Even if you don’t know Chiel Nipius’ name, you’ve probably seen his work. He was part of the team at Ironwood Custom Motorcycles for a while, but he’s now branched out on his own as Nius Moto. And judging by these two Honda CB550 customs, he has the skills to pay the bills.
Using the knowledge he acquired under the mentorship of Ironwood shop boss, Arjan van den Boom, 23-year-old Chiel juggles custom bike building with other interests. He also has a part-time job as a metal fabricator at an interior design company, and he’s looking into studying product design.

But the end goal is to make Nius Moto a full time gig. And he’s off to a good start, too.
The sand-colored café racer shown here is a 1977-model Honda CB550 commissioned by a friend, while the green street scrambler is a 1978, built as a personal project. Neither of them tread any new ground visually, but both are stellar examples of their respective styles.
Chiel handled all the work on both Hondas himself, save for the paint and powder-coating. On the café racer, that work included a full engine rebuild, with a 605 cc big bore kit, a CB650 camshaft and valves from an RS-spec Renault.
The carbs breathe in through a set of Uni Filter pods, with a carbon fiber plate mounted behind them to keep muck out. The exhaust system consists of a set of four-into-one Delkevic headers and a titanium SC Project muffler. ?This thing is quick and loud,? says Chiel.

One of Chiel’s ...