Yesterday it felt like the entire custom world was in Yokohama, Japan, for the famous Mooneyes show. Officially called the ‘Hot Rod Custom Show,’ it’s a one-day, nine-hour spectacle that draws the best customizers from all corners of the Land of the Rising Sun—and many from other continents, too. Most of the top builders reveal…
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There are one hit wonders, and then there’s Dirk Oehlerking. The German custom builder can’t put a foot wrong, churning out hit after hit from his Kingstom Custom garage. There’s one Kingston classic BMW in particular that really left a mark on the scene: an R80RT with intriguing bodywork, dubbed ‘White Phantom.’ Dirk has now…
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Today’s motorcycles are loaded with a level of tech that would have been incomprehensible thirty years ago. And it’s had a knock-on effect on the custom scene: old bikes rebuilt with new suspension, brakes and electronics have become commonplace. Dirk Oehlerking knows all about the technical side. Operating as Kingston Custom in Germany’s Rhine-Ruhr region,…
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We love seeing custom builders’ personal rides. Most of these guys spend their days wrestling with the restrictions of commissioned work, so it’s intriguing to see their choices and decision-making when the brief is wide open. This BMW R75/5 belongs to Nico Mueller of Hookie Co. in Germany. It’s a mix of clever upgrades, discreet…
Read more »Believe it or not, there’s a surf shop in Stockholm. And even stranger, it’s got a motorcycle workshop right underneath. Despite the…
Read more »Many custom motorcycle builders didn’t start out as such. Tim Harney’s one of them: in his past life, he worked as an…
Read more »As classic BMWs go, the “slash-5s” are pretty sought after. They’re packed with little styling details that eventually fell away on later…
Read more »The notion of building one’s own custom motorcycle is romantic—but not without its pitfalls. Some shed-builders run out of budget. Others struggle…
Read more »There’s something magical about a classic 70s BMW airhead: Slightly oddball lines, that remarkable engine, and the promise of fine German engineering.…
Read more »You don’t see many vintage BMWs with red frames. But to my eyes, this R75/6 strangely works. The project comes from Portugal’s…
Read more »Building a custom motorcycle is about judgment: knowing what to change, what to leave alone, and when to stop. It’s about proportions,…
Read more »Custom motorcycle builders in the USA and UK have relatively few restrictions on what they can and cannot do. Then you have…
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