As part of its advertising machinery, BMW‘s motorcycle division occasionally hands one of its bikes over to a famous customizer to see what they come up with. The results are always cool, but seldom do they match the art-house impressiveness of the latest creation: The R18 The Crown.
Although it sounds like a Netflix drama, it’s actually a streamlined custom bike that was created to celebrate the 100th anniversary of BMW Motorrad (the company’s motorcycle department).
Unveiled at the BMW Motorrad Days in Berlin over the weekend, the bike was created by Dirk Oehlerking, of Kingston Customs. Operating in the Ruhr region of Germany for the last 30 years, he has become known for his unusual and unique motorcycle builds, and says that this one is “the essence of my creations to date.”
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“I started with a new BMW R18 which I then stripped down,” King said. “As always, I worked with hard foam and cardboard to create the shape, the lines and the design. The aim was for it to look powerful, elegant and fast combined with an innovative look.”
As you might expect, the lengths of his customization program required a lot of modifications to the bike. For example, the front forks are gone, replaced with a double-sided swinging arm with a central suspension strut.
Meanwhile, the eight-liter fuel tank and the outer body were all made of two-millimeter-thick aluminum sheet metal. Each panel was cut, bent, and driven by hand to create the minimalistic shape, and the aluminum seat was upholstered in genuine leather.
The stainless steel exhaust piping was also made by hand, but a surprising number of elements came straight from BMW. Naturally, the boxer engine is stock, but so is the rear suspension, the headlight, and a number of the instruments, switchgear, and the footrest also came from the original bike.
To cap it all off, Oehlerking opted for a Champagne Platinum paint with mother-of-pearl details. Finally, pin striping and BMW logos topped with his company’s crown were added as the cherry on top.
