What Happens When a Hardcore Custom Shop Does A Full Vintage Minibike Resto?

Back to the '70s, only better.

By: Janaki Jitchotvisut

May 22, 2025 at 9:56am ET

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If you've paid any attention to the custom motorcycle world in the past several years, chances are excellent that you've seen Purpose Built Moto's work. Based in Australia, the shop turns out amazing takes on everything from a vintage Honda CBX to a Ducati 900SS.

But while there's some overlap between customization and restoration, they're not the same specialty. Depending on how determined you are to maintain the purity of the original vintage bike will affect how much overlap there might be, of course. But still, you're using some different skill sets, and you also probably aren't tossing nearly as many pieces of bike that you don't need in the bin as you take it apart.

That's what PBM says made tackling this 1978 Honda Mini Trail 70 restoration project so interesting. Instead of discarding bits off the bike, the job was more concerned with bringing them back to life. So much cleaning up and re-chroming went on; probably far beyond the value of the bike (but of course, not remotely approaching the sentimental value to its owner).

At the same time, it's worth noting that this project was more of a restomod than a restoration in the strictest sense. While the aesthetics were mainly kept to a shinier, best version of the OG 1978 Dax, there's more than you might see at first going on here.

Peer closely at those turn signals, for example, and you'll see tiny, unobtrusive, and yet somehow timeless-looking LED units on both the front and the rear. They're units that PBM sells in its shop, which can be fitted to a wide range of bikes if you so desire.

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But in order to fit them, it also required the shop to convert the electrical system from a 6V to a 12V one. When you hear the bike run at the end of the video for its test ride, you'll also note that it sounds quite good. It's also been pumped up with a 110 big-bore kit, as well as a manual clutch conversion, gearing adjustment, and a few more fine details you'll hear about when you sit down and watch this video in its entirety.

It's so great to see bikes like these get the sort of appreciation and love they deserve. Would you love to go for a rip on this little guy, or do you hate fun? Let me know in the comments.