Despite the flood of BMW customs hitting the streets, certain workshops can be counted on to consistently produce good examples. Like Café Racer Dreams—who’ve shown their prowess yet again with this elegant Boxer.
CRD #58 is an 84-model BMW R100, and it was built for a regular of the Madrid-based shop who lives in Nice, France. (This is his third CRD bike, with a fourth on order.)
The brief was to produce a Boxer custom that would buck current design trends—in stylish fashion. Luckily CRD’s Pedro García and Efraon Triana are a pretty versatile team, and masters of good aesthetic judgement.
A sketch on a napkin was all it took to get the client excited and the project rolling. But early in the process, ideas started changing.
“The drawing on the napkin was based on the original R100 fuel tank,” says Pedro. “But we wanted to put a smaller tank on”.
The guys had a 1972 Puch Minicross tank lying around the workshop. So they tried it out and showed their client, who immediately fell in love with the shape.
Next on the agenda was the rear end, with CRD ditching the subframe in favour of a solo seat configuration. This pushed the shock mounts significantly forward, so a pair of Hagon XL shocks were fitted to compensate for the gap.
The seat itself is custom-made, and has a LED tail light built into it. The rear fender is a re-purposed R100 front fender, mounted on a hand-made brace.
Up front are the forks, front hub and brake disc from a 1994 BMW F650. The hub’s laced to a 19” rim, matched to an 18″ spoked setup at the rear. Both wheels are shod with Continental TKC80 tires.
Moving to the engine, CRD fitted a pair of K&N filters and ditched the air box. In its place is a custom aluminum battery box—which subtly completes the contour of the engine block. It also houses a Motogadget m-Unit control unit, around which the whole bike’s been rewired.
Other Motogadget components include the speedo, switches and bar-end turn signals. The bars are set of inverted Renthal Ultra Lows, fitted with Biltwell Inc. Kung-Fu grips. They’re held in place by a new set of of handlebar risers, mounted on a custom triple clamp.
CRD finished off the build with a smattering of parts from their own online store—including the headlight, reverse-cone mufflers and Tarozzi rear-sets. The ignition’s been relocated to the side of the bike, just underneath the fuel tank.
The paint job is a nod to BMW’s iconic motorsport liveries: white, with blue and red stripes and traditional roundels. The engine’s been cleaned up, and the rest of the components have been finished in black.
CRD #58 is as classy and tasteful as we’ve come to expect from Pedro and Efraon. And we’re more than a little jealous that we won’t be blasting around Nice on it.
Photos by Enrique Pacheco | Café Racer Dreams website | Facebook | Instagram
