Every once in a while a project comes around that gets us chomping at the bit and thats exactly what happened with ‘The Swede.’
If we start the story from the beginning it goes a little something like this. We had noticed for some time that all you needed to do was stand out on the road for half an hour to see that Canggu has the highest number of ‘custom’ bikes per capita than anywhere else in the world. Don’t get us wrong, we love custom bikes, but they have all started to blend together here, becoming very cookie cutter and run of the mill, so we decided to edge away from that part of the scene over the last couple of years. We had stared to ride more and more on the dirt, from beaches and motocross tracks to volcanic lava fields and single track trails. We had finally stumbled across our happy place, you know the one that makes you feel like you are a kid again? and that place was well and truly in the dirt. If you take a look at the last handful bikes we have created, you will see that there is more of a dirt inspired feel to them, not just taking a normal custom and sticking knobby tires on it, but full ground up builds that pay homage to the motocross bikes of old. Think 18inch wheels in the rear and 21 up front with suspension to handle as much a punishment as the Indonesian terrain could throw at them all with the aesthetic that would make it hard to pin point what era they were built in if you were shown a photo of one.
So when our friend Agi Agassi, 3 time MX2 Indonesian champion and great enduro rider, asked us to build him a bike using one of his own, we welcomed on the opportunity with arms open. The donor bike was a Husqvarna WR250, a 2 stroke enduro bike made for tight twisty trails and navigating forests at pace.
To pay tribute to the company’s Scandinavian roots, we decided to name this bike build ‘The Swede.’ We wanted to make sure the bike to kept 100% of its functionality, but longed to give it a really good Deus once-over. So for starts we rebuilt its subframe, gave it a custom seat and a hand made an alloy tank. The engine was already pretty solid from the factory floor, we just tweaked it a bit to get a little more low end torque. The exhaust was hand made and bent to allow navigation of the new subframe. We also had to fabricate up a couple of alloy radiator guards since we had removed it of all its protective plastics. Then it got stripped of everything it didn’t need…tabs, loops and anything plastic, all gone. To complete its transformation, we threw on a set of vintage style Acerbic fenders and sent it on its way to the motocross track to put it through its paces. (You’ll notice that that some of these photos and the video are not from the movie but from the aforementioned testing session at the motocross track)
As the testing on ‘The Swede’ got wrapped up it so happened, like many things do here at the Temple of Enthusiasm, to line up perfectly with the filming of the moto portion for South to Sian. So Agi joined the boys on their volcanic mission and his brand new bike, paired with his skills on it, quickly made ‘The Swede’ the star bike of the film.
Theres something about hearing the sound of a two stroke hitting its power band paired with the smell of its fumes that really sums up motorcycling in its purest form, a visceral feeling of knowing that there are controlled explosions going on underneath you, propelling you forward as you pull back that throttle. This is the feeling we got from ‘The Swede’ as it effortlessly carved lines into the side of a volcano and in moments like that, we are pretty damn pleased with ourselves!
South To Sian is now live on iTunes, click HERE to download your copy.
