SOMotoco builds a Royal Enfield 650 Scrambler…
The annual Bike Shed Show at London’s Tobacco Docks gives workshops the perfect excuse to build a new custom bike for display. UK-based brand Sold Out Motorcycles has been a highly regarded name in the customs world for more than two decades, and has recently rebranded as SOMotoco, with an emphasis on custom parts:
“We offer home builders the chance to modify their bikes using the parts we’ve developed over that time. New parts for the Royal Enfield Interceptor 650, Continental GT, and Super Meteor 650 will be added regularly, both our own as well as a curated range from selected brands that we work closely with, but of course we continue to offer bespoke custom motorcycle builds.”
For the 2023 Bike Shed Show, they decided to use an Interceptor 650 as their donor, but do something a bit different with the retro roadster:
“We all love a retro bike here of course, but we also love the aesthetic of old-school motocrossers and dirt-ready scramblers. So, we decided to give an Interceptor 650 an off-road makeover and the idea of ‘The Mudslinger’ was born.”
They started with a brand-new Barcelona Blue model, mainly because it had an all-black engine, then stripped it down and took a hard look at the geometry.
“The plan was always to switch the front wheel for a 21 inch hoop, and we wanted to make sure that the bike looked right, had more ground clearance and of course handled well. After much deliberation a set of KTM 250 EXC forks were chosen.”
They modified their Tracker Yoke to fit the diameter of the KTM forks, then fabricated custom brackets to mount the stock twin-clock gauges and LED headlight with small integrated LED indicators.
The headlamp was given a scrambler-style grille and the ignition relocated to the left-hand side of the bike. The stock bars were swapped out for a fat bar, with all the wiring fed internally to streamline the cockpit.
A 21-inch SM Pro rim was laced up and wrapped with a Michelin Anakee Wild tire, while the rear mag wheel was swapped out for a stock 18-inch Royal Enfield spoke wheel with matching Michelin rubber.
They’ve since swapped out the modern motocross front fender for a more old-school aluminum unit, but they haven’t taken photos of it yet.
Out back, the stock rear shocks were replaced with a set of taller YSS units, now 420mm instead of 360mm. A short aluminum mudguard and Motone taillight round out the rear of the bike.
The exhaust is one of our favorite parts of the build, a twin set of high pipes welded up exclusively for the “Mudslinger.”
Though the bike was originally blue, they decided to go in a completely different direction:
“Candy Red came up in conversation early and it just works. The combination with gloss black is lovely and subtle, and the old school Royal Enfield logo was matched with the Sold Out logo on the reworked stock side panels.”
They had red stitching done on the saddle to complement the paint, and we think it looks great.
The bike was a hit at the Bike Shed Show, and the whole team was duly proud:
“We are really pleased with how the bike turned out, and pretty much all of the team wanted to take it home for themselves! But, that’s not going to happen as the bike is up for sale.”
If you’re itching to have the “Mudslinger” in your garage, contact SOMotoco for details!
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Like the concept..but unless the xhaust pipes are double walled(but even then) burn scars on the leg ar gonna happen..or is just a sculpture?
If the new owner wants to add a heat shield, it ain’t exactly rocket science to do so. Though lots of the old 70s desert sleds were running high pipes just like these and no one seemed to whine about it so much back then.