Bolt Motor Company specializes in lithe custom creations with sharp lines and crisp finishes. Their ethos likely has to do with the fact that they share a workshop with their sister company—the Spanish Formula 3 racing team, Campos Racing.
Of all the marques that pass through Bolt’s doors, we can tell they love tinkering with BMWs the most. Since opening their doors, they’ve peppered us with a steady stream of custom BMWs ranging from mild to wild. This custom BMW R100 sits squarely in the latter camp.
The donor bike, a 1982 R100RT, was first wheeled into Bolt Motor Co.’s workshop with very high mileage and looking more than a little worse for wear. Bolt loves nothing more than restoring rough wrecks into fantastic forms of fantasy, so they happily tore into it.
The client’s long list of requests included a few standout items. He wanted a scrambler-style build with good handling, and it had to stop like a modern motorcycle. But Bolt was still given the necessary wiggle room to create something unique in their signature style.
To cover the handling requirements, a set of fully adjustable Marzocchi forks were bolted to the BMW chassis with CNC-machined yokes, while YSS shocks were fitted to the rear. Brembo supplied the brake discs and calipers, pumping fluids through Goodridge stainless steel braided lines.
A short front fender was fabricated, and a custom license plate bracket was slung over the back wheel to tidy up the rear. The factory BMW wheels were simply powder-coated black and wrapped with Shinko Trail Master E705 tires.
The rider cockpit is completely new. Neken risers hold a set of Renthal bars in place, which are adorned with a Domino throttle, Biltwell Inc. Kung Fu grips, LED-backlit switches, Nissin levers, and Highsider mirrors. A Motogadget Motoscope Pro sits front and center, powered by a Motogadget mo.unit, which also runs the mo.blaze disc bar end indicators and the tiny LED tail light.
A Husqvarna 701 Enduro headlight sits out front, fitted to a handmade flat track-style number board and augmented with an additional LED strip.
The stock BMW R100 tank is one of our favorites, so we’re glad to see it was left alone. That said, the outlandish custom paint job splashed onto it is to die for, and we’re amazed the tank still stands out next to the gorgeous candy-red frame. An engraved BMW gas cap adds another touch of modernity to the 43-year-old tank.
Moving further rearwards, a suede seat (upholstered by a friend, Llop) sits on top of a custom subframe. The 3D-printed rear cowl can be cleverly removed to make way for a passenger. A set of Tarozzi rear sets and passenger pegs were fitted to improve the riding position.
The engine, transmission, and final drive were all stripped and rebuilt from the ground up. The stock Bing carbs remain, but they breathe through new intakes and have been re-jetted to suit the high-flow Turbo Kit exhaust.
An oil cooler was fitted at the front of the engine and the ignition was relocated down low on the left-hand side of the frame. The battery sits under the transmission in a custom-made box. Finally, the bike was rewired from scratch to guarantee another 50 years of BMW reliability.
Bolt’s custom BMW R100 has all the charms of an old airhead boxer, but it runs, handles, and stops better than ever—just as the client requested. It also looks incredible, and will be turning more than a few heads every time it rolls down the street.
Bolt Motor Co. | Facebook | Instagram
