Last year, Žiga Petek did something truly refreshing—he built a custom BMW boxer that bucked all custom BMW boxer trends. With sharp lines and not an inch of pipe wrap in sight, it turned heads wherever it went, and it planted the seed for Žiga’s latest build.
Based on a BMW R65, this one is just as creative as his previous effort, while also being totally different. The story starts a few years ago, when Žiga became an ambassador for Flex Tools via Gas&Retro—his custom bike workshop in the Slovenian town of Notranje Gorice. Before long, Žiga and the head of Flex Tools Slovenia, Boštjan Vidrajz, became friends.
Then Žiga built the aforementioned BMW, and Boštjan was hooked. “He fell in love with BMWs,” Žiga tells us, “so it wasn’t long before he bought himself an 1983 BMW R65.”
“He drove it through the summer, and then he brought it to my work shop with some pics of custom BMWs. I asked him ‘do you trust me?’ He said ‘yes,’ and that was it.”
As it turns out, Žiga already had a design in mind. He envisioned a café racer—but, once again, it had to be a café racer that would eschew typical BMW café racer themes. So he stripped the R65 down to just the main part of the frame, and started scheming.
Starting with the rear section of an old Honda fuel tank, Žiga proceeded to shape up a new tank, tail, fairing, front fender and belly pan, all out of aluminum.
“The front fairing was a challenge,” he tells us. “I wanted to make as narrow as it could be, but still match the gas tank line and style. I worked hard to finish the fairing and rear end in the way that I wanted them—so the hammer, English wheel, shrinker, stretcher and welding machine were my best friends for quite some time!”
The BMW’s new body parts are as sharp as they are interesting. The bike’s silhouette tapers neatly to the rear, with bespoke side covers adding visual presence to the front half of the bike, without completely hiding the boxer engine. The belly pan even hides a custom oil sump.
The lines feel a bit traditional from the side—but rotate the bike 45 degrees, and all sorts of interesting details pop out. “I created these kind of aero wings that cover the sides of the engine and go over the cylinder heads, to add some performance style,” says Žiga. “Over those wings I added two small forged carbon winglets on each side.”
Taking advantage of the extra real estate, Žiga actually tucked the bike’s Motogadget keyless ignition receiver into one of the carbon winglets. There are more forged carbon touches front and rear, all of which took quite a process to produce.
To create each bit of carbon trim, Žiga first had the fairing and tail 3D-scanned to create a digital canvas to work on. ER Motorcycles’ Blaz Sustarsic then lent a hand, by translating Žiga’s ideas into digital renders. A company named VG Forma 3D printed each prototype part, then those prototypes went to Angström Performance, who replicated them in forged carbon fiber.
Up front, you’ll spot a MotoGP-inspired front wing—but if you look really closely, you’ll also spot a pair of LED turn signals sunken into it. The tail is dressed with side fins that also sport LED turn signals, and a rear strip that wears a vertically-mounted LED taillight strip.
The fact that Žiga was busy making the anaemic R65 look fast wasn’t lost on him, so Gas&Retro treated the engine to a full rebuild—including a bump up to 890 cc. It also got new valves, valve springs and bearings, and a Motogadget-equipped rewire with a new charging system and a Silent-Hektik ignition. The original valve covers were trashed, so they were cleaned up, modified and dressed with more forged carbon trim.
The original Bing carbs were swapped for Mikunis with velocity stacks. At the opposite end, Jaka Legiša fabricated the BMW’s meandering exhaust system.
Gas&Retro specced the running gear to match. The R65 wears the same Showa forks as the Kawasaki ZX-10R, while the swingarm comes from a newer BMW GS model. A custom-made shock from YSS Europe props up the rear.
New spoked wheels sit at each end, finished in black and shod with Pirelli Phantom Sportscomp tires. The brake calipers are from Brembo, the discs are from Motomaster and the lines are from Goodridge.
The cockpit sports TRW clip-ons, fitted with a Tomaselli throttle, Brembo clutch and brake controls, and Motogadget grips, mirrors and push buttons. The digital dash is another Motogadget part, while the LED headlight comes from Koso. Lower down you’ll find new rear-sets, with a custom shift lever and a Brembo master brake cylinder.
Finer details include Alcantara on the seat, courtesy of Mitja Bizjak, and a handful of red anodized bits and color-coded hoses and wires.
With the finish line in sight, Žiga’s final hurdle was settling on a livery. “I was determined to use a dark metallic blue from BMW, but with all those gloss-coated forged carbon parts, I just couldn’t see it. Then I saw BMW’s 2023 ‘Brooklyn Grey,’ and I knew it would be the perfect fit.”
Matej Mrzlikar from MM Auto laid down the paint, right down to the logos, striping and honeycomb graphics. Everything was done by hand; no vinyls.
“This is probably my best build in my 13 years of custom bike building,” Žiga adds. “It’s been many long night shifts, but I would do it all again.”
“I remember myself 20 years ago, how I dreamt about bike building and admired what custom bike builders could do with their hands… and here I am now. It’s just who I am, and if I wasn’t doing this, I don’t know what I’d be doing with my life.”
Žiga is right to be proud—this R65 is a fresh take on the BMW boxer café racer genre, with a level of finish that few custom boxers reach. But is his customer happy?
“When Boštjan from Flex Tools Slovenia saw it for first time,” Žiga tells us, “he couldn’t speak for an hour.”
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