“Southby” for the Deus Bike Build-off
Writing by Salvador Diaz De Leon | Photos by Monti Smith
Southby started life as a 1978 Puch Magnum MKII. I found her non-running & even when she got some life - there was zero power. From jump I knew I was building this particular bike with four major things in mind: safety, reliability, speed & style. Luckily, these have been pillars of my builds since I started Specter Motors in 2013.
A one year ground-up build, Southby was completed in six months. Like most builds, I started by stripping down the whole bike & going through it part by part to see what was salvageable, if anything. From there, the vision of the commissioner of the bike guided things pretty smoothly. They wanted something classic & cool without the pretense. My specialty. They’d combed through my past projects on Instagram & pinpointed several ideas they wanted to implement, stylistically. Inside the motor I was left to my own devices, but this wasn’t a bike ever intended to be my baby, but I have been up & down the block when it comes to mopeds so dialing things up from the inside was a must. On top of that, we had a pretty healthy budget. That isn’t to say, however, that the process was without a few speed bumps - namely, what color to paint the tank. I might’ve gone through every shade of grey for four months only to ditch that idea altogether after falling in love with Fiat Olive Green. On the smoother side of the build came porting, carb sizing, reed styles, upholstery color, seat fabrication, simplified wiring, over-all performance & styling. Every bit of which turned a 30 mph moped into a 60 mph lil monster.
The main objective was to differentiate the build from any other custom moped & Southby certainly came out on the other side as a showstopper. After all was said & done, the bike was placed in the owner’s hands only for me to turn around & see that the submission for the Deus Bike Build Off had opened. Though the bike wasn’t originally built for anything but to exceed some expectations, I’m not going to lie, I was stoked for people to see the bike. The day of the Deus event, I was shaking. My build was set beside projects I’d been following for forever by people I absolutely admire & adore. People like Roland Sands Design, Anderson Miller Racing, Hutchbilt, GogoMoto, Willowbrooks & Dave’s Garage Venice. Not to mention having my bike judged by one of my all-time heroes: Woolie of Woolie’s Workshop. Having friends there & the general vibe of the whole event was relaxed though, & as soon as I got the chance to start yammering on about Southby, I felt right at home. Not to mention everyone’s enthusiasm for all the builds was off the charts. I was blown away by the response. I had people walking up to me that followed the build & couldn’t wait to see it at the show. Plus, you can’t beat free booze & music. If nothing else, the Build Off got me thinking of what I could bring next year. My garage is based off the many types of motors so be ready for some crazy builds with crazy hearts. From the little 50cc moped engine to the big 1100cc motorcycle engines. As long as there are shows like Deus Biker Build Off you will see be seeing me more & more.
