One man’s trash is another man’s treasure. Or, in the case of this Honda Dominator supermoto, one man’s blown engine is the perfect starting point for another man’s rowdy custom bike project.
The bike belongs to Dario Di Mauro?one half of the Sicilian custom workshop Hardcore Division. He bought the 1993-model Honda NX650 Dominator from a friend who had given up on it after its piston destroyed itself. And since it was a non-runner, Dario picked it up for the reasonable sum of just ?300 [about $300].

Rather than earmark the Dominator as a potential donor for future client work, Dario decided to keep it for himself. Together with Hardcore Division’s co-founder, Francesco, he spent late nights in the workshop turning it into an aggressive supermoto with classic scrambler style. ?The goal was to create an agile and high-performance motard, starting from a base that no one would have ever bet on,? he says. A Honda XR650 cylinder head and camshaft facilitated the Dominator’s much-needed engine rebuild. Next, Hardcore Division fabricated a two-into-one exhaust system that snakes through the frame, terminating in a custom-made muffler from Mistral in Italy.

Dario and Francesco set about radically reworking the Dominator’s suspension next. A set of WP Suspension forks, lifted from a KTM 690 SMC R, went onto the front, while the rear end was treated to a Husqvarna swingarm and an adjustable shock from Shock Factory in the UK. The swing...