BMW Bobber from HB-Custom

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BMW Bobber from HB-Custom

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Style only works with urban? Does Cool only work with city? It’s going to be hip downtown, and yard built has craft? Shit. An educational trip to Husum / Lower Saxony.

HOlger doesn’t want that. To stand out from the others who run their picturesque workshops in Hamburg, Berlin Munich gold backyards. It just happens because there is one thing Holger doesn’t want: to Hamburg, Berlin or Munich. Even Hanover can remain stolen from him because he needs things to be calm and clear. Nostalgia can also be dispensed with: Why should he move to the dusty forge around the corner when the workbench and lifting platform fit easily in the practical wooden shed next to his carport?

BMW Bobber from HB-Custom

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It all started with a Suzuki LS 650

Is that surprising? Okay, then a few stupid cliches have to be believed. For example, these powerful ideas, rooted in a barely tangible past, of a uniformly drowsy country life between church and tavern, pig pastures and milk churns. It doesn’t exist anymore, and at least with the milk cans, Holger knows that very well. Because he works in a dairy, and there he doesn’t stir a cream tub with the cheese fork, but instead keeps a huge and highly complex system running as a company electrician. In the early or late shift, like at VW. At the same time, when he was under 30, he built his own home in Husum / Lower Saxony, but when it was finished, manual withdrawal symptoms occurred in his free time. A perfectly good Suzuki LS 650 had to believe in it. That’s how it started.

A few decades ago, when Husum was teeming with pig pastures and milk cans, the chimneys were still smoking in the Ruhr area. In addition to sweating steam engines and glistening blast furnaces, thousands of painter toiled, others knocked together cars or locomotives in huge halls. There was a pub in the evening, pigeons on Saturdays, football on Sundays. Gold motorcycle races. The bestsellers were set up in cellars, wooden shacks, old stables, and some street sweepers may also have originated here. But why is this scenery – or what wet-research creatives think it is – still the inspiration for every presentation of a new cool bike? Regardless of whether it’s Gustl’s first conversion or Harley’s last Sportster.

He looks at something and knows where it belongs

Holger doesn’t know either. When he has something ready again, his buddy photographs it at the edge of the village or at a nearby Weser harbor. And if he’s looking for inspiration, he doesn’t romp through dilapidated factory halls or socially sensitive urban districts, but rather surfs the Internet. Nice and cozy on the sofa. This is how he found the Copenhagen Wrenchmonkees, his first role models. Their motorcycles had a message, exuding an attitude towards life. Not necessarily his, but almost, definitely a clearly visible one.

You don’t have to live in a metropolis to understand that many motorcycles of the 70s and 80s have a second face. Your real one? Perhaps, in any case, behind the rather chubby and colorful facade of the Kawasaki Tourentwin Z 750 B, Holger discovered a damn cool creature out of which he wanted to shape an angry, elegant racer. Many found this surprising. All those who couldn’t get away from the traditional image of the old Z. Holger, on the other hand, had simply thought of the British ancestors of the entire conversion and saw the beautifully shaped twin of the Kawasaki. Your wonderful tank. He himself has no idea where his safety in dealing with motorcycle shapes comes from. But he can rely on it: he looks at something and knows where it belongs. Like a puzzle. At some point it clicks, and then the whole finished thing appears in front of his inner eye, including colors and decorative lines.

The bobber for the master himself

In the case of the Kawasaki, it worked so well that Holger first built two racers and a scrambler and, secondly, one of these motorcycles was exhibited by the importer at INTERMOT for the 40th birthday of the Z series. It can happen that quickly, from Husum into the spotlight. The Z thing had only one catch, no two: First, the source material is pretty rare and often ridden down a lot. Second, the local custom friend is incredibly cool, but still remains originally German. If he can make a wish, it is a beautifully made BMW. Since he also pays extra. A convinced country man like Holger cannot object to solid agricultural mechanics, logo, and so he dismantled the first two-valve boxer around five years ago.

As a result of this commissioned work, a clean scrambler all-rounder blend took the stage, much closer to the point than anything that BMW is allowed to build itself today. Not unique in its formal language, but with an extremely confident appearance and executed with visible craftsmanship. Great, really, and now something like the top seller in the range. 13 boxers of a similar type followed, sometimes the tank came from a US version (toast), sometimes from a government truck (with tool flap), sometimes from Yamaha (XS 360) and sometimes from Kawasaki (Z 750, of course). Nevertheless: At some point between number six and seven, Holger realized that he was not a completely normal craftsman. But an artisan who not only has to carry out, but also has to redesign over and over again in order to come to terms with his work. So every now and then a Kawa twin was interspersed, then a Guzzi. And finally number 20, the bobber for the master himself.

"Kawasaki? But well done."

The part speaks for itself, doesn’t it? There are a few things below, but this is not about tech. It’s about shape and an attitude towards life. Okay, now everyone is thinking again how awesome it would be to pop this creature through the Bronx. Or at least over Prenzlauer Berg. Holger thinks it’s great to roll into the Meinkingsburg country house, just behind the main road. He likes to go out to eat there, because this is a real shop. The service is not cool, but friendly, which fits better 360 days a year anyway. When he comes out again, three men are standing around the BMW. None of them know that it’s now called Bobber, they all look more like they understand a lot about agricultural machinery or animal feed. Nevertheless: the cart has packed her. Two kneel down and stare at the scrubbed tank. “Kawasaki?” Asks one. "But well done," says the other, "no, really, boy, really well done."

Holger nods in thanks. And once again knows very well that he doesn’t want to go to Hamburg, Berlin or Munich.

Technical specifications

Engine: Original BMW R 100 RT, Bj. 1977, air-cooled two-cylinder boxer four-stroke engine, 980 cm³, 70 PS at 7,250 / min, 76 Nm at 5,500 / min, series carburetor and air filter, self-made manifold with Hattech silencers, electronic Ignition, five-speed gearbox, electric starter. The engine and final drive were completely rebuilt by the renowned BMW specialist Heinz Baals in Minden (www.hbs-bmw.de)

Bodywork: Standard main frame with newly welded strut mounts, rear frame omitted, shortened standard fork, replica struts for BMW R 69, R 75/5 drum brakes at the front, standard drum brakes at the rear, wire-spoke wheels with Akront rims 3.00 x 16, replica fittings for BMW R 69, handlebars and grips from Magura, single leather seat, tank from Kawasaki Z 750 B, paint from Chikos Pinstriping

Info: www.hb-custom.de

Price: A matter of negotiation

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