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Fahrenheit 160: Renard’s Smokin’ BMW Bobber

A BMW-powered custom bobber motorcycle by Renard Speed Shop
We’ve seen so many bad BMW customs—and sketchy bobbers—that hearing both words in one sentence makes us nervous. But the Estonian outfit Renard Speed Shop never disappoints. They’ve knocked this BMW bobber out of the park, and straight into orbit.

The key to Renard’s success is twofold. They have an incredibly keen eye, and they have a near fanatical dedication to details. This handsome bobber started out as a classic BMW R100, brought over from Germany—but there’s not much of the original machine left.

A BMW-powered custom bobber motorcycle by Renard Speed Shop
“Even though the bike still looks like a BMW, it’s actually completely modified,” shop boss Andres Uibomäe tells us. “The engine and the frame are relatively original, but everything around them is not.”

By ‘relatively original,’ Andres means that he and his crew completely stripped, restored and cleaned the motor, gearbox and final drive. They left the stock air box setup intact, but swapped the exhaust system for a set of hand-made headers, terminating in Triumph Thruxton mufflers.

A BMW-powered custom bobber motorcycle by Renard Speed Shop
“The bike rides surprisingly well,” says Andres. “The 1,000 cc motor is calm and smooth, starts to run at very low RPM, and is also quiet because of the new Triumph exhaust mufflers.”

With that out of the way, it was time for some extensive chassis changes. Renard grafted on a Harley springer front-end, which meant manufacturing new steering bearing housings. They also lowered the front a touch, and tweaked the fork’s geometry to suit the Beemer.

A BMW-powered custom bobber motorcycle by Renard Speed Shop
That wasn’t the hardest job though; according to Andres, getting the airhead’s chunky new wheels to fit was a massive chore. Renard built up a new pair of 16×3.5” wheels using BMW hubs, aluminum rims and custom made spokes. Then they wrapped them in 5” wide Firestone rubber.

The front wheel was relatively easy to fit into the springer fork, but the rear wheel was too wide for the BMW’s swing arm. So the crew had to trim the swing arm, which also meant fabricating a narrower shaft for the final drive.

A BMW-powered custom bobber motorcycle by Renard Speed Shop
The rear wheel still sports the original drum brake, but the front’s been updated with a 320 mm floating disc from ISR, a four piston caliper from Brembo and a Beringer master cylinder.

“As you can see, the end result is quite macho,” says Andres, “and was worth the time and money spent.”

A BMW-powered custom bobber motorcycle by Renard Speed Shop
Renard also trimmed the fat off the back of the BMW, and rebuilt the shock mounts. That metal cylinder under the seat looks like a vintage oil tank, but it’s actually a support structure for the shock mounts. It’s also hollow, making it the perfect place to stash a tool roll.

The rear’s finished off with a gorgeous ribbed fender, complete with one-off mounting brackets and a neatly integrated LED taillight. The seat’s custom too, and sits on springs mounted just behind the shock mounts.

A BMW-powered custom bobber motorcycle by Renard Speed Shop
Just in front of it is the fuel tank from a Russian-made IZH Planeta. Visually, it’s a perfect fit for the classic boxer—but in reality, Renard had to build a new tunnel for it, so that they could house various electrical components under it.

Those components are mostly new too, with a Bluetooth-enabled Motogadget m.unit running things. The handlebars are from a 1947 BMW R35, and they wear Renard’s own gorgeous switchgear units. Other updates include LED turn signals at both ends and a Motogadget speedo.

A BMW-powered custom bobber motorcycle by Renard Speed Shop
Renard picked a simple military matte grey for paint, adding a classy black pinstripe. The only hint of color is a small red spotlight, mounted on the right and fitted with a yellow lens. (Andres confesses that he’s ever so slightly tempted to turn it into a miniature Bat-signal.)

As for the giant ‘One Sixty’ logos painted onto the tires: those refer to Renard’s new smokehouse. They built it next to their workshop at the beginning of the year, and called it ‘One Sixty,’ which is the temperature the smokers run at (in Fahrenheit).

A BMW-powered custom bobber motorcycle by Renard Speed Shop
“It acts like a moving commercial,” says Andres. “When I ride it, people cannot take their eyes off it.”

Why are we not surprised? We’ll have the pork ribs with a side of kimchi, please.

Renard Speed Shop | Facebook page | Instagram | Photos by Rene Velli

A BMW-powered custom bobber motorcycle by Renard Speed Shop

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BikeExif Custom Bikes of the Week Custom Motorcycles Other Motorcycle Blogs Renard SWM

Custom Bikes Of The Week: 28 May, 2017

The best cafe racers, scramblers and bobbers of the week
This week, we’ve got a stunning repli-racer from Estonia, a vintage scrambler from Argentina, a Burt Munro tribute from the US, and a ‘Fusqvarna’ from France. Enjoy.

Triumph T140 scrambler by Herencia Custom Garage
Triumph T140 scrambler by Herencia Custom Garage Argentina’s Herencia Custom Garage was catapulted to local fame via a custom build-off show on Latin America’s Discovery Channel. The shop now offers everything from a clothing line to organized rides and a dedicated media department, but it’s their growing catalog of work that keeps them on our radar.

This latest creation is a 1979 Triumph T140 that’s been tastefully scrambled. Builders German Karp and Federico Cubik were given free reign by their client—but instead of going wild, the duo kept the look simple and clean and focused on performance. The suspenders at both ends have been upgraded, with Öhlins units in the rear and a set of USD forks from a Ducati up front. The swingarm was extended by two inches to deliver more stability, and the Trumpet’s rear hub was swapped for a CB750 item, along with its binder. Motogadget has assumed the minimal electrical duties and the front brake’s master cylinder has been mounted beneath a hand formed, alloy tank, to clean up the cockpit and enable HCG to use Tommaselli Matador levers.

The complete package looks tough enough to tackle Baja and elegant enough to score its own turf at the Quail. Well done, chicos. [More]

SWM ‘Martini’ racer by Renard
SWM ‘Martini’ racer by Renard I’m sure I’m not alone in thinking that the Martini Racing livery is easily one of the most beautiful and recognizable colorways to grace motorsports. You could slap it on a Yugo and I’d undoubtedly lock on and smile at least a little, before shaking my head. But add it to an expertly crafted repli-racer like this svelte 2-stroke from Renard Speed Shop and you’ve got my full attention.

Andres Uibomae and his Estonian team are no strangers to these pages but the donor bike that lies beneath that gorgeous bodywork certainly is—a SWM RZ 124. Now, you may remember that SWM experienced a renaissance not too long ago but the bike Renard has used here is actually a 35-year old barn find, a relic that happened to have single-digits on the odometer but fired up without issue. Speedy Working Motors indeed.

With a racer’s stance in mind, Andres swapped the rear shocks for shorter, firmer units and the forks were completely rebuilt. The footpegs and some other hard bits (including the shifter) were all created in the Renard workshop. The tank is from an equally obscure, Belarusian M1NSK racer Andres had ‘just lying around’ and the exhaust is a Yasuni unit found in a moped shop.

Of course, the fairings and paintwork are the show stoppers here. The way Renard has hacked up ill-fitting mail-ordered bodywork and stitched it all back together is nothing short of fantastic. If you’re lucky enough to be strolling London’s Tobacco Docks for this weekend’s Bike Shed show, take a closer peek. [More]

Spirit of Munro Scout by Indian
Spirit of Munro Scout by Indian Roughly four weeks ago, I stood on hallowed ground. I’d scraped myself from the comforts of a hotel room bed and made a pre-dawn trek to visit the home of speed. The Bonneville Salt Flats are a truly mesmerizing place, but it’s the legends that drew me there.

One of those legends is Burt Munro and the 50-year-old tale of chasing speed on his shed-built bike. To pay tribute to The World’s Fastest Indian, America’s first motorcycle company has created a homage to Burt’s old bike using the new Scout as its base. The ‘Spirit of Munro Scout’ is a salt flat streamliner with modified internals and taller gearing to help the great nephew of Burt, Lee Munro, pilot the bike down that same bed of salt later this year.

Built internally by Indian, this Scout came together as an after-hours volunteer project by a handful of engineers. Their aim wasn’t to create something that would shatter Burt’s 184 mph record, but to honor his dedication and legacy with America’s oldest bike brand. The bodywork is absolutely exquisite and for which Indian’s team deserves applause. Now let’s just hope Mother Nature cooperates, and the salt bed has enough time to bake before the run. [Indian Motorcycle]

Harley Sportster café racer by Ardent Motorcycles
Harley Sportster café racer by Ardent Motorcycles When I learned to ride just over twenty years ago, my dad was kind enough to let me swing a leg over his then-new Sportster 1200 Custom. As the years passed, we dabbled in some custom touches, too. On the whole, what we did was tasteful, but entirely keeping with The Motor Company’s catalog of choice. If we were to do it all over again though, I would head in the direction of Michigan’s Ardent Motorcycles and their new Organic Cafe.

Of course, the skills pops and I posses aren’t quite up to Ardent’s level. The frame on this racer is a hand built custom unit designed to deliver a compact package, with the rear engine mounts grafted right into the frame. This tightened up the rear end and allowed Curtis Miller to fit a shortened, custom swingarm as well. Then the tank and tail were both hand formed from aluminum units and exquisitely machined foot controls installed.

On the performance side of things, the heads on the 1200cc twin have been ported, and compression now sits at 11:1. A more aggressive cam is conducting the show and a custom exhaust provides the crescendo. Curtis figures this is “the fastest, most powerful, best handling and most beautiful bike” to roll out of his shop yet. We don’t disagree. [More]

Honda FX650 by Garage de Félix
Honda FX650 by Garage de Félix No, your eyes are not playing tricks on you. That is indeed an ‘F’ painted on that tank. Your cognitive dissonance is flaring up because the shape and the color (RAL 3002) of the dino-juice repository is clearly a mid-60s Husqvarna unit. So what gives?

The F is for Félix—as in Garage de Félix, the French builder with a knack for outside-of-the-box customs and tasteful tributes. The Fusqvarna Scrambler was created by Antoine and Patrick to pay homage to the 100-year old marque, while still maintaining the Je ne sais quoi that defines a Félix build. The donor for the Fusqy is a Honda FX650 Vigor…

Once completely stripped, the Honda’s subframe was torched for a minimalist look harking back to the Huskies of yore. It’s one of the prettiest perches I’ve seen in awhile: The floating seat is wrapped in Alcantara and everything was made completely in-house. The pod filter hanging out below is new, as is the blacked-out, custom exhaust, but outside of that the engine is bone stock. Motogadget was used to clean up the cockpit and a new, smaller headlight was mounted. Outside of the seat, I think my favorite bit on this build is the trick license plate mount. Merci, les gars, c’est sensationnel. [More]

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Next Level: A BMW R90/6 with a vintage racing vibe

BMW R90/6 cafe racer by Renard Speed Shop
Estonia is one of those countries that are hard to find on a map. (Full Disclosure: we tried and failed.) It’s a compact European republic, bordered by Russia and looking out at Finland across the chilly Baltic Sea.

Despite a tiny population of just 1.3 million, Estonia is also home to one of the best custom builders in Europe—Andres Uibomäe of Renard Speed Shop. We’ve been drooling over his builds for about six years now, but this vintage-styled BMW R90/6 cafe racer is the best yet.

BMW R90/6 cafe racer by Renard Speed Shop
Most R90 customs accentuate the solid mass of the engine with an equally chunky tank, but we love the low-rise, sleek approach chosen by Renard. And there’s a good historical basis for that—with a nod towards the BMW Type 255 Kompressor ridden by Georg ‘Schorsch’ Meier to victory in the 1939 Isle of Man TT.

Shop boss Andres wanted to build a bike that was easy to ride and easy on the eye. “The main goal was to build a factory racer-style bike that still had great riding properties, and I think it turned out great,” he says.

BMW R90/6 cafe racer by Renard Speed Shop
The donor BMW was in good condition, but that didn’t stop Andres and his team from stripping it right down. Then they tackled the bodywork, starting with a fuel tank from a classic Moto Guzzi V7 Special—narrowing and stretching it to refine the shape.

Out back, they’ve slimmed and trimmed the subframe to complement the tank. The tailpiece is an aftermarket fiberglass unit, originally intended for an Aermacchi racer. Renard made it fit, and then sunk an LED tail light into the back of it. The seat pad’s been finished off in perforated leather.

BMW R90/6 cafe racer by Renard Speed Shop
To get the stance just right, the guys shaved a couple of inches off the front forks. The rear shocks are repurposed air units from a vintage CZ motocrosser—Renard stretched them and mounted them with an offset, to tuck against the rear wheel.

This is where some guys would call it done and move on, but the Renard crew were itching for more stopping power. So they set to work overhauling the wheels and brakes at both ends—starting with a new pair of Borrani rims.

BMW R90/6 cafe racer by Renard Speed Shop
The front rim is laced to a Triumph Bonneville hub; Renard wanted to add a bigger disc, but felt that the old BMW hub wouldn’t cope. So they’ve added a caliper from Beringer, mounted on a custom adaptor bracket. The guys designed the bracket by first 3D-scanning the fork, then CNC-milling the final part.

Converting the rear from a drum to a disc brake proved to be even more effort. The solution was a mix of a KTM front disc, a BMW R1200S caliper, and a Beringer master cylinder. “We wanted to use a Beringer caliper too,” the Andres explains, “but it was simply too wide.”

BMW R90/6 cafe racer by Renard Speed Shop
“At the moment everything works just fine, and you can remove the rear wheel without removing the swing arm. This saves a lot of time and nerves!”

It’s all top-drawer stuff—but the tires are Firestones. So we asked Renard why they made such a controversial choice.

BMW R90/6 cafe racer by Renard Speed Shop
“The tires were used due to the client’s wishes,” they say. “We’ve never used them before. We’re looking forward to spring, so that we can test them to see if they are as slippery as some people say. But to be honest, looking at their compound, they seem to be totally rideable.”

There’s nothing else on the R90/6 that hasn’t been overhauled in some way. The engine was rebuilt with new rings, seals and gaskets, the cylinders were honed, and the carbs rebuilt. There’s some trickery going on in the airbox too—Renard kept the original unit, but added two velocity stack-style intakes.

BMW R90/6 cafe racer by Renard Speed Shop
The result is a little more airflow, without sacrificing reliability. Andres tells us that he finds it weird that no one’s tried this setup before.

On the electrical front, Renard re-wired everything around a new Motogadget m-Unit controller, and installed an updated electronic ignition. The battery was moved to a custom-made box, located just behind the transmission.

BMW R90/6 cafe racer by Renard Speed Shop
There’s a Motogadget speedo too, mounted in a stunning one-off bracket. The rider hangs on via a new set of clip-ons, sporting Beringer controls with Renard’s proprietary clamp-mounted switches. Tarozzi rear-sets are mounted on hand-made, stainless steel mounts.

BMW R90/6 cafe racer by Renard Speed Shop
It’s a beautifully judged build, full of smart design decisions. If the bike whipped past you in a blur of speed on a country road, you’d struggle to tell which era it came from. But up close, the quality craftsmanship snaps into sharp focus.

That makes it one of the best BMW café racers we’ve seen. What better way to put Estonia on the map?

Renard Speed Shop | Facebook page | Instagram

BMW R90/6 cafe racer by Renard Speed Shop

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Factory Class: Renard Speed Shop’s SR400

Custom Yamaha SR400 by Renard Speed Shop.
Custom builders often strive for ‘that factory look’—bikes that are neat and cohesive enough to be mistaken for OEM machines. And when you’ve got an exquisite, limited edition production motorcycle to your name, ‘factory’ is second nature.

Based in Estonia, Renard Speed Shop is the custom division of Renard Motorcycles—the outfit behind the mind-boggling Grand Tourer. So this barely broken-in Yamaha SR400 was in good hands when its owner delivered it to Renard Speed Shop.

Custom Yamaha SR400 by Renard Speed Shop.
“The client was asking for a street tracker,” the guys tell us. “We wanted to make the bike look like it was a factory-built prototype. Like Yamaha were playing with the idea of building a bike to rival the Ducati Scrambler.”

Since the SR400 was practically new, there was no need to fiddle with the engine or airbox. Renard simply removed the emissions kit for a cleaner look, and adapted a Gianelli exhaust (originally designed for a Suzuki SV650) to fit.

Custom Yamaha SR400 by Renard Speed Shop.
Renard gave the bike an extra kick in the rear with a set of Triumph OEM rear shocks; they’re roughly two inches longer than the original SR units. The ergonomics were further massaged into shape with burly, enduro-style handlebars and repositioned footpegs.

The SR’s tank was raised by almost an inch at the back, and repainted in a color scheme inspired by a previous Renard build. The seat’s custom, but the team had to look beyond their own borders to find someone that could execute the bronze stitching.

Custom Yamaha SR400 by Renard Speed Shop.
Renard hand-made a pair of fenders, and a headlight cowl cut from an old Givi screen. The SR’s stock 18” rims were repainted in a bronze color with black pinstriping, and equipped with Dunlop K180s.

A sprinkling of handpicked parts round out the build: a speedo from Motogadget, turn signals from Kellermann, and smaller head and taillights. The guys also upgraded all the nuts and bolts, and sent a bunch of parts (like the shocks) to be ceramic coated—with a method normally used on rifles, to shield them from the elements.

Custom Yamaha SR400 by Renard Speed Shop.
We especially love the new handlebar switches—attractive CNC-milled units that Renard produces in house and sells to the public. They’re designed to mate with the Beringer master cylinder that’s been fitted.

It’s as classy a build as we’ve come to expect from Estonia’s finest, and looks utterly rideable to boot. But the real question is whether the client’s happy.

Custom Yamaha SR400 by Renard Speed Shop.
The answer, according to Renard, is a resounding ‘yes.’ The client loves the bike and rides it almost every day. If it was in our garage, we’d feel the same.

Renard Motorcycles website | Facebook page | Instagram

Custom Yamaha SR400 by Renard Speed Shop.