Nozem Amsterdam reboots a 1984 BMW R80 – meet the BMW R107R

Gregory

January 29, 2018

Photo credits: Gijs Spierings

Let’s make it clear – reboots aren’t always the best decisions to make. Just ask Hollywood and their recent attempts at reviving iconic film franchises over the past decade or so. However, every once in a blue moon, a reboot more than manages to uphold the quality and integrity over its predecessor and right here, we have a perfect example of such a case.

Hailing from the Netherlands, the folks at Nozem Amsterdam have recently rebooted a 1984 BMW R80 into what it calls the BMW R107R. The brief for the build was liberating enough. “The customer wanted a monocoque bike,” said Nozem co-founder, Lorenzo.

“… [the owner] gave us plenty of freedom to do what we wanted, within the budget,” he added. As a result, the team found the aforementioned donor bike and the customer even supplied the 1,070 cc Siebenrock engine – hence the name.

Sumber gambar: Gijs Spierings

At the start, Lorenzo and build partner, Daniël, started with a pair of Honda CBR900RR forks fitted to a custom top triple clamp. Oddly enough, if one were to trace his/her eyes down the fork, they’d notice a front drum setup. Reason being that this specific drum brake is an original Ceriani 4LS 230mm model that the team sourced from Belgium.

Next up, the frame was extensively modified and painted by Lifecreations 187. The custom exhaust system features a scratch-built 2-to-1 layout that finishes in a Laser GP-style muffler. As for the electronics, a Motogadget Pro unit displays all the relevant information to the rider.

Photo credits: Gijs Spierings

With the easy part done and dusted, the team ran into the build’s main obstacle when it came to the swingarm. “The hardest part of the build was the swingarm,” Lorenzo said. “It’s all because of the space required to fit the new rear wheel. We had to cut part of the swingarm out and fit a new drive shaft to clear the rim. To reinforce it properly and get everything lined up was quite a hassle,” he recalled.

Thankfully though, the process after was less stressful with the unibody design of the motorcycle being surprisingly easy to polish off. The design of the fuel tank and seat was done in-house and the end result resembles something that is a hodgepodge of a cafe racer and a berserker who went through the options catalogue of a superbike.