Customised cool: Deus ex Machina embraces electric

Custom bike builder and culture doyen Deus ex Machina has given an electrified nod of approval by customising an all-electric Zero Motorcycles SR/S.

The Deus brand (you’ll recognise the logos on t-shirts and trucker’s caps from custom bike riders and wannabes) was founded with Sydney’s House of Simple Pleasures in 2006, and has ‘cultural temples’ in Los Angeles, Ibiza, Tokyo and Bali.

So how does electrification fit in with its more common bespoke creations, stripping down and rebuilding old Honda 250s, Yamaha SRs and Triumph Twins?

Over in Venice Beach, California, Michael “Woolie” Woolaway – a renowned custom bike builder for Deus – teamed up with Zero Motorcycles, the self-proclaimed “worldwide leader in electric motorcycles and powertrains.”

Woolaway saw the Zero Motorcycles Race Team engineers at the Pikes Peak International Hill Climb and was “enamoured with the platform and began to plan a custom build using a Zero electric motorcycle.”

Writing on the Deus Customs website, Woolie said: “That bike is the perfect platform to build something with because there’s no gas tank and there’s this trellis frame that’s beautiful and everything else comes off and there’s nothing there. So in my mind quietly, I was thinking, I’d love to do something with that bike because it’s a blank sheet of paper.”

Just before Zero Motorcycles released its new SR/S bike earlier this year, Woolie was sent a stock example to create his one-off Deus version.

The completely electric bike is powered by an 82kW/190Nm air-cooled motor with 14.4kWh Z-Force lithium-ion battery. It weighs 229kg, has a top speed of 200km/h and range of 198km (combined highway/city) or 259km when posing only around city streets at low speed.

In typical Deus fashion, Woolie’s bespoke build has been the no-expense spared type. After all, here’s a customiser who has made Deus bikes for Bruce Springsteen, Ryan Reynolds, Orlando Bloom and Billy Joel.

The Deus/Zero SR/S’s skin has been constructed from a single mould of carbon fibre composites, with aero engineers from Lockheed Martin enlisted to help complete the monocoque.

How will the custom scene respond to the traditional oily bits so associated with Deus being replaced by a silent electric motor and battery pack? The keyboard warriors on the Interweb are divided.

Many love it and recognise electrification could be the future of motorbiking. For others, this Zero Motorcycles colab is a step too far.

What’ll be next, they say? An all-electric Harley-Davidson? Oh, wait a minute…