The older BMWs look pretty good when given the cafe treatment and there seems to be more efforts in that direction, Ritmo Sereno over in Japan does some nice work, but what about the Germans? After all, that’s the home turf of the airhead, you might imagine a few builders in Germany would know their way around the older twins and you would be right. Urban Motor, located in Berlin, is a good example and this bike, called Earl Grey, gives you a take on their way of thinking.
Earl Grey is based on a frame from the dual sport 1983 R80 GS, but the engine, forks and front wheel come from an R100RS, the pipes began life attached to an R1100RT and are silenced by Hoske mufflers. The bike uses lots of homegrown parts, a WBO tank, Magura bars, Kellermann blinkers and Wilbers shock. The seat was designed in-house and the paint color is a grey coming from the 1967 Shelby GT500, the two broad stripes pick up on that theme.
There’s nothing over the top here, no radical redesign, but a nice looking bike, subtle, light and easy to work on without all of the late model electronic complexity. An interesting mix of parts and a good idea generator for those of you with an older BMW in the garage that might benefit from a few updates. Nice work, guys!
Link: Urban Motor via BMW Motorcycle Magazine
Stats says
My only complaint is that all the wires and hoses under the tank could be cleaned up. Otherwise, it’s a fantastic little project. It’s a great mixture of old and new, retaining the spirit of the old, while taking advantage of new technology. Thumbs up.
Richard Gozinya says
That’s a nice looking bike, extremely cool.
Paulinator says
it pushes my buttons
HoughMade says
I like it; I like the style. As with any personal vision, there are some details others would do a bit differently, but all I’ll say is- what is this infatuation with wrapping pipes? Overall, great bike!
B50 Jim says
Very nice execution! I see no problem with the wires and hoses under the tank. They add to the purposeful nature of the bike. This machine is made to ride! The boxer engine won’t win any horsepower wars, but it will provide plenty of smooth power for traversing the Alps in fine style at a satisfying rate of speed. Well done!
As for wrapping pipes — we’ve been over the subject endlessly in The Kneeslider. It’s just a matter of personal preference. Also, maybe the old pipes in this build-up were a bit scuzzy; wrapping them is far cheaper than rechroming or ceramic coating.
Here’s an alternative to wrapping and expensive coatings: Assuming the pipes and mufflers are plain carbon steel; strip the old ratty chrome with muriatic acid or use a sanding disc; then wet-sand everything with 220 grit wet-or-dry sandpaper, then switch to 400 grit. Put everything back on the bike and rub the entire exhaust system with fine steel wool soaked in ATF. Then ride. The heat will burn off the ATF but begin to impart a black finish. Re-apply the ATF with the steel wool, ride some more. If it rusts between applications, so much the better. The exhaust system will acquire a rich satin black coating that look like expensive ceramic but costs a few bucks for materials. You’ll have to re-apply the ATF as needed but over time it becomes more durable. I did this on my XS650 after fabricating a 2-into-one system using J.C. Whitney components, and after a little while the system looked great, and even received compliments from other riders, who assumed it was a factory coating.
todd says
Thanks for the great tip. Of course, people will probably tell you your bike is smoking.
-todd
todd says
This is right up my alley. Here’s mine:
http://i240.photobucket.com/albums/ff280/tsorel/Rs_to_trade/IMG_2886.jpg
-todd
Nicolas says
why did you saw off the front fender … ? and fishtail pipe on a cafe, c’mon Todd, you’ve done better …. 😉
todd says
The front fender was already broken. I just cleaned it up a little with a hack-saw. I first turned the bike into a bobber before the cafe, hence the fishtails. I need to find some reverse cone megaphones for it now. Relax, I put the bike together with a couple hundred bucks.
-todd
James McBride says
Really nice, love the fishtails!
Nicolas says
From the right side, the mix between the torturously shaped wrapped headers and the clean straight mufflers look really odd … along with the seat who looks like it’s bent by a rider who ate too much schnitzles … I don’t know about this one. Sorry I’ve not been positive, I apologize.
HoughMade says
One interesting thing about this bike (there are many) is that the length of the tank puts the seat so far back that the “rear sets” are actual “mid sets” in reference to the position of the seat to the controls. Personally, I like that. I could ride with rear sets, but prefer mids. As for the pipes, I know it’s a style thing and I understand wrapping on a budget build, but this doesn’t seem like a budget build to me.
Tim says
Thats really cool. That long tank/bumstop seat is the look that makes a cafe bike (in my opinion) If you look at pics of racebikes from the 60’s and earlier thats the profile they all have, which is what the cafe crowd were mimicing.
its at least as comfortable as the cruiser “legs out straight, arms out straight, all your weight on your tailbone, lets ride a rigid frame” crew…… 😉
OMMAG says
Simple elemental …. good stuff………..
baddad says
Very nice. Clean and minimal
James McBride says
Great looking bike, looks nice and light as well.
joe says
This type of bike was commen back in the sixties,they were called Bitsas.Guy’s used to cobble a bike together using bits the could get from ,friends,scrap yards,classifieds or bike wreckers.That was before the introduction of easy credit and cards.If the economy gets any tighter,maybe we will see more people building these types of home built contraptions again.
Sick Cylinder says
I don’t like it – maybe because it’s missing an exhaust down one side. The angles of everything look wrong – the engine, the forks, the frame – looks to me like the parts just fell on the ground and the poor bike was built where it lay – an abomination!
Paul Crowe - "The Kneeslider" says
I saw this bike in the magazine noted above purchased on the newsstand. The photos looked good. When I went to the builder’s site, the photos they had available were disappointing. A gray bike on a gray background, bad lighting, bad angles, it just makes the whole thing look, well, … bad. The closeup photo above of the tank looks much better and almost seems like it’s from another bike and that’s the way the pics in the magazine were. There were some other bikes in that article featuring the work of this builder and they seemed to be high quality builds or modifications of older bikes without huge investments, the kind of mix and match parts idea I was trying to bring out here. These photos don’t convey the point very well and might serve as a lesson for builders to put more effort into their photos so their hard work will looks its best.
Boog says
This would be a nice conversion for a Ural…and you could save one old BMW for restoration or whatever. The Ural would be cheaper to start with…