Kawasaki had already brought back the ethos of the famed Z1 of 1972 at the Tokyo International Motor Show with the Z900RS retro motorcycle. The same guys then gave it a headlamp cowl and dropped bars to get it running on the cafe-racer beeline.

When the Z900RS met the fans of the 1979 MadMax original movie, who also happen to be the top custom builders from the land down under, a tribute to Jim ‘Goose’ aka best friend of ‘Max’ was in order. Goose rode on his modded 1977 Kawasaki KZ1000 having a huge fairing upfront supplied by the now-defunct Melbourne-based company La Parisienne.

Taking cues from the cop motorcycle, Australian based custom design house Deus Ex Machina overturned the 2018 Z900RS retro to a Mad Max style modern-retro homage. Stripped down to the bare bones, the Z900RS build sees a new full fairing from Airtech that gets mesh works unlike what I’ve seen before. Made out of alloy materials, the headlight was incorporated and hidden behind the perforated screen.

The ‘Goose’ is a butch café-racer that has this extraordinary but beautiful form to envelope the motorcycle. The fairing being the main piece of the puzzle, has been painstakingly worked around covering the headlight cluster and the engine bay and has been beaten to perfection. The meshwork takes most of the cynosure and is visually powerful, intellectually elegant and above all, timeless.

There are a number of fine details all around the machine. God is in the details literally. The rear saddle unit has been swapped with Airtech box unit that is also made of the same alloy as the fairing and gets the perforated meshwork on both sides. Both the front and rear LED light clusters have been retained.

The original seat has been swapped with a tuck-n-roll unit that has been re-upholstered with brown leather by the folks from Bad Arse Trim Co. Matching this is bespoke handle grips. Dutchy’s Motorcycle Spray Art worked their magic with the midnight metallic green paintjob that looks top-notch. The slight flake makes it slightly pop in the sun.

The words ‘Deus Customs’ take on the fairings while the rear unit has ‘KMA’ in block. Could be the client’s initials, we don’t know. But does justice to the 1979 movie’s cop bike. Check that exhaust unit for a moment. The stock exhaust was shortened and de-tabbed before being black ceramic coated by Hi-Octane Racing.

Like the RS, the Goose carries a state-of-the-art 948cc hauled from the existing Z900 naked streetfighter and is re-mapped to give the former lower peak power that will help it accelerate better under 7000 rpm. Rest of the mechanicals and the equipment have been retained including the suspension, brakes and the tires.

“Whether in the rain, pursuit or an apocalyptic sandstorm, The Goose is fuelled up and ready to roll.” We don’t have much information on the build but taking a look at the images of the wet ‘Goose’ can make you also wet yourself. Check with caution.