Moritz Bree is only 19 years old, but he’s already made a dent in the custom scene. He first blipped on our radar seven years ago, when, at age 12, he built a custom bike with Dirk Oehlerking from Kingston Custom. Then, when he was 16, he took up an apprenticeship at Reier Motors in Salzburg.
That’s where the story of this cheeky Honda CityFly scrambler started. Reier Motors’ workshop was a two-hour drive from where Moritz was living at the time, so he found an apartment to rent close by, intending to split his time between there and home.
“I needed a daily rider that would reliably take me to and from the Reier Motors station on the weekends,” he tells us. “In Austria, you can only drive a car at the age of 17 at the earliest. So I rode the Honda CityFly in all kinds of wind and weather.”
“An old man sold it to me for a whopping €800 [about $870], complete with a windshield and top case. Only the tassels on the handlebar ends were missing. It was incredibly ugly, but also incredibly reliable… a typical Honda.”
Moritz initially installed heated grips to get him through winter, and eventually swapped the seat for a skateboard deck covered with a Mexican blanket. The Honda CityFly remained a partially-customized daily beater, until a fateful accident at the German amateur flat track event, Krowdrace. Moritz hit the deck during his heat and would have walked away unscathed, if not for another rider that ignored the red flags and ran over his knee.
“I had a lot of time,” he tells us. “Time for ideas and time to tinker, albeit on crutches or a stool. Thank God my boss, Christian Reier, had a lot of understanding.”
Moritz also had support from Kai Glatt, one of the owners of the German motorcycle gear company Rokker. The two got to talking and came up with the idea of turning the CityFly into a custom scrambler that could represent ‘Riding Culture’—a Rokker sub-brand aimed at younger riders. Moritz now not only had time on his hands and a workshop at his disposal, but a clear mission too.
First on the list was perfecting the bike’s stance. The Honda CLR 125 CityFly was originally designed as a small-capacity dual-sport (a cousin to the XLR 125), so it came with 19F/17R wheels. Moritz wanted a more balanced look, so he laced up a matching set of 18” hoops. He picked Excel rims as a nod to his love for motorcross, and Heidenau K67 tires for their vintage trials aesthetic.
The CityFly was a bit too tall for Moritz’s liking, so his next move was to lower the front suspension. But instead of simply slamming the forks through the yokes he shortened them internally, working in small increments until the length was perfect. An impossibly chunky Öhlins shock was added at the back, in the name of overkill.
Moritz was now well on his way down the rabbit hole, so he threw a bunch of upgrades at the Honda’s cockpit too. It now wears a set of tapered handlebars from LSL, held in place by new risers. Renthal grips, a single bar-end mirror, and a braided front brake hose complete the package.
There’s no speedo, but Moritz isn’t fussed; the yellow Bates-style headlight he’s running isn’t technically legal in Austria anyway. The bike does sport tiny LED turn signals though, mounted discreetly on handmade brackets, plus an offset Bates-style taillight.
The CityFly’s new bodywork is a mixed bag of goodies. Moritz started with a classic Honda XLR 125 fuel tank, which now wears sassy artwork from the enigmatic Nig Nagel at Nagel Motors in Germany.
“It’s pretty weird,” Moritz quips. “The candy-painted rear fender came about after I got the tank back from Nic. It needed a strong contrast.”
By this time, Moritz had also figured out that the skateboard-based seat wasn’t going to cut it anymore. So he shaped a new seat and had it covered in suede by Sam Saddlery. He also modified the subframe multiple times, until the rear loop looked just right to his eyes.
“I built everything from sketches of mine,” he explains. “I did have a plan, but I kept drawing other sketches and discarding designs that I had already put into practice. Learning by doing—or designing by doing, you could say.”
Other custom touches include a stealthy aluminum battery box, and clever little brackets that stabilize the inside of the rear fender. A TwinAir foam filter pokes out under the seat, with a re-purposed Pro Circuit exhaust mounted on the right side of the frame. Flat track-style fork covers bear Riding Culture’s branding.
Moritz shaved off any mounting points that he didn’t need, and welded on new ones where necessary. Christian Schaber lent a hand by giving the tank a clear coat to protect the artwork, and painting the frame and engine covers. Finally, Moritz cleaned up all the Honda’s nuts and bolts and had them galvanized.
“My idea behind the motorcycle,” says Moritz, “was to be able to rush from on-road to off-road at any time. And that’s exactly what I’m doing with it.”
“I’ve now completed my training, live in Tyrol again, and have a full driver’s license—but I still love the little CityFly. Last year she was at the Rokker stand at the EICMA in Milan. Let’s see where she flies to next… let’s see what I build next.”
Moritz Bree Instagram | Reier Motors | Images by Marc Holstein and Christine Gabler
