Max’s cousin Colin is buddies with one of the older guys who runs it, so, one day Colin and I stopped over and they gave me a tour. It’s real legit inside. It looks like a newly built warehouse that’s sectioned off as inner “closets” and there’s a work-space area. Entire floor is fresh concrete with “shop epoxy coating” so if you spill shit, it doesn’t matter. Super nice and clean inside. Cycle mechanics wet dream i’d imagine.

Look at this for a better explanation of their idea. It’s pretty rad.

When I was there, I saw a ton of mint classic cycles. They had some really rare old cycles, including:
– Honda CX650 turbo,
– Honda CBX
– ton of old British stuff
– some race Ducati’s
– race Kawasaki’s

The guys who run this race older cycles in the “classic” division (or whatever the division is called) and they have a ton of crazy race parts for their old cycles. Pretty nuts. The one guy was showing me all their backup Kawasaki motors, everything’s custom. They make some of their own race parts.

– Take a look at their website.
– Also look at their Flickr for more pics of rad old cycles.

If and when you guys come visit me, this place, and also, Deus Ex Machina, are the 2 cycles spots that are a must-see. Both are within walking distance from my place.

This is my first time attempting on board filming, so if the quality sucks, deal with it.

This first vid is me cruising around Auckland city.

The second vid is me cruising around some back-roads in Auckland. You can’t really tell in the vid, but the hill and turns are pretty intense.

Both vids don’t really do it justice. It seems like I’m going super slow, when I’m actually going pretty fast. I dunno… weird.

It’s finally running and now he’s dialing it in.

It was a pretty big jollapy when he first got it. He rebuilt the engine… the entire engine.

Seat kinda similar to my cb450 seat, but a tiny bit more slim. Red tank. Powder coated frame. Clip-on bars.

New Mikuni carbs and velocity stacks. They need a tiny bit more tuning. Still working on getting the jetting perfect.

This is Colin’s other cycle. A cg125 single cylinder that he’s teaching his g/f Gabby to ride.

This is a link to his full build thread if you wanna check out all the nitty-gritty stuff he did.

Side note – Colin is moving to LA in a couple weeks to race road bikes (geared pedal bikes) professionally for the next 6 months. Good luck.

So, we’ve all heard of Deus Ex Machina from Australia. I dunno about you guys, but I wasn’t aware there was a shop here in NZ.

• Shop is right down the street from me. It’s super super nice!
• They have a “No Photos” policy, bummer. So I found a few pics on the web.
• The name is Shed 5, but it’s a Deus Ex Machina shop? Seems their branding is a little confused. No one in the USA knows what Shed 5 is. They should stick with Deus and keep it all consistent.
• Turns out it’s a full-blown retail shop. I was expecting something more like 4 guys working on cycles. Not 4 people selling products.
• Yes, they do have a workshop where they do restoration and custom builds. It’s in the back.
• I was expecting to be one of the only customers in there. I was wrong, it was packed with maybe 25 people. There’s a full Cafe inside too, with sandwiches and $14 Chicken Salads.
• Retail side is big and impressive. $14,000 motorcycles for sale on the floor.
• $480 – 3/4 helmets for sale.
• $800 – Schott Leather Jackets for sale.
• I really wanted to buy a t-shirt, but they were $114
• Behind the parts counter is a ton of custom stuff. Want a Cafe tank? They have it. Want a Cafe seat? They have it.
• I talked to 2 employees; a guy in parts, and a girl in clothing, both were really nice and friendly.
• They have about 30 cycles out on the floor. Everything ranging from refurbished Nortons, to Harley Cafe Racers, to vintage MV Agusta, to Honda Dream 50r
• Real impressive. I spent a bit of time looking at all the classic cycles on display.
• Wish I could’ve taken pics of the inside.
• They have 1 wall where they have about 15 vintage BMX bikes hanging up. Real nice!

Anyway, it’s a really rad shop. I imagine I’ll stop in every now and then to check stuff out, or eat lunch.

I’ve made some observations of Auckland:

• It’s way nicer than I envisioned it would be.
• From what I’ve seen and heard, vintage cycles are slim to none.
• There is no trash on the streets of NZ. Cleanest place I’ve ever seen.
• People are in no hurry… everyone drives way under the speed limit.
• Everyone is super nice. Friendliest strangers I’ve ever met.
• You can see the ocean / bay from almost anywhere in Auckland.
• A million hills here. Like pittsburgh but worse.
• One of the biggest o-zone holes the Earth has is over NZ and Australia, so you get severely sunburnt after 30 mins. if you’re not used to it.
• Police don’t carry guns.
• There’s no crime here.
• There are also no black or mexican people here.
• Their version of Walmart is called “The Warehouse”.
• Their version of Pep Boys is called “RepCo”.
• People walk around the city barefoot.
• It doesn’t get dark until 9:30pm.
• From what people say, It’s always 65˚ and sunny.
• The water looks like Miami water. Bright Teal color. Palm trees everywhere too.
• The Sky Tower is the tallest building in the southern hemisphere. It’s about the height of the Comcast building in Philly. We live about 10 min. walk from it.
• I’ve gotten lost on the cycle a few times already. It’s like a maze here.

As most of you know. I’m moving to Auckland, New Zealand. I leave in under 3 weeks. I’ll be there for 2 years with my girlfriend Erin.

I want to say a few things before I go:

• I built this site hoping it would bring together people with similar interests
• It’s been a lot of fun, I consider you all my good buds
• I hope I get to see some of you on a Thursday ride before I go, even though it’s cold as shit
• I plan on starting something up in NZ… just not sure what yet
• I’ll still be doing the site from NZ. Hope everyone continues making posts here in the US.
• In NZ, I already secured my cbr250r – this is it. My g/f gave the dude a deposit.
• Don’t judge… it’ll be cool when I’m done with it
• Come visit NZ. We’ll rent a cycle for you and we’ll cruise around the island

See you guys in 2 years.

So when I move to NZ I’ll be getting a cycle right when I get there. They have a bunch of stuff you can’t get in the USA. Including these 2 cycles from the japanese Honda market:

– nsr250 (2 stroke race bike)
– cbr250rr (19 grand redline)

Both are late 80’s / early 90’s and are pretty sick. I’m def leaning towards the cbr250rr. I’m looking to make it a street fighter / cafe racer hybrid. So hopefully it’ll somehow end up looking more similar to my cb650 or adams cb500t.

I think it’s do-able. Take a look at this mock-up I made in photoshop. I think the 250rr could make a great cafe hybrid.

– get rid of all the plastic shit
– ditch the front fender
– go with clip-on bars
– get rid of the gauges and headlight
– replace with a cb550 headlight with visor
– replace the seat with something cafe styled (prolly the hardest mod)
– go with a minimalistic (non-crotch rocket) exhaust, or cut it before the muffler