Speed Read, 9 May 2021
This week’s custom motorcycles come in all shapes and sizes—from a pint-sized flat tracker, to a stylish BMW R18. Plus we take a look at a tidy BSA bobber, and a Norton Atlas with a Harley-Davidson WLA motor.
Read more »BMW motorcycles
They say once you experience German engineering, you never go back. And this is certainly true of BMW Motorrad’s legendary motorcycles. BMWs feature unique flat-twin boxer engines, unmistakable style, and renowned mechanics that must live up to Berlin-level performance standards.
Launched in 1923, BMW has long been lauded for its line of airhead engines (1969–1995). The well-known R nineT and R80 series of Beemers (among others) have become the basis for quite a few masterful builds covered on these pages.
Cop this: Sinroja’s ex-police BMW R80 café racer
Sinroja Motorcycles have been producing sublime customs from their Leicestershire, England workshop for the past five years. This BMW R80 is their 17th build, and started life two years ago with a very simple brief. “I want a classic BMW in true Sinroja style, with a good mixture of modern and vintage details,” said the…
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Raising the bar: Vagabund gives the BMW R nineT a lift
We’ve always admired custom motorcycle workshops that keep pushing the boundaries. Austria’s Vagabund Moto have been doing good work since day one, but they’ve never rested on their laurels. The founding duo of Paul Brauchart and Philipp Rabl seems to level up on every build, relentlessly experimenting with new designs, materials and processes. Their 15th…
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Cobra: A plug and play cafe racer kit for the R nineT
We interviewed the team behind the development of the BMW R nineT a few years ago. They were adamant about one thing: the base bike should be easy to adapt to a wide range of styles. Now the German shop Hookie Co. are driving that point home, with their second plug and play kit for…
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Fast Take: Riding the new BMW R18
This week we’re launching an occasional series of video reviews called ‘Fast Take.’ And we’re kicking off with riding impressions of the…
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Nice Werk: Marcus Walz reveals kits to tweak the BMW R18
Whenever a concept motorcycle becomes a production motorcycle, there are tears over how far the final product has strayed from the original…
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Speed Read, 7 March 2021
We’re heavy on Bavaria this week, with a blacked-out BMW R18 from Harley specialist MB Cycles and a flat track-inspired R100 from…
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Mutant Redux: A new version of Ironwood’s famous BMW
Arjan van den Boom is one of Europe’s most successful customizers. The founder of Ironwood Motorcycles has well over 50 builds to…
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Sportiv: A more muscular BMW R18 from FCR Original
Few new bike launches have been as controversial as the BMW R18. Seeing a German contender in the cruiser market has perplexed…
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Play Mystic for Me: A BMW R80R scrambler from Warsaw
BMW Motorrad has a few quirky gems in the back catalog—like the early-90s R80R Mystic. As one of the last two-valve boxers…
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BMW R18 by Kingston Custom: An Art Deco Meisterwerk
BMW has wasted no time getting the new R18 into the hands of customizers. Five months ago, before the Bavarian cruiser was…
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Overlander: A BMW G/S built for serious adventure travel
Nothing grows knowledge like experience. So the best way to figure out how to design a continent-crossing motorcycle, is to actually cross…
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