Known as the ‘Flying Brick,’ the BMW K100 was a series of four-cylinder bikes manufactured by BMW from 1983 to 1992. As the supply of R-series airheads dries up, the K100 is becoming more popular with custom builders.
Here’s our pick of the best cafe racers, streetfighters and bobbers based on the bulletproof K100 platform.
Building a café racer with an older motorcycle usually involves two phases; getting the bike running, and customizing it. And if the bike is really beaten up, the first phase can be the hardest—especially if the engine is too far gone. Marshall Hewitt had a novel approach to this particular challenge. This ex-police 1991 BMW…
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An outlandish new creation from Bandit9 rolls onto our pages this week, followed by a BMW K100RS from the heart of Bavaria, and a zany Indian FTR 1200 supermoto. Finally, a crated Harley-Davidson Sportster reminds us of a time when Sporties were air-cooled and affordable.
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We’ve all heard legends of the classic K-series BMW’s reliability, but the tale of this BMW K100 street tracker takes the cake. After all, how many motorcycles do you know that can set themselves alight, but keep on ticking? The bike’s current owner, Duncan Bonar, found the 1985 BMW K100 at a local shop with…
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Despite its increasing popularity, the 1980s K-series BMW remains a difficult bike to customize. There’s hardly an inch of it that isn’t blocky, angular, or just plain awkward—so it takes a sharp eye and deft hand to massage it into a slick and cohesive café racer. Enter Chris Scholtka. Based in Cottbus, Germany, Chris splits…
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With futuristic looks, bold colors, and more plastic than a Tupperware party, the BMW K1 was nothing if not memorable. Released in…
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The BMW K100RS was borderline futuristic when it hit the scene in the 1980s. Between its blocky horizontal inline-four engine and its…
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The numbers have been crunched, and the results are in. And as usual, our annual roundup of the most popular custom bikes…
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From the minute it hit the custom scene, the BMW K100 has been an underdog. With a brick-like motor, overly angled bodywork…
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We kick this weekend’s edition of Speed Read off with two very different BMW K100 customs. Then we bring you a Yamaha…
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When a workshop focuses very tightly on one model of bike, it’s usually a good thing. They get to know what to…
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If there’s anything we like better than discovering a new builder, it’s discovering a young builder with potentially decades of work ahead…
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It’s all about racing lines this week. We kick off with a BMW K-series café racer, followed by a classy Moto Guzzi…
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