Slow Burn: A BMW R90/6 from Icon 1000

Slow Burn: A BMW R90/6 from Icon 1000
Customizing motorcycles is a very serious business. It absorbs time, money, and garage space. It also requires high levels of mechanical skill, and usually the patience of a spouse.

Not surprisingly, most customizers take themselves very seriously. But one man who doesn’t is Kurt Walter, Design Director for the Icon 1000 apparel brand.

Slow Burn: A BMW R90/6 from Icon 1000
Walter doesn’t just design the gear: he also leads the team that builds Icon’s off-the-wall concept bikes. They’re vastly different machines tied together by a common thread of irreverence.

This is Icon’s latest build, a mid-70s BMW R90/6 with a subtle military vibe.

Slow Burn: A BMW R90/6 from Icon 1000
“The donor bike was the last of the cheap BMW airhead buys in the Portland metro area,” Walter tells us. “Like a swarm of bearded locusts, hipster nation had already devoured every Honda CB within a thousand miles.”

Slow Burn: A BMW R90/6 from Icon 1000
The BMW was quickly dubbed Slow Burn, in reference to her “well-used jugs.”

Walter never does things by halves, so we’ve got a heavily modified frame, with a heightened subframe for clearance and a reworked backbone for rigidity.

Slow Burn: A BMW R90/6 from Icon 1000
The gas tank is stock, but has a neatly frenched gas cap and reworked mounts to keep it low and level.

The R90/6 offers pleasing amounts of grunt straight from the factory, so it’s just been treated to a custom exhaust. It’s a 2-into-1-into 2 setup, snaking high out of harm’s way, and terminated with shorty silencers from a Honda CRF450. A quilted seat from Ginger at New Church Moto cushions the ride.

Slow Burn: A BMW R90/6 from Icon 1000
The rear suspension is now a mono shock—courtesy of Progressive—and fitted to a Dakar-style braced swingarm. The rear cargo rack is almost as neat: it’s actually a modified subframe from a Ninja 300. “Large enough to hold a bespoke shaving kit and antique silver flask,” Walter deadpans.

Slow Burn: A BMW R90/6 from Icon 1000
A front fender from a Ducati 860GT keeps the salt spray at bay, and the rubber is equally practical—it’s Continental’s Twinduro TKC80, the quintessential dual sport tire. A rally lamp from the iconic German brand Hella (est. 1899) lights the way.

Slow Burn: A BMW R90/6 from Icon 1000
Icon is known for its entertaining short films, and there’s one to celebrate the launch of Slow Burn. “We procured a military surplus Zodiac boat, an open stretch of Pacific coastline, and a rubber clad Russian model,” says Walter.

Sounds like the perfect weekend trip to us. Enjoy.

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