Written by Martin Hodgson
It’s frowned upon these days as we all get a little wiser, but the old saying ‘happy wife, happy life’ could well be put to the test as Francesco was supposed to build this bike into a road-going cafe racer for his one true love! But somewhere along the way this 1990 Honda CD250U became a track bike for the man himself, with a more race orientated name, MotoLeggera, meaning Lightweight Motorcycle. Rescued from a Hippie on a Horse Farm the Honda commuter has undergone an epic transformation at Francis Von Tuto Moto Works and now tears up the tarmac at Australia’s Lakeside International Raceway.

The simple little Honda came to Francesco in the hardest of ways, with more than 1000kms driven in two attempts to pick up the bike and get it back to Brisbane. The first time the GPS lost signal halfway, while on the return trip ?I had to cross a creek and when I found a massive mud puddle I knew I would never get out of it, I decided to park the van and run the last 2kms to get to the farm. Once I got the bike I rode it back to the van with no helmet and a flat tire, then loaded it up and back to Brisbane.?
The van overheated several times on the return journey and it took more than 7hrs to get home. So what did Francesco have for his time and money" A true farm bike, smoke from the dinged up pipes, broken and sun-blasted plastics, bent rims and a horse chewed seat. But being a ?bulletproof air-cooled 250cc parallel twin, a v...