Photo: JCR Paris via Pipeburn
With its stylish clothing line and cozy dining facilities, Rennes-based Morex Custom is so much more than a regular bike-modding firm. It’s run by the fraternal duo of Joan and Kevin Morel, who seek to promote custom culture and bring the community together at their restaurant for a bite, a few sips, and some live music.
This business model is very interesting, indeed, but what we’re here to talk about are the splendid one-offs built by Morex. More specifically, the bike pictured above was dubbed the Phantom, and it is based on a Honda NX650 Dominator. Chosen for its reliability and slender construction, the old Honda was quickly taken apart and placed on the workbench upon arrival at the Morex HQ.
All the stock bodywork was deleted in the process, but so were items like the wheels, exhaust, and subframe. The latter made room for a bespoke alternative built from scratch, whose rearmost section is encased in a small tail unit with integrated LED lighting. Moreover, the subframe’s underside is encased in a flat metal plate acting as a rear fender of sorts, so as to prevent any debris from going where it shouldn’t.
Glancing northward, we come across a plain handmade saddle with room for one, fronted by a custom fuel tank that looks genuinely timeless. The Phantom’s front end is adorned with a new headlight nacelle and a high-mounted fender, both of which were first rendered in CAD and then 3D-printed into existence. An aftermarket LED headlamp is also located in that area, and the cockpit is as clean as you’d expect.
It features a Motogadget Motoscope Mini dial and a fresh handlebar, with the latter carrying Beringer control levers, a Domino throttle, and minimalistic switches. Morex spared no expense when it came to the bike’s running gear, either, replacing the stock wheels with a pair of Excel alternatives wrapped in dual-purpose rubber. The front brake was refurbished and fitted with an aftermarket wave rotor for improved stopping power.
Gone are the original NX650 forks, making room for repurposed upside-down units taken from a KTM. At the opposite end, the Frenchmen kept the original suspension hardware but had it rebuilt to freshen things up. Following a session of vapor blasting and an internal revamp, the Dominator’s single-cylinder engine was treated to some new breathing equipment.
Air flows in through a premium aftermarket pod filter, and the exhaust gases exit via custom high-mounted pipework made of stainless-steel. Other bits worth mentioning are the off-roading footpegs, slim fork guards, and a swingarm-mounted license plate bracket. In terms of paintwork, gloss-black is the predominant finish used by Morex Custom, but some bare metal can be seen on the engine, triple clamps, and exhaust, among other places.
All the stock bodywork was deleted in the process, but so were items like the wheels, exhaust, and subframe. The latter made room for a bespoke alternative built from scratch, whose rearmost section is encased in a small tail unit with integrated LED lighting. Moreover, the subframe’s underside is encased in a flat metal plate acting as a rear fender of sorts, so as to prevent any debris from going where it shouldn’t.
Glancing northward, we come across a plain handmade saddle with room for one, fronted by a custom fuel tank that looks genuinely timeless. The Phantom’s front end is adorned with a new headlight nacelle and a high-mounted fender, both of which were first rendered in CAD and then 3D-printed into existence. An aftermarket LED headlamp is also located in that area, and the cockpit is as clean as you’d expect.
It features a Motogadget Motoscope Mini dial and a fresh handlebar, with the latter carrying Beringer control levers, a Domino throttle, and minimalistic switches. Morex spared no expense when it came to the bike’s running gear, either, replacing the stock wheels with a pair of Excel alternatives wrapped in dual-purpose rubber. The front brake was refurbished and fitted with an aftermarket wave rotor for improved stopping power.
Gone are the original NX650 forks, making room for repurposed upside-down units taken from a KTM. At the opposite end, the Frenchmen kept the original suspension hardware but had it rebuilt to freshen things up. Following a session of vapor blasting and an internal revamp, the Dominator’s single-cylinder engine was treated to some new breathing equipment.
Air flows in through a premium aftermarket pod filter, and the exhaust gases exit via custom high-mounted pipework made of stainless-steel. Other bits worth mentioning are the off-roading footpegs, slim fork guards, and a swingarm-mounted license plate bracket. In terms of paintwork, gloss-black is the predominant finish used by Morex Custom, but some bare metal can be seen on the engine, triple clamps, and exhaust, among other places.
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