A Customer Build That Started With a Concept Image
Most Bonvent build stories document motorcycles we design and assemble ourselves in France. This one is different: it belongs to Mathias Collman, a rider who had been imagining exactly this motorcycle long before the parts to build it existed.
The idea Mathias had in mind was specific. He did not want a generic tail tidy or a universal flat seat. He wanted a solo seat with a rear mudguard that lays over the rear frame — a design that visually shortens the motorcycle and makes the rear frame appear cut, the way classic scramblers from the 1960s ended in a clean rear loop.
When Bonvent published the first concept visual of the Interceptor 650 solo seat and trompe-l'œil rear mudguard kit, he recognised it immediately. In his own words:
"I was searching all over the world and waiting for a kit like you developed, with a rear fender that lays over the back frame. And when the moment came you guys shared a concept visual of it: I was instantly sold, because it was exactly how I had it in my head."
The finished motorcycle combines Bonvent parts with Mathias' own choices — including a spectacular one-off exhaust — and shows how far the Interceptor 650 can move toward a vintage scrambler identity while remaining a completely usable road motorcycle.
Riders planning a similar project can explore the full range of Royal Enfield Interceptor 650 custom parts and accessories.
Why the Royal Enfield Interceptor 650 Works as a Scrambler
The Interceptor 650 is one of the most natural scrambler platforms currently in production. Its air-cooled parallel-twin engine, double-cradle steel frame, twin rear shocks and 18-inch wheels already carry the proportions of a classic British motorcycle.
The factory version, however, is styled as a roadster. The long dual seat, the full-length rear mudguard and the visible rear subframe give the motorcycle a heavier, more conventional rear section.
That rear section is precisely where a scrambler conversion succeeds or fails. Shortening it with a simple tail tidy leaves the long seat and exposed subframe untouched. Cutting the frame solves the visual problem but permanently modifies the motorcycle and, in many countries, raises registration issues.
The Bonvent approach on this build solves the same problem without a saw.
The Bonvent Solo Seat and Trompe-l'Œil Rear Mudguard Kit
The centrepiece of Mathias' build is the Bonvent rear conversion kit for the Interceptor 650: a solo seat combined with a rear mudguard that passes over the rear frame tubes instead of hanging underneath them.
Because the mudguard lays on top of the frame, it visually absorbs the rear subframe into the bodywork. From the side, the motorcycle appears to end just behind the seat, as though the rear frame had been shortened and looped. That is the trompe-l'œil: the frame is completely untouched, but the eye reads a cut, hooped rear end.
This single design decision changes the entire silhouette of the Interceptor 650. The motorcycle instantly gains the short, horizontal, purposeful rear section that defines vintage scramblers — without cutting, welding or drilling the original frame, and without affecting the motorcycle's registration or resale value. Remove the kit, refit the original parts, and the Interceptor returns to stock.
The solo seat that completes the kit follows the same logic: a shorter, flatter profile that continues the line of the fuel tank and stops where the mudguard begins, rather than a thick dual seat extending over the rear wheel.
A Two-Part Front Mudguard System: High Scrambler Fender and Mini Fender
The front of the motorcycle uses the Bonvent front mudguard system for the Interceptor 650, which is built from two separate components.
The high front mudguard mounts beneath the lower fork yoke, high above the wheel in the classic scrambler and enduro position. It provides the unmistakable off-road stance and protects the front of the engine area from mud thrown up by the front wheel.
The mini front mudguard replaces the original full-size fender directly above the tyre. It keeps a discreet layer of close protection over the wheel — reducing spray onto the fork legs and lower engine — while remaining almost invisible in the overall silhouette.
Both components are available separately in the Bonvent shop. Riders can run the high fender alone for the purest scrambler look, the mini fender alone for a minimal roadster front end, or both together as Mathias did.
The effect of these two changes — the rear kit and the front mudguard system — is immediate. Swap these elements alone and the Interceptor 650 stops reading as a factory roadster and starts reading as a vintage scrambler, before a single other part is touched.
The Orange Crush Tank: A Factory Colour That Was Made for This
Mathias' Interceptor wears the factory Orange Crush fuel tank — one of the boldest colours Royal Enfield has offered on the 650 twins.
On the standard roadster, Orange Crush is a bright accent. On a scrambler conversion, it becomes something else entirely: a direct reference to the desert sleds and competition scramblers of the late 1960s and 1970s, when high-visibility orange and gold tanks were standard equipment on race machines.
Against the black solo seat, black mudguards and black cockpit of this build, the orange tank becomes the single point of colour on the motorcycle. The golden-hour photography in open fields shows exactly why the combination works.
A One-Off High 2-into-1 Exhaust, Hand-Made in Thailand
The most personal component on this build is one Bonvent had nothing to do with — and it deserves full credit.
The high-mounted 2-into-1 exhaust was custom made by a welder in Thailand who works for WSW Customs, a Thai workshop known among Royal Enfield owners for hand-built exhaust systems. During the pandemic, the builder sold his work internationally through an eBay store, which is how systems like this one found their way onto motorcycles across the world.
The routing is pure competition scrambler: both header pipes sweep along the side of the engine and merge into a single high muffler that runs level with the seat line. Combined with the trompe-l'œil rear end, the raised exhaust reinforces the impression of a motorcycle built for fire roads rather than boulevards.
A high exhaust of this type changes heat management and pillion capability, and sound levels and road-use approval depend entirely on the individual system and local regulations. As with any one-off exhaust, riders inspired by this setup should treat it as a bespoke commission rather than an off-the-shelf part.
Tracker Handlebar, Bar-End Mirrors and Scrambler Tyres
The cockpit follows the tracker school: a black tracker handlebar, wider and flatter than the original bend, paired with bar-end mirrors that clear the space above the handlebar and lower the visual mass of the front end.
The riding position becomes slightly more upright and commanding — appropriate for a motorcycle that now looks ready to leave the tarmac.
Block-pattern scrambler tyres complete the conversion. On the Interceptor's 18-inch wire wheels, a block tread pattern does more for the off-road identity of the motorcycle than almost any bolt-on part, while remaining perfectly usable for everyday road riding.
The Tail Light: A Minimalist Choice Instead of the Bonvent Unit
One detail separates Mathias' build from the standard Bonvent rear kit configuration: the tail light.
The Bonvent kit is normally completed by our own rear light, designed to sit within the mudguard and reinforce the vintage character of the conversion. Mathias chose a different route: a mini tail light mounted underneath the rear mudguard.
The result is honest to describe both ways. Tucked under the fender, the mini light almost disappears, giving the rear of the motorcycle an even more minimalist, stripped-down finish than the original kit. At the same time, it gives up part of the vintage character — the classic, visible tail light unit is itself a period detail, and removing it pushes the build slightly toward modern minimalism.
Neither choice is wrong. It is exactly the kind of decision that makes a customer build personal, and it shows that the Bonvent rear kit works as a platform for different lighting configurations rather than a single fixed look.
PARTS USED
Shop the parts used
Explore the model-specific Bonvent parts used to create this motorcycle.
A Customer Build on a Bonvent Platform
Mathias' Interceptor 650 shows the two halves of a successful customer build.
The Bonvent parts provide the structural transformation: the trompe-l'œil rear end that makes the frame appear cut without touching it, and the two-part front mudguard system that establishes the scrambler stance. These are the elements that were impossible to find anywhere — the reason Mathias says he was searching all over the world before the concept visual appeared.
The personal choices provide the character: the Orange Crush tank, the hand-made Thai exhaust, the tracker cockpit and the minimalist under-fender tail light. None of these come from the same catalogue, and that is precisely the point.
Bonvent Motorbikes designs its parts in France around the original fixing points, wiring and proportions of each motorcycle, and ships internationally. Riders in France, the UK, the United States, Europe, Australia and other markets can build on the same core components while checking local requirements for lighting, exhaust noise and road inspections.
Final Result: An Interceptor 650 That Reads as a Genuine Vintage Scrambler
The result is a Royal Enfield Interceptor 650 that reads as a genuine vintage scrambler from twenty metres away and reveals its details up close: the mudguard laying over the frame, the two-stage front fender, the hand-welded exhaust, the single point of orange in a black composition.
And because nothing on the frame was ever cut, the motorcycle can still be returned to stock — which is exactly the balance the Bonvent kit was designed to offer.
Explore the current range of Royal Enfield Interceptor 650 custom parts or browse all French-designed Royal Enfield custom parts and accessories.
