DIFFERENT STROKES

“I FOUND MYSELF THE PROUD OWNER OF A MOTORCYCLING CURIOSITY AND A GROWING NUMBER OF RANDOM PARTS”

I GOT thinking about custom bikes after talking to Leo Yip on the Ellaspede stand at the Troy Bayliss Moto Expo in Brisbane in March 2014. I developed a vague idea of building a cafe racer with an old-school Avon fairing and a GT stripe but not much else, not even a donor bike, when an MZ Skorpion Tour popped up in Sydney on eBay.

There was always something special about them; the large-diameter tube perimeter frame was a real standout. I didn’t know the MZ brand well but the reviews of the time spoke glowingly of the Skorpion at