Australia’s image, even deep here in the heart of the 21^st century isn’t really compatible with artful postmod­ernism. Nor is the motorbike itself partic­u­larly associated (in the UK at least) with the tendency to fetishise the object.

Our biking tradition is funda­mentally stained happily and perhaps eternally with the greasy rag. Free born Brits love bikes and dig the aesthetic of two wheeled speed – but the reflection tends to begin and end with the practic­al­ities of saddling up and riding hard.

Contrast our died-​​in-​​the-​​wool mentality with the way of approaching bike culture as typified by our antipodean friends at Deus bikes in Sydney.

Part design studio, bike workshop, part café (the type that serves lattes rather than fried brekkies), Deus is a self-​​conscious temple of all things bikey. They will sell you a classic bike and accom­pa­nying paraphernalia, and will design and build with you your very own bespoke mutant, from Café clones like the one pictured above) to Steve McQueen-​​ish Desert racers and back again.

The whole idea is the brainchild of a trio of Aussie creative ruffians, one of which helped create the icono­clastic, explos­ively successful and delight­fully subversive surf/​street brand Mambo.

Whatever English biker purists might think of it, these guys have tapped beauti­fully into an increas­ingly popular creed of inter­na­tional classic bike enthu­siast who appre­ciates the beauty of motor­cycle culture design and engin­eering at a whole other level.

Placing the retail Deus exper­ience in a beauti­fully designed space will generally helpfully migrate your passion for the classic side of motor­cycling to the realms of high culture.

Power to their leather-​​patched elbows. And make mine a mocaccino.