It’s the little things that make the biggest difference with this custom 1984 BMW R65 from Ellaspede in Brisbane.
Want you to take a look at the seat. Now, tell me what it looks like. Yep, the kidney grille from a BMW car…how cool is that. According to Ellaspede, the owner of this bike wanted to pay homage to BMW’s cars and blur the line between car and bike.
So, taking the owner’s idea of using the kidney grille as inspiration they designed up a seat that looks like the front-end of a bimmer. And we reckon it looks sensational, as does the rest of the bike.
The idea for the bike was initially just to tidy it up and make it roadworthy but Ellaspede said that, “sometimes with old bikes, the more you look, the more you find”. Turns out the heads, gearbox, driveshaft and diff were all in need of a rebuild. With the engine out it was given the black motor, linished fins look. Both carburettors also copped a refresh with K&N filters installed.
Airhead BMWs from the late 1970s and ‘80s didn’t have the best-built subframes in the world and while this one’s frame had already been modified it was pretty well buggered. So, it got binned and a custom chromoly frame fitted in its place. Both the subframe and mainframe were finished with satin black powder coating.
With the frame sorted, the rear shocks were replaced with longer Ikon 7610 jobbies to help level it all out and provide some extra clearance for off road activities. The front forks required a total rebuild and received new springs, dampening components, seals, oil and repainted lowers. The rear drums brakes had been rebuilt along with the diff, and the front needed a new disc and for the caliper to be rebuilt.
The bike’s owner told Ellaspede he loved what the previous owner had done with the fuel tank so it was left alone. We reckon the custom-designed and fully CNC machined seat base plate with padded inlays, buried tail light and recessed BMW badge look sensational.
The two-into-two exhaust was a key feature of the bike so Ellaspede fabricated a longer heat shield to mimic the too-short original one. The original owner hadn’t finished having the bike rewired, so the Ellaspede crew inspected and replaced the majority of it with its aircraft-grade loom. To cap it all off, new Motogadget M-blaze disc indicators in the bar ends and Motogadget M-pin indicators at the rear were installed. And Koso Hawkeye tail lights were chosen for a dual tail light setup, one buried into the back of the seat with a clear CNC cover while the other keeps things legal on the tail.
There’s nothing better than a beautifully restored classic made usable for daily work. For the full story on this build, click on these Blue Words or check out its Facebook. We’re looking forward to sharing more custom bike builds from the team at Ellaspede, so, stay tuned.
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