Sweet Little Missouri Mule

     I first saw Mark Richman's very cool 2003 Honda XR400R at The Horse Bike Show.  The details were amazing.  Everywhere you look on this bike there is something interesting.  Mark calls his bike Missouri Mule partly because the seat is attached with a mule shoe.  He said he used a mule shoe because they are longer than a horse shoe and fit the seat better.  Mark is also from Missouri so the name was a natural fit.

     I learned that Mark was staying near my place in Nemo, so I hit him up for some photos.  The XR 400 R was introduced by Honda in 1996 and Mark's was made in 2003 the last year of production. Mark's bike would never be mistaken for the red plastic XR that Honda built.

     The original XR had a 2.5 gallon plastic gas tank, Mark's metal tank holds 3.2 gallons and has a cool patina.  This XR needs some extra fuel because it gets ridden.  

     Some bikes with lots of detail look over done but Mark's bike has made the leap from motorcycle to art work.

     I think that artistic detail combined with the obvious fact that this bike gets the heck ridden out of it, convinced Matt Olsen, one of The Horse Bike Show judges, to give this little XR the throphy.