Despite being founded in 2016, Death Machines of London has quickly carved out a world-class reputation for delivering wildly-unique custom-moto showstoppers with bold, out-of-the-box designs and factory-levels of fit and finish. Dubbed ‘The Kenzo’ after Kenzo Tada, who in 1930 became the first Asian rider ever to compete at the Isle of Man TT, DMOL’s latest one-off two-wheeler is built around a 1977 Honda GL1000 (KO) Gold Wing that was heavily influenced by the weapons and overlapping segments used on early samurai armor.
Originally penned using CAD software, the Kenzo was constructed using a myriad of modern and old-school construction techniques including CNC machining, 3D-printing, and using an English wheel and sowing machine. Big Red’s watershed touring model has been treated to a sharp, angular fork-cover shrouding a black-anodized USD Ohlins fork and housing a stacked projector headlight arrangement supplemented via a vertical LED strip. Large, overlapping scale-like panels now constitute the tank, with a beautifully ornate custom holographic speedo cast from an 18th-century Japanese jewel box sitting flush in the fuel-cell just ahead of a bespoke fuel cap. The Japanese custom cockpit now boasts a Domino quick-turn throttle, grips inspired by the traditional Tsukamaki sword-wrapping technique, a one-off billet top triple, and the shop’s Type R01 inverted levers. The SOHC boxer four also gets a bespoke seat CNC’d from high-density foam, a subframe with LED tails and turns integrated into the seat hoop, a custom wiring loom and Motogadget m-unit controller, DMOL badges throughout, dual Ohlins ACOU 60 shocks, a twin-disc Brembo M4 radial-mount brake setup with custom Hagon internals, CNC’d rear-sets, dual two-into one exhausts culminating in polished slash-cuts, and 18-inch wheels shod in Avon rubber. DMOL is currently seeking a new home for this one-of-one Samurai-inspired masterpiece, too. The price is set at $72,350.
