Built on a Budget BMW R100RS custom

It all began when Hieronymus spotted an MC club member’s BMW boxer parked on a sidewalk in Paris. Sitting in a Cafe staring out at that airhead knew he would have to have one for himself. It’d been a few years since he had a bike and this would be the perfect project to get him back in the saddle. “I started searching almost straight away. I wanted a Bavarian Boxer and eventually I found one, a 1980 R100RS.” The RS ticked all the boxes. It was affordable, already naked, reasonably maintained and best of all it came with a crate full of parts he could reuse, saving him some money during the build.

 

After owning several BMW’s in the past and even previously restoring an R26, Hieronymus had a good idea of the task that he had ahead of him, but what he lacked was a space in which to do it. Thankfully when he approached local blacksmith and airhead enthusiast Mark Cuipers and shared his vision Mark welcomed Hieronymus and his R80 with open arms. With Mark managing the task of tearing down the bike Hieronymus started work on attaining the items on his modest shopping list.

A set of black handlebars from a K100RS were the first purchase soon followed by brown grips and a Monza style fuel cap for the original R100 tank. Then came the biggest expense of the build, a pair of Megaton mufflers and a new, retro styled taillight. As he’d hoped amongst the parts that came with the bike Hieronymus found a tail section with a 3/4 seat amongst them. After a local shop reupholstered the seat it was decided the tail would become the focus of the build. Rather than chopping the frame short he’d keep it long and the new tail section added to give the bike a sharper line.

Meanwhile Mark the Blacksmith tore the Beemer down and took to its fenders with a grinder. With the bike apart the engine and rims were treated to a fresh coat of satin black powdercoat and the exhaust was wrapped in preparation for re-fitting. Firestone Deluxe Champion rubber was wrapped around the bikes rare 6 spoke rims and a ‘Danger de Mort’ (Danger of Death) sign borrowed from an electricity pole in the south of France was added to the battery strap. For braking upgrades the boys then added twin Brembo brakes up front and a single in the rear. With these changes completed the bike was rebuilt, adding the reupholstered tail end and tinting the headlight for one last styling tweak.

Hieronymus admits he didn’t take a traditional design approach with his Cafe Racer, but he did manage to finish it within his budget. Best of all his dream of having a cool ride to cruise on has been accomplished.

When you’ve been bitten by the bike bug anything is possible! You may not have the skills, the time, the money or the know how, but when you’ve got your heart set on rocking your own custom ride, all of these challenges can be overcome. Hieronymus Evers wanted his own Cafe Racer to carve up the streets of Amsterdam. After visiting local garages and custom shops it quickly became apparent that enlisting their help was financially unviable so he’d have to approach his BMW build a bit differently…