Just guessing here, but I bet Steve Culp didn’t color within the lines when he was in school. He probably drew in a few lines of his own, too, because this BMW S1000RR is one of those custom builds sure to rile up a few BMW purists. After all, the S1000RR is the sort of high performance flagship that makes the Beemer crowd puff their chest out and smile at the Teutonic wonder machine and then along comes Steve who takes it all apart and puts it back together using a few ideas of his own.
Steve considers this a streetfighter and it’s the result of his desire to have a more comfortable riding position than found on the race ready stocker. He also added styling cues from BMW’s past so we see the black paint with white stripes and the old style fenders. The fringed seat would look right at home on an old Harley or maybe an Indian Chief, though it fits this build, too, in an odd way. In fact, everything comes together a lot more smoothly than you would imagine possible if you had only looked at the bike beforehand while listening to Steve’s ideas.
The bike is filled with handmade pieces and includs a grab bag of parts from other bikes, too, including the hand rail on the seat from a 1930s Indian and the taillight from a 1920s era Buick.
Steve has a long history of building and flying his own airplanes and racing and repairing cars, not to mention having owned quite a few motorcycles, too. So, when the S1000RR came out, he was more than ready to reshape it into his own unique vision of a comfortable high performance ride.
Although some may turn up their nose at this repurposed BMW, if it makes Steve happy, he’s accomplished his purpose and after looking at it for a bit, I have to admit, I like it, too. Pretty neat. Nice work, Steve!
Link: Red River BMW Riders Club
Link: Culp Customs
Donnie says
While I certainly don’t find it entirely my taste, I can say I respect the guy’s skill. Looks like he patterned the build after the 1948 R24, and did fairly well, considering that he’s using a bike that’s 63 years newer and of a completely different design altogether.
Hats off to this guy and his wacky imagination! We need more builders like this; to do, say, a ZX-14 re-imagined as an H2A…
Donnie says
Might also be inspired by the ’39 R35 or the ’69 R69. Or, I could be completely off the mark altogether. Still, a cool idea and entirely different in its execution.
HoughMade says
I couldn’t have said it any better. Not exactly my test, but he built it for himself, not me. On that account, it’s excellent.
Kenny says
The Harley/Indian style lights and seat aren’t to my taste. But gotta say I like the general idea and it looks beautifully put together.
Nortley says
If this machine is a thumb in the eye of the purists, that saddle is the callussed tip of that thumb. Love it!
Ed says
I hate this bike. Fabrication skill is great but if its put towards some like this it still doesn’t take away from the fact that in my opinion its a horrible idea. You can see this concept over and over again whenever you look at an OCC bike. I have been in the Harley custom chopper/bobber/etc design esthetic and mindset for awhile and to be frank taking something thats beautifully engineered to be fast and push the performance envelope and take that away and then make it look ridiculous is a horrible travesty.
I have come to think that if you take performance or handling or ride quality away from a bike in favor of looks then you are loosing sight of the goal, to make something that rides better, faster. That brings to idea of a motorcycle to a different plane.
But at the end of the day its not my money and not my bike. I just hate seeing bikes I wish I could have hacked up and made into ridiculous concepts.
Paul Crowe - "The Kneeslider" says
If you follow the link to the BMW club post, you’ll see Steve didn’t sacrifice performance for looks. It may no longer be a razor edged track weapon, but he changed the seating position because he no longer can ride in the racer crouch without discomfort. He loves performance, he used to race cars, and he set this up for performance he could use on a daily basis. Also, some of the styling cues don’t affect performance one way or the other. This isn’t just a concept, it’s a street fighter he can ride and enjoy.
Ed says
Alright I understand what you’re saying and believe it or not I love out of the box thinking I just….I can’t say I like the idea or the look of this bike. Just my opinion. Although I have to say the workmanship is definitely there. Just…really? fringe and the headlights…I just don’t buy into the aesthetic.
shannon says
I’m with you Ed, this bike sucks.
spectator says
I never thought I’d see something more eye-searing than some of those hideous sportster dual sports, but here this is. I can get that a more upright seating position would make this a more comfortable bike, and that’s fine with me, lots of streetfighters look awesome. But instead of taking the streetfighter concept beyond the “acerbis” headlight cluster motif and applying some of his obvious building talent, it seems that this bike got fused with an amusment park 1/8th scale LPG fired steam engine.
Aesthetically, this is imperceptibly less offensive than those rediculous high-tail german streetfighters. Lose the fringe, fabricate nice headlights and lose the tubular chrome accents and we’ll be moving toward something nice looking
akaacount says
Great fabrication skills but tassels are best left to the bike’s ridden by 8 year old girls and bought in mid life crises
B50 Jim says
The fringed seat puts this one right over the top. It’s like using a coal shovel for a seat on a steampunk thumper. I like the three headlights — totally non-symmetrical but any bike needs all the lights it can get. The touches of gold came right from the old-guy’s-car-with-vinyl-top school of design, and the touches of exhaust wrap lend a passe touch. Overall, it’s a mess, but if Steve wants it that way and has the time and money to do it, more power to him. He has a comfortable machine that goes like spit and won’t get lost in a parking lot. Good job!
How ’bout putting oil coolers on each side where the cylinders would go on a Boxer?
hoyt says
There was a nice Honda Fireblade custom written up on the Kneeslider years ago. The one the guy built in his living room with stellar hard wood floors.
These 2 bikes have similar structure. I like the BMW. Use of a single headlight, no fringe on the seat and a better mirror would capture more attention in a positive way instead of getting the bmw crowd riled. I like the rear hugger fender and how it goes over the side wall of the tire. The tank and paint are great.
baconpocket says
it’s not the ugliest thing i’ve ever seen.
taste is something that you cannot induce upon other people and i respect personal expression, so i understand this bike in some way…i just hate looking at it
Hector says
This guy should stick to fabrication an let somebody else do the aesthetics.
Not even a mother could love this look.
seventhson says
Hideous………………….!
rohorn says
I wonder how many of the doo-doo-ers here snivel and whine about how there aren’t enough non-V-twin customs whenever a Harley custom gets featured or even mentioned.
Let me guess – the perfect bike has lots of power, stoplight optimized ergonomics, modern chassis/suspension/brakes with classic yet unique styling – but nothing like this. Right?
What I love the most about this bike is that it doesn’t have to apologize for how it works.
Zippy says
Wow, and I thought it was not possible to make the S1000RR any uglier than it is from the factory. Guess I was wrong!
I do like the tassels, but the speedo belongs in the tank on a real motorcycle.
naw says
this is horrible. ugly. an abortion.
Mark says
Gross! But then all BMW are Gross, So good job LMAO Harley or stay home
Nortley says
C’mon, it’s not as bad as that so-called custom BMW peddled a few years ago.
Clive says
Ive never wanted so badly to ride a giant turd. Craftsmanship looks impeccable.
Rob says
A very aggressive a steampunk V-Max not even a mother could like it but I do. Keep the tassels, it will confuse the F$#K out those you overtake.
Rob says
Excuse my grammar.
Doby says
I like different. This is different. Like the builder, I can no longer ride in a crouch position. Like him I like to go my own way with weird styling cues. Unlike him, I don’t have the fabrication skills to pull this off. I think a fellow like this could care less what anyone thinks of it. Like the old hooker joke goes — Her: “Who do you think you are going to satisfy with that thing?”…Him: “Me.”
JasonB says
If you had first described to somebody what you were about to do to “customize” an S1000RR before actually doing this, it would have sounded as hideous as this actually turned out to be. This is just so clearly wrong and unforgivable on so many levels- except for the paint and build quality, I’ll give him that.
D Man says
I know this is supposed to be a positive site but that bike is just out of proportion and just ugly. The rear fender arc is wrong, he tank too bulbous, the headlights… well there’s no explanation for those, and the seat? I am all for experimentation and am a hot-rodder, but I cannot get on with this project.
Zipper says
Great seat, fits this bike well. I would pay to see the expressions of the BMW riders when Steve rides up on his Streetfighter. All it needs is some fringe hanging from the handle bars. ..Z
Paulinator says
BMW or Munch Mammoth?
Either way, this is soooo much kooler than any spider-web `custom`.
chris sidah says
I use JC Whitney megaphones on a lot of my bikes too.
todd says
A BMW R69S is graceful, comfortable, and still an enjoyable ride – even quicker than most cars. I don’t care how much horsepower this thing has it doesn’t make up for its silly looks. But then again, looks don’t count for much when you’re riding.
-todd
mike says
Looks like the crew at OCC really outdid themselves on this build. Kudo’s!
Abbie Normal says
“the S1000RR is the sort of high performance flagship that makes the Beemer crowd puff their chest out and smile at the Teutonic wonder machine”
Actually, no. Based on my admittedly limited survey of Beemer owners, a lot of the older riders are quite turned off by BMW’s recent fascination with high tech and high speed. Their only saving grace is that the fugly mechanical bits are covered by Tupperware.
And as for the Tupperware, if I want something from the humpbacked, atomic-mutated-cockroach school of design, there are plenty of Japanese bikes.
Byrd says
Why God, why.
HigherRPM says
Das goud IMHO Better than the “beemer chopper” BMW put out some years ago…
And as usual I agree with Nortley…
Stan says
Uglier than a bucket of sphincters. But i like how is pretty much a middle finger to all the super serious builders (& wannabe builders) who have a conrod wedged firmly up thier exhaust manifolds. I always respect a guy who builds what he likes and likes what he builds.
MadBueller says
If there is an example of why we riders are riders, I think this would be it. Primarily we ride because of: the freedom, the open air, the senses that get stimulated, the idea that at any moment we can jump on our bike with only our wallet and set cross-country. However, I believe the other reason is to be different. Not only in a mental sense but a visual sense as well.
I love this out of the box (way out of the box) thinking that only a rider would think of and apply. That seat alone on a bike like this makes me want to meet Mr. Culp at bike night, shake his hand and tell him “Good job. Just wish I would have done it first!”.
Dale says
Like the bike a lot – but the seat is just wrong.
Sick Cylinder says
OMG – More hideous than a fishermans wife licking you know what off a nettle!
It’s impossible to be positive about something so wrong – it might be expertly crafted, but surely that can’t be what the builder intended – why not just admit defeat and start again – or better still get someone else to do the design.
HomageMotoWorks says
I’ve retyped this four times now. Each time I tried my best to cut out anything that wouldn’t ‘help’ in some way. I cut out any of my personal opinions on this thing because I couldn’t add them in a manner that didn’t seem too harsh or unfairly judgmental. I left out the thoughts of my Dad who’s here in the shop with me and I left out the feelings of my other half who’s judgement is always clearer than my own; why you ask? Because someone woulda thought it was mean, would I have added them. Once i got all of that culled out I was left with this:
…………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………..wow, just……wow.
that about sums it up.
HomageMotoWorks says
should have read like this:
Once i got all of that culled out I was left with this:
…………………………………………………………………
…………………………………………………………………
…………………………………………………………………
…………………………………………………………………
…………………………………………………………………
…………………………………………………………………
…………………………………………..wow, just……wow.
that about sums it up.
eriefisher says
I like. It’s original. There are a few features I question but overall it looks good and probably a blast to ride. I thought of a similar design for an FJ1200 or go full custom with the WORMBURNER( http://www.hardupchoppers.com/index.html )
But the OCC comments? Really?