Officine GP Design Turns A Scooter Into A ‘Mutant’ Sport Bike

A scooter is a strange starting point for a sport bike build, but these Italians might be on to something

There are a lot of motorcycles out there fit to be customized. You have your Bonnevilles, R nineTs, Ducati Scramblers… and people turn them into café-racers, old school scramblers, flat track racers… but not that many scooters. Well, this Turin-based garage decided to take the road less traveled when they turned Honda's X-ADV into their own X-Mutant C5.

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Honda's "adventure scooter" is already a bike that has a place of its own. Not a full-on adventure bike, but a maxi-scooter that can handle light off-roading (think gravel roads). Besides trying to hit two birds with one stone, it is a motorcycle with some rather interesting specs. It has a liquid-cooled 745cc engine that makes 52 horsepower at 6,250 rpm and 50 foot-pounds of torque at 4,750 rpm. It makes an exciting ride with jaw-dropping acceleration (for a scooter).

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Design cues are more than obvious. Lots of angular shapes and lines to get that aggressive, futuristic look. The dominant color is a shade of gray, with some parts, done in black to highlight the details (like the seat). The front part is perhaps the most impressive and what draws the attention. The LED headlight is an angular ‘O’ that stands for Officine GP Design's logo. It has front wings as well, with no other purpose but to feature as a tribute to MotoGP. The rear part of the bike is also rather interesting. It has a slim LED light that serves as a brake and indicator, and runs along the entire tail section.

The manufacturing side is just as impressive as the design. The complete bodywork was handcrafted out of aluminum. Besides the bodywork, they also custom-made the clip-on handlebars and the adapter plate for them (CNC cut from a solid piece of aluminum). The stuff that wasn't made directly by Officine GP Design was outsourced to well-known manufacturers. The seat comes from an old Italian company called Foglizzo, which specializes in fine leather products. Under the seat is the exhaust system made from titanium, with a carbon fiber end cap, it is a top-end product from SC-Project. The 17-inch wheels also come from another Italian company, OZ Racing, their Gass-RS series. The rear chain guard, adjustable fold-up footrests came from Lightech, a company that provides high-quality racing components. The only things that were left intact were the instruments and the chassis.

Some might say it's only a scooter and not a "real" motorcycle. But, one thing you cannot deny is that it looks good. The whole point of customizing a bike is to give it another purpose, and Officine GP Design definitely succeeded with that objective. If you can take a cruiser and turn it into a sport bike, why not do the same with a scooter?

After getting a degree in international politics and working with NGOs, decided to do something a bit different. Always had a strong affection towards sports cars, especially motorcycles. Prefers fast and sleek, dislikes big and chunky.