Many really feel that BMW boxer customization has grow to be a tedious paint-by-numbers affair. It’s a good argument—in spite of everything, most BMW R-series customs observe the identical components so intently, that you simply’re most likely already picturing them in your head.
This thought weighed closely on Takashi Nihira when a buyer particularly requested a BMW R-series construct, but in addition stipulated that it must be attention-grabbing sufficient to command consideration on the prestigious Yokohama Sizzling Rod Customized Present. Working with a 1990 BMW R100RS, the person behind Tokyo’s Wedge Bike resolved to create a machine that might rise above the present developments. And with none additional requests from his consumer, he was free to execute his imaginative and prescient nevertheless he noticed match.
Nihira-san’s plan was to construct a svelte café racer with {custom} bodywork that might move cohesively from entrance to again. However slightly than create a standard fly-line alongside the underside of the tank and tail, he aimed to attach the entrance to the again by means of a tapered ridge working alongside the aspect of every half. Or, as he calls it, a “character line.”
“After I beat out metal and aluminum sheet steel to construct gasoline tanks and bodywork, I have a tendency to make use of rounded shapes, as a result of they’re simple to construct,” he explains. “It’s very tough to create an edgy character line on components made out of crushed metal. However this time, I needed to tackle that problem.”
Listening to Takashi’s phrases and inspecting his work, it’s simple to attach the dots. The handmade gasoline tank and tail part are usually not solely impossibly slim, however their shapes and myriad edges echo one another superbly. The aforementioned ridge line ties the entire thing collectively, accentuated by a tasteful silver stripe.
Takashi has drawn one other parallel line decrease down, by fabricating a brand new aluminum cowl for the highest of the engine. “The one engine that may be utilized as a part of the design is the air-cooled BMW flat twin engine, the place the higher engine cowl may be modified,” he explains. “By including this design factor to the motor, I used to be in a position to give it a near-future energy supply really feel—like an electrical motor.”
The general design of the brand new bodywork and engine cowl additionally led Takashi down an sudden path. His regular course of is to sketch a tough draft of the bike he’s constructing, after which to check his idea by shaping the proposed design out of styrofoam blocks which can be positioned onto the bike’s bare body. These styrofoam sculptures don’t act as molds although—they’re simply used to prototype no matter concepts Takashi has brewing.
As soon as he begins shaping the ultimate items out of steel although, the proportions inevitably change because the design morphs into an actual motorbike. As that occurred on this construct, Takashi quickly realized that the BMW R100’s offset mono-shock rear suspension was going to conflict together with his clear design.
“Contemplating this bike from a design perspective alone,” he provides, “I might have most well-liked it with out rear suspension, however that wasn’t an choice. So I used to be very frightened about the place to transplant the rear shock. As I thought of it increasingly, I made a decision that I needed to cover it—after which I believed, why not put it in or below the gasoline tank?”
After contemplating (and eliminating) a number of choices, Takashi settled on mounting the shock ‘inside’ the gasoline tank, simply to the precise of the body’s major spine. A cutout on the aspect of the tank reveals off the Öhlins shock—however what it doesn’t present, is the linkage mechanism that makes all of it work.
To complicate issues additional, Takashi redesigned the BMW R100’s subframe and swingarm in order that the shock pivot now sits on the left of the bike. Forces are transferred by means of a vertical strut, throughout a horizontal linkage to the other aspect of the bike, after which to the ultimate linkage and shock that sits up entrance.
It’s a posh resolution to an issue that many would take into account nonexistent—however the result’s a motorbike that seems inflexible from one aspect, solely revealing its suspension whenever you look at it from all angles. And it appears to be like rattling cool, too.
This kind of mechanical magnificence is scattered throughout this construct. The subframe assist is a single tube setup, with an LED taillight mounted just under the tail cowl. Takashi has additionally liberated the chassis of its passenger peg mounts, together with any superfluous tabs.
There’s an identical vibe up entrance, the place a custom-made cross member, mounted between the yokes, performs host to an LED headlight and a set of bespoke handlebars. Classic bicycles offered unfastened inspiration from the bars, that are deliberately low-slung in order to not mess with the bike’s profile an excessive amount of. The entrance forks are inventory, however they’ve been lowered a contact, and the one piece of seen tech within the cockpit is a small Motogadget speedo.
The bike rolls on 18” cross-spoke tubeless BMW wheels, transplanted from a BMW R100R. Mounting the R rear wheel to the RS swingarm resulted in an offset that Takashi couldn’t abide, so he narrowed the hub and modified the spokes to get it excellent. The entrance brake was upgraded with a Beringer caliper and a Kustom Tech grasp cylinder.
Most simplicity was all the time the purpose of this challenge—and Takashi went to nice lengths to attain it. The gasoline strains and the few wires that there are all run by means of the engine casing to their ultimate locations, and the entrance brake grasp cylinder is hidden beneath the gasoline tank. He even went as far as to change the BMW’s oil pan, in order that its backside edge would run parallel to the gasoline tank.
The engine now sports activities a pair of Keihin FCR carbs with velocity stacks, wrinkle black paint on the cylinder head covers, and a custom-made stainless-steel exhaust system that sashays its approach right into a luscious pair of reverse cone mufflers.
The paint job is worthy of consideration too—particularly since Takashi does all his personal portray. It seems to be a easy metallic blue in these photographs, however he tells us that the impact solely really involves life when seen with the bare eye. “I combined mild blue with gold pearl,” he explains, “in order that, relying on the angle of view and the depth of the sunshine, it appears to be like both greenish or golden.”
“When contemplating a brand new design, there’s a technique of including new particulars. It’s very simple—all you need to do is fill it with new issues. However then it’s tough to create a way of unity within the design.”
“However, it’s very tough to create a easy, but new, design. Easy design signifies that, at first look, there isn’t a lot info to absorb. And the novelty you expertise creates a kind of discomfort, I assume. Issues we’ve by no means seen earlier than really feel unusual, as a result of we’re unfamiliar with them.”
“I imagine that this discomfort and newness should exist inside pure strains and shapes. That’s why the surfaces that make up a motorbike’s exterior are crucial. And that’s why I used a special technique to create the character strains of this bike after which structured the opposite particulars round them.”
“A distinct method equals a way of discomfort—and difficult this was the theme of this challenge.”
Wedge Bike | Fb | Instagram | Photos by Hiromitsu Yasui
