R100 Rocker Boxer
How did you spend the winter? That bad, huh? Well, tech Ryan Manley spent his transforming a 1988 R100RT into a spiffy café racer. Last September Gateway BMW bought the bike, a sorry-looking thing. The non-essential, salvageable parts were stripped and sold on eBay and Honz told Ryan, “Make it f—king cool!”
Ryan loves the café racer style. He’s got about 500 pictures of café racers on his computer. When his K75 burned up a while back he began researching café racers so he had the background to design something cool.
The stock engine was used. It has not been tweaked. Ryan says, “The engine was a good platform to build the bike around.” Even though the stock exhaust and air box were ditched, the bike still runs clean—not lean or rich. The new exhausts are EMGO universal Shorty pipes, which give a throaty sound at idle and with throttle can probably be heard by your average Harley rider over his own bike. Ryan rode the bike to Kirkwood and back and says it rides well and pulls strong.
Most of the parts are stock BMW parts for ease of maintenance. The gas tank is a standard /7 tank. The header pipes are R90S pipes, which bolted on perfectly. Ryan left the internals on, meaning that stock instruments, turn signals, etc. can be reinstalled if the new owner desires.
Up front, the handlebars are low and racy BikeMaster Clubman bars. The instruments are now digital via a Vector Trail Tech Speedometer, which not only looks “clean” but gives a range of information to the rider. Missouri does not require turn signals, so there are none; the rider will use old fashioned hand signals. One mirror is attached to the right handlebar end. The taillight is LED.
Ryan worked with the painter, Terry Frigerio of Advanced Color Tech, on the paint color and design. The basic color is silver. A 2 ½ inch black stripe bordered with thinner black stripes runs the length of the bike. The wheels, final drive, front forks and headlight body were painted black. As of this writing the solo seat is awaiting upholstery. A thin layer of gel will cover the seat pan, then a thin layer of foam, before being covered with a black final layer.
Ryan says, “We spent money in the right places—the places that stand out.”
This bike has been sold to a lucky buyer!
