BMW’s Path to Creating a Custom Icon

[Hugh Janus]

Clockwise from top left: Custom Works Zon’s Departed, Roland Sands’ Dragster, Blechmann’s R 18, and Revival Cycles’ Birdcage: four radically different customs used to herald the arrival of the 2021 BMW R 18. (BMW Motrrad/)

Ahead of the R 18′s release, BMW looked to two custom shops to provide the public’s first view of the engine. As Custom Works Zon’s Departed and Revival Cycles’ Birdcage stirred our imaginations, these master makers also provided feedback, allowing for a more easily customized motorcycle. By showing unique models of the R 18 prior to the final product, BMW let the consumer envision what the bike could be before the company defined it.

The 2021 R 18 debuted with a unique consideration of home customization. An easily removed subframe and entirely steel bodywork lay the base for serious modification, while universal fitments on things like foot controls and handlebars allow for quick minor changes. Robot-painted pinstripes and an exposed nickel-plated drive shaft evoke the 1936 R5, simultaneously representing tradition and modern manufacturing in a wholly new machine.

With the production model unveiled, two more builders were commissioned to work with the new Bavarian cruiser. Roland Sands Design and Austrian builder Blechmann were each supplied with a complete motorcycle and given a brief to highlight BMW’s design language while demonstrating the platform’s aesthetic potential through their own visions.

BMW has designed ­customization into the R 18, and the tools of these four builders demonstrated that beautifully as the company prepared and launched this new motor­cycle. Other production motor­cycles have grown into custom icons. BMW is using these builders to create one.

CW Zon

CW Zon (Tadashi Kohno/)

Yuichi Yoshizawa had few restrictions when working with the R 18, the first motorcycle built around BMW’s all-new engine. But he also had only the engine, gearbox, and final drive to build upon. So Yoshizawa started his work as he would any other custom-framed project: by fabricating a jig. However, because this new engine was substantially larger than any powerplant he had built around before, special considerations had to be made.

A first jig was built to determine the position of the engine as it would sit relative to the ground, and then a second jig was made to position the frame around the engine. This allowed Yoshizawa to work freely in designing the frame to his aesthetic and structural standards while ensuring the drivetrain would still work as originally intended and the exposed shaft drive would be maintained. This custom jig was Yoshizawa’s most important tool in making the first frame that the public would see around BMW’s R 18.

Revival Cycles

Revival Cycles (Revival Cycles/)

The build from Texas-based Revival Cycles highlights the R 18′s engine in a deceptively functional way. The titanium spiderweb of the frame is technical and staggering, but noticed only after peering through it to view the mammoth 1,800cc boxer engine in the center. The 138 structural members of the hyper-minimal Birdcage were cut, coped, and welded in with Revival’s Lincoln 375 TIG welder. Board-track-style handlebars mount to a minimal carbon fiber and tita­nium Telelever front suspension for a juxtaposition of new and old, more appropriate on an R 18 than we suspected at the time of this bike’s unveiling.

Blechmann

Blechmann (BMW Motarrad Austria/)

Bernhard Naumann of Blechmann works with methods all his own. Rather than sketch out a finished product, Naumann works on a motor­cycle with only his most valuable tools: his hands. Starting with cardboard models, he builds a figure to discern proportions before finally going to sheet metal. With more than 450 hours into his build, it is a labor-intensive and time-consuming process, but the final result proves to be worth it.

Using a mixture of materials, includ­ing cast iron and hand-shaped sheet metal, Naumann constructs entirely new bodywork that flows perfectly with the engine and frame. Classic BMW paint adorns pieces only Blechmann could make. His bike is an incredible example of what can be done with custom bodywork on an unmodified chassis.

“You can’t be closer to the design process than on the object directly,” Naumann says. ­

Roland Sands Design

Roland Sands Design (Jeff Allen/)

At Roland Sands Design, a ­custom motorcycle is often just the beginning of a larger project. In making the R 18 Dragster, the goal was to not only make a striking machine, but also for that machine to serve as a platform for a soon-to-be-released line of hard parts. By modeling products in the ­computer-aided design environment SolidWorks and printing them with the com­pany’s rapid prototyping device, the team was able to produce custom-machined components on an almost unthinkably short timeline.

The result is a custom motorcycle completed in a matter of weeks, with finished, machined pieces of the highest quality, instantly streamlined for production. Sands is not only helping to shape what he believes the aftermarket will want, he is also making and selling it.

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[XTreme]

Something for Retro Rog here....... @Lone Amigo