A forest-green CB750 Hornet named ‘Mugen’ has won Honda’s 2026 Customs ‘Battle of the Twins’ competition, beating nine rival one-offs to take both the On Road category and the overall crown.
Built by Portuguese dealer Mototrofa, the streetfighter took 10,092 of the 42,119 votes cast – almost 24% of the total, and 36% of the On Road vote. Finished in deep forest green with gold and carbon-fibre detailing, it was built under a ‘form should follow function’ mantra and wears an aggressive streetfighter stance with a raft of custom parts.
We first saw the ten contenders back in June, when Honda revealed the line-up at the Wheels & Waves festival in Biarritz . This year’s contest introduced an ‘On Road vs Off Road’ theme, pitching five 755cc CB750 Hornet builds against five XL750 Transalp interpretations, with the two 750cc twins going head-to-head across 10 countries.
As in previous years, each build was also reviewed by the designers of the original bikes – Valerio Aiello, who styled the Transalp, and Giovanni Dovis, who penned the Hornet, both from Honda’s R&D centre in Rome.
The win makes Mototrofa only the second repeat winner in the competition’s seven-year history, after Italy’s MAAN Motocicli Audaci. The Portuguese dealer previously took the 2021 title with the ‘Fenix’ CB650R.
“This victory carries a strong personal significance for all the people in Mototrofa,” said Paulo Ferreira, Creative Director of the Mugen project.
“Having the opportunity to have two winning projects in a European competition of this scale is something that makes us genuinely proud, especially because behind every project there is a team, countless hours of work, discussion, attention to detail, and above all, a great deal of dedication.”
Topping the off-road half of the grid was ‘Saharja’, a Dakar-inspired XL750 Transalp built by Italy’s DRS Custom, which took more than 4800 votes – 36% of the off-road total. Built under the theme ‘inspired by the desert, built for the journey’, it features a handcrafted navigation tower with a digital road book and TFT speedometer, HRC Tricolour livery, a redesigned front end with high-output LED lights, aluminium side fuel tanks, a skid plate, knobbly tyres and a high-mounted exhaust.
“It was an honour being involved by Honda Italia in the Honda Customs 2026 contest. Working on a Transalp and giving it a Dakar style was definitely an exciting challenge,” said Paolo Di Russo, owner of DRS Custom Cycles.
In the On Road category, Spanish dealer Stilmoto’s ‘Last Lap’ – an homage to 1980s GP racers, using a race fairing pressed from a 40-year-old mould – finished second with more than 6900 votes (16% of the overall total).
Third went to Poland’s ‘Sting Honey’, built by dealer Honda Sokół with Steel Choppers in the competition’s first Polish entry, using honeycomb-themed paint, a CB125R headlight and X-ADV spoked wheels to bag almost 12% of all votes.
Off Road runner-up was the UK’s ’86 Dakar Tribute by CJ Ball, honouring Cyril Neveu’s 1986 NXR750 Dakar win with a desert paint scheme, long-travel suspension and race number boards. It took a 20% share of the off-road vote. Third was France’s ‘Ocean Nomad’, a surf-themed Transalp with a round LED headlight, brown leather seat and a side-mounted surfboard rack.
Honda say 2026 was the most successful edition of the contest yet. Voting ran from June 12 to August 31 and drew 42,119 votes from 102 countries – a 39% increase on 2025. On Road builds proved the more popular, att…