Once upon a (glorious) time in Italy, an utterly unique series of race bikes were produced by Moto Guzzi, featuring an extraordinary power plant: a 500cc V8that spun up to 12,000rpm—in 1956 no less. The jewel-like 70-horsepower motor was concealed behind full-coverage bodywork that greatly improved aerodynamics by extending the fairing down around the front wheel. It was complex, but competitive (winning three races) for a couple of years. Only five were built. Nothing like it would be seen again until Honda raced the 250cc inline-six RC165 and RC166 race bikes a decade later.

That “dustbin” fairing, as it became known, was popular and effective – so much so that it was almost immediately banned from racing (and still is). But under that fiberglass egg lay one of the most exotic of all motorcycle engines, and you can readall about it hereand go to 2:45 for a ride along (although the whole video is worth your time).

Despite the passage of time and continued outlaw status, dustbin fairings remain an iconic motorcycle form factor, and bike builders at Japan’s Ganesha Custom have cooked up a dustbin bike of their own, but alas, it’s covering a thoroughly modern (and far less powerful) 125cc engine from the Honda Monkey city bike rather than eight pistons worth of Italian exotica.

Still, no complaints – it looks great, with air ducts, machine-gun like turn signals poking out the front pf the fairing and a street-legal headlight. It’s only when you add a rider (as below) doe you get the true diminutive sense of scale of the machine, although I’ve ridden a modern Monkey and at six feet tall, I have to admit I unexpectedly fit quite well on thefuel-injected, five-speed homageto one of Honda’s best-loved vintage models (upon which Idon’tfit so well).

Want one? Ganesh will happily sell you a turn-key example for about $11,000, and sorry, they don’t sell a DIY kit. But if you wanted to dustbin up something a bit bigger, you canstill get dustin fairings from AirTech for about $600.

Here are some more pix. What’s your take on the dustbin Monkey?