It’s no secret that we’ve got combined emotions concerning the BMW R18. However there’s one factor we’re certain of: in the correct arms, it has huge potential for personalisation. And few arms are as deft as Brice Hennebert’s.
We’ve been following Brice’s profession for fairly a while—from his early days as one half of Kruz Firm, to his present work underneath the Workhorse Pace Store model. And the Belgian {custom} builder has but to place a foot mistaken.
Brice has a pointy eye, and a penchant for injecting retro racing model into his machines. He’s additionally not afraid to construct them chunky, making his model completely suited to the R18’s beneficiant actual property. This specific bike is a side-step from his traditional fare although, laced with artwork deco design issues.
Because the BMW R18’s design was initially impressed by the BMW bikes of the Nineteen Thirties, Brice went on the hunt for inspiration from this period. “I wished to convey the R18 to an entire new stage,” he says. “One in all my greatest inspirations was the R18 idea bike, which, for me is without doubt one of the greatest wanting R18s to this point.”
Whereas enjoyable at dwelling, Brice stumbled throughout a documentary concerning the outdated AVUS circuit in Berlin—a street that was particularly designed to perform as each a freeway and a race observe. Because the R18 is inbuilt Berlin, it felt like the right springboard for the challenge.
So Brice began gathering furnishings, architectural and automotive designs from the period to construct his temper board. “I based mostly my design on two well-known sports activities automobiles from this era,” he says.
“The primary one is the Bentley Blue Prepare from 1949—a high-end racer, well-known for being sooner than a prepare. The three seater is an actual piece of artwork.”
“The opposite one is the Rolls-Royce Phantom Jonckheere Coupe from 1935. The outrageous traces of the Rolls-Royce are so inspiring. I fell in love with this alien which is sort of 100 years outdated, and which was custom-made in Belgium.”
Workhorse’s R18 is squat and compact, so it takes a second look to appreciate that it’s rolling on a large set of wheels. There’s a 21” hoop up entrance, with a 240-wide 18” rim on the again. “The monster rear wheel doesn’t look outsized with such a giant engine,” says Brice.
Look even nearer, and also you’ll discover that the spokes are laced both facet of a central ridge on every rim. That design was impressed by aero bicycle wheels, and, by Brice’s admission, Max Hazan’s twin-engined Velocette. So it’s no shock that the wheels are {custom} models, made to spec by JoNich Wheels in Italy.
It’s not simply the rim edges which can be uncommon. Brice wished to maintain the design clear, and that meant utilizing an inboard brake set from Beringer. The brake firm despatched over CAD designs of an present inboard system, which had been handed onto Fabio at JoNich to ensure the brand new hubs may accommodate the brakes.
Beringer in flip made modifications to the inboard system, to make sure there can be area to re-install the BMW’s OEM ABS sensors. That makes this setup about as one-off as you may get.
Larger up, Brice designed a brand new set of yokes to separate the forks extensive sufficient to suit the upgraded wheels and brakes. They grip a pair of 43 mm fork legs from Öhlins, with a custom-built shock from the Swedish suspension firm fitted out again.
The Öhlins bits usually are not only for present although. Brice’s consumer is a hardcore race fanatic, and though it is a cruiser, he needs it to carry out in addition to attainable.
One other problem was hollowing out the area underneath the seat, to indicate off the brand new shock. “All the standard shit underneath the seat moved to a black field behind the gearbox,” says Brice, “and there’s some stuff immediately underneath the seat. It took two weeks of labor to relocate all {the electrical} stuff accurately.”
A few parts additionally made their means into one among this R18’s standout elements—its beneficiant handmade aluminum stomach pan. Brice fabricated an exhaust system from pie-cut headers and items of race automobile mufflers to run inside it, and added louvered vents as a nod to the Bentley.
The inventory gasoline tank made the minimize, however a whole lot of consideration went into the cockpit and entrance finish. Utilizing 3D design and printing, Brice constructed a nylon glass fiber ‘fairing’ with an built-in headlight nacelle and fork covers. Packed inside it’s a new outdated inventory SEV Marchal headlight, upgraded with LED internals.
“I took some affect from the Revival Birdcage’s forks, and combined in some pre-war aero inspiration,” he explains. “There’s additionally a drop of Hugo Eccles’ XP Zero across the yoke design.”
Behind the fairing is a ‘pop-up’ mount for an iPhone—a request from the proprietor, who apparently needs to run a navigation app since he will get misplaced usually. The switches are custom-made gadgets from Jetprime in Italy, designed particularly to interface with the BMW’s trendy CAN bus system.
Additionally notable are the reverse-style levers, impressed by these on the unique Idea R18. Brice put in one other name to Beringer, who responded with elements from an outdated challenge that was by no means accomplished. Brice massaged every little thing into place, routing the R18’s brake hoses contained in the handlebars.
Taking issues yet another step additional, Brice 3D scanned all the motorbike, then designed elements just like the valve covers, entrance engine cowl, intakes, seat blank-off plate and extra. Increasing his information of additive manufacturing, he then 3D-printed castings, for Cedric at Metamagma to solid the ultimate elements from aluminum.
Ending off the construct are a neatly finned rear fender, and a solo seat upholstered by all of Europe’s go-to man, Jeroen at Silvermachine. Brice additionally credit Tim at Vinco Racing for doing all of the machining work on the construct.
Appropriately dubbed ‘Avus,’ Workhorse’s tackle BMW’s monster boxer seems like a forgotten idea design from a bygone period—which is why we find it irresistible. In case you do too, we’ve got excellent news: the proprietor’s given him the go forward to construct a restricted sequence of ten.
Workhorse Pace Store | Fb | Instagram | Photographs by Antoine Hotermans
