I was fairly convinced that I'd seen nearly every iteration of custom triumph Bonneville but this amalgam of genres tickled my fancy. Based in Taiwan and run by Lin Dong, Persist Motorcycles worked in collaboration with Cowboys Chopper to produce this T100, 'Kane'. Taiwan is a tricky place to operate a custom shop as regulations essentially make anything but a stock motorcycle illegal to use. So you either flout the law or work around it and incorporate varying degrees of cunning into your design in a bid to hoodwink biannual and mandatory inspections. The subframe has been chopped and the removed section modified to allow its refitting if necessary, including the original rear mudguard and seat. A few bolts and the Taiwanese equivalent of the MOT inspector will be none-the-wiser. The fuel tank was hand-rolled and beaten from aluminium sheet to form a smaller more pleasing shape, yet maintains a decent capacity and practical Monza cap. The fuel pump is neatly incorporated and the whole thing can also be swapped for the original. The tail and side panels we fabricated using the same technique and a local upholsterer stitched the dark brown leather seat pad. The sweeping stainless exhausts are one piece, painstakingly heated and hand-bent, finished with turned brass tips. The relaxed, classically styled handlebar echos the flowing lines and is devoid of clutter thanks to internal wire routing. Satin brass levers and reservoir cap add a touch of vintage class without being too bling. The overall style is clearly influenced by the Japanese scene and a few choice components were shipped over to complete the look. Carb tops are by Fork of Tokyo, the filters from Motor Rock based in Nagoya and the headlight was chosen as it resembled the kanji character “目”, meaning eyes. With the lowered and gaitered forks, chunky trials tyres, squat stance and subbed tail there's something slightly Speedtractor and Heiwa about Lin's bike. I'm a massive fan of the Japanese scene and like what the Persist and Cowboys Chopper guys have done here. A modicum of personal expression without trying to be different for the sake of it. Hopefully we'll see more from Persist Motorcycles, for now follow them on Instagram | YouTube | Facebook

And here are a few more builds from Taiwan.