Honda XL500 'Swart Gevaar'

Tucked away in Cape Town's quaint Bo-Kaap area lies Los Muertos Motorcycles—a relatively new custom shop with a store-front-slash-café. During my first visit I noticed a stripped down '81 Honda XL500 lurking behind the coffee counter, with a unique twin exhaust system that immediately piqued my curiosity. A few months later Swart Gevaar* was completed and standing in the same spot. LMMC's original plan was to build a street scrambler to thrash about at the Kalahari SpeedWeek. Honda's venerable XL500 was the perfect candidate because of its reliable engine, scrambler frame and the nostalgia associated with it. So they scoured...