pops off with the press of a button. Once shaped, it was powder-coated black and shipped to Dane Utech (Plzbeseated) for custom upholstery. “Paint is the most exciting part of a build because you get to see your idea come to life. I do not use any design software, so everything is derived from the ideas I have in my head. I knew it was going to be based off my favorite looking bikes of all time, the Honda Rothmans NSR500. Hired Guns Paint is who I use, and he always knocks it out of the park. The frame was also painted in charcoal and when you get close, it has a slight sparkle to it.”
Once the bike was back from paint, it was time for absolutely nobody’s favourite part, the wiring job. But Spencer always delivers an incredibly clean finish, and for the XR, he’s retained the stock frame and modified it to work with all of the new additions. Up front, you’ll find a Motogadget Motoscope Mini mounted on a custom bracket, with Motogadget Blaze Tens mini doing indicator duty at both ends. The headlight is one that’s been laying around the garage serving as a mock-up for years, and it’s big size, with LED internals, make it the perfect addition for this build, old school looks, with modern tech for improved performance.
All of the wiring is neatly hidden away, and for the switchgear, it’s all run internally through the bars, no mess, no fuss. It’s the little details that have helped separate Spencer Parr from the pack, using a blue matching brake line, ensuring the pegs and controls match the overall colour scheme, even the banjo bolts have been colour matched. So what do you get when such a talented builder is told to “just build something cool”? A one-off Parr Motorcycles XR650L supermoto, that’s fast, functional, and painted in the finest racing colours ever to grace a fairing. It’s proof that when the brief is wide open, the possibilities are endless, and sometimes, that’s when the magic really happens.
[ Parr Motorcycles ]