Ritmo Sereno has just completed two new café motorcycles for a lucky client. And if there’s any remaining doubt that the Tokyo workshop is the king of the resto-mod, these BMW café racers should dispel it. They’re ‘Rocket-R’ models, which is Ritmo-speak for completely overhauled R-series bikes that have also been upgraded with modern components. As part of the deal you get a delicious custom seat and tail unit, contemporary switchgear and a sleek fairing. The finishing touch is a repaint—including the engine—to showroom standard and beyond. Most Rocket-R bikes are built to customer specification, and most customers stick to the correct BMW colors and ‘smoke’ effects. (These machines also have liberal powdercoating and heavier pinstriping.) Despite the amount of work that goes into these bikes, the cost is surprisingly reasonable: the equivalent of US$13,000 including taxes. Presumably you’d need to add the cost of the original bike on top of that, but a good R90 can be had for under $5,000 on eBay. A reasonable price to pay for the perfect resto-mod cafe motorcycle, don’t you think?
