The “post-apocalyptic” Dax “Furiosa”, created by the young Portuguese artist Tamara Alves (@tamara_aalves) and the customizers from Art of Wheels Garage (@artonwheelsgarage) was crowned the winner of this year’s Honda Customs edition.
With 34% of the total of 15,924 votes, the Furiosa defeated the six other customized European mini motorcycles present in the contest and follows in the footsteps of previous winners of the Honda Customs event: the “Maanboard,” a Rebel customized by the Italian shop Motocicli Audaci, the “Fénix” from the Portuguese Honda dealer Mototrofa – a customized version of the CB650R – and the “CB100R Africa Four” from the Swiss Honda dealer Brivemo Motos.
Inspired by a post-apocalyptic scenario, the Furiosa features knobbed tires, a wolf’s head design on the frame, graffiti details, an altered exhaust with wire mesh protection, tartan finishes on the burnt cover seat.
The elegant and graceful “Manjushage,” a customized Honda Monkey, designed and prepared by the German team formed by the artist @Lanaarts23 and the customizer Maximilian Zech, a technician from the Honda Centre dealership in Frankfurt, came in second place with 29% of the total voters.
This subtle café racer has clip-ons instead of a handlebar, a Yoshimura muffler, and rear shocks with remote reservoir to improve performance and handling; the fuel tank and fender are adorned with characteristic Japanese lilies (Manjushage in Japanese) courtesy of Lana, with the final touch being a small drawing of a monkey with sunglasses (Monkey = Macaco) on the collector’s heat shield.
The podium was completed by the “Tokyo” custom from France, another Monkey customized with a profusion of colors by the French duo formed by the artist Grems (@insta_grems) and the customizer George Woodman (@georgewoodman64). What distinguished this Tokyo custom from the others were the pop-art visuals, full of vibrant colors in abstract patterns – and subtly intertwined – in every square centimeter. This custom received a total of 12% of the votes.
This year, the website www.hondacustoms.com during the Summer was visited by 21,606 people to vote, an increase of 41% compared to last year, with 5,461 users downloading a wallpaper of their chosen custom for their mobile phone or computer.
All seven motorcycles were on display at the annual Wheels and Waves festival, which took place from June 21 to 25 in Biarritz, France.
In the words of Masayuki Hamamatsu, General Manager of the Motorcycle Division of Honda Motor Europe: “Working with young artists to create unique versions of our mini motorcycles has been a fantastic way to attract the attention of a younger audience to the fun and accessibility of motorcycles.”
The strong reaction to these seven incredibly diverse creations is an encouraging sign of how motorcycles truly spark people’s interest when they are given the opportunity to be “in touch” with them.
Furiosa is a very worthy and deserving winner, and we are very grateful to all the artists and customizers from seven different countries who participated in this event and to the more than 15,000 people who voted”.
For those who want to take a closer look at the seven customizations, the Honda Customs page www.hondacustoms.com is still available in English, French, German, Italian, Spanish, and Portuguese and features bikes from Spain, Austria, France, Italy, Germany, Portugal, and the United Kingdom. Visitors can still download a wallpaper of their favorite bikes for their computer or mobile phone.
