Written by Andrew Jones
Last night we had a bike builder that had reverted to a classic, or standard, look for his build. A little tired of all the cafes, scramblers and trackers, he’d wiped the slate clean and started from scratch. Well, Lionel from France?s Duke Motorcycles found himself with a similar challenge, but his solution was quite different. Instead of looking back to move forward, he’s mixed and matched the cafe and motard genres to spawn his own style; a Honda XR600 he’s calling ?a melenge between a supermotard and a cafe racer?. OK Lionel, you’ve got our attention.
Heidenau rubber suits the look to a T
As always, we began by talking a little shop with Lionel. ?Right now, the business is going well and we will soon attack a series of very beautiful Honda projects including a CB750, a 500FT and a big job on a Yamaha XS650.? Only the French could make customising a bunch of old, greasy bikes sound so damn poetic.
It’s important to note that Lionel wasn’t guided by the genre-mashing antics our story’s headline may have suggested. Instead, it seems clear to us the guy simply ended up here following his heart and an innate understanding of form following function. He calls the bike, originally an ?87 Honda XR600, ?difficult to define.? We call it an innovation, and one that clearly harks back to France’s major role in the development of supermotards in the ?90s.

?The bike was supplied by my customer, Samuel, who ori...