We regularly wax lyrical about the virtues of the venerable Honda Dominator, and how its rugged simplicity makes it a prime candidate for customization. Many find it charming in stock form too, thanks to its quirky early-2000s adventure bike aesthetic. But not ?iga Petek.
The man behind Slovenia’s Gas&Retro workshop ranks metal fabrication as his favorite aspect of custom bike building. So the amount of plastic on the iconic Honda thumper grinds his gears. With a 2002-model Honda NX650 Dominator on his bench, he set out to rid it of its stock body panels and dress it in as much metal as possible.

Much to ?iga’s chagrin, the bike still wears a pair of plastic Acerbis fork protectors. A set of handmade guards would have been preferable, but the project’s scant 49-day timeline didn’t leave much wiggle room. The Honda actually landed in ?iga’s lap six months ago, when he traded a Harley Sportster for it plus a handful of other bikes. It belonged to a friend who had started customizing it before running out of steam. ?iga relegated it to the corner of his workshop… until a conversation in early July prompted him to turn it into an MX-inspired scrambler for an event in late August.

?While I was in Garmisch-Partenkirchen for BMW Motorrad Days as an invited builder, I met Mathias and Barbara from Bad&Bold,? he tells us, ?and we spoke about the MaxlRIDE event that they organize. I was part of it last year with my Husqvarna ‘120...