Class meets conceptual design in Auto Fabrica’s newest café racer construct—a BMW K100 with a monocoque physique completed in Liquid Orange.
The English workshop Auto Fabrica is famend for constructing refined {custom} bikes with a conceptual edge. However what’s really exceptional is how they handle to use that philosophy to virtually any sort of machine. We have seen them deal with every thing from the evergreen Yamaha XS650 to the trendy BMW G450X enduro.
Now, they’ve labored their magic on maybe the ugliest duckling of all—the BMW K100.
The brothers behind Auto Fabrica, Bujar and Gaz Muharremi, did not hunt down the notorious Flying Brick as a donor for his or her newest café racer challenge. The fee got here from a shopper who already owned the bike, together with a extra suave Honda CB750. Each bikes had been dropped off at AF’s workshop with a mandate to show them right into a pair of distinctive {custom} builds.
“We had by no means constructed on both platform earlier than,” Bujar tells us. “The BMW K100 has been custom-made numerous occasions, however we didn’t wish to create a run-of-the-mill K100. That pushed us into designing one thing way more radical, sculptural, and refined—one thing that also felt unmistakably AF.”
“The donor K100 arrived full, however drained. Its unique type didn’t encourage us visually, however the flat-four engine definitely did. It’s a really architectural engine—horizontal, modular, virtually monolithic—in order that knowledgeable the complete path of the construct.”
“The design language got here from structure and from BMW’s most fascinating idea work. The flat-four format inspired a daring, angular, blocky aesthetic, balanced by refinement within the traces and proportions. I checked out BMW idea automobiles just like the Skytop, Gina, the 328 Hommage, and the M1 Hommage. All of them share rigidity and sculptural minimalism, which felt excellent for this challenge.”
The influences that Bujar cites are most evident within the K100’s monocoque physique. Sculpted from carbon fiber, it embodies neo-futuristic idea automotive themes whereas conveying a way of fluidity. The multi-faceted design rewards nearer inspection, too, revealing recent particulars from every angle.
Completed in Liquid Orange (a coloration pulled from the BMW M1 Hommage), the bodywork covers a hand-crafted 12-liter [3.2-gallon] aluminum gas cell. Changing the inventory reservoir was no imply feat—AF needed to construct a {custom} setup to accommodate the gas pump and filter externally.
The bodywork is topped off with a pop-up gasoline cap and an Alcantara saddle. Decrease down, a {custom} subframe helps the tail finish, whereas 3D-printed radiator shrouds create a segue between the vivid paintwork and the K100’s myriad matte black elements.
The entrance fender is one other 3D-printed piece, as is the scooped ‘consumption’ panel on the right-hand facet of the bike. AF retained the primary stage of the inventory airbox meeting, however modified it to work with a single outsized pod filter.
Wedged between the body and rear wheel is one other 3D-printed half; a field for the ECU and battery that doubles up as a rear fender. “I needed the visible language of the engine—the horizontal layering and block-like geometry—to proceed seamlessly into the tail part,” explains Bujar.
“Textures had been necessary. The intakes, coil cowl, and each fenders use a soft-touch matte black end that contrasts superbly with the bead-blasted and matte black engine surfaces.”
Sitting alongside the fender-slash-box is a cantilevered rear suspension system of AF’s personal design. Its linkages had been all CNC-machined in-house, whereas its horizontally-mounted shock is a custom-built unit from Hagon. “This suspension format fully opened up the visible house across the swingarm space, whereas giving the bike a contemporary, progressive rear-end really feel,” says Bujar.
Up entrance, AF put in a set of upside-down forks from a Ducati 999 with {custom} yokes. The 17-inch rear wheel is a BMW R1150GS merchandise, whereas the entrance wheel makes use of a 17-inch R80G/S rear rim laced to an R1150GS hub. Brembo brake calipers do obligation at each ends.
The K100’s guidelines additionally included an engine rebuild and refinish, plus a full rewire with Motogadget goodies—together with a keyless ignition and discreet digital speedo. The latter is mounted in a deep recess atop the custom-made headlight nacelle, which additionally homes the entrance flip indicators. Clip-ons adorn the cockpit, matched to BSK SpeedWorks rear-set foot controls.
The underslung four-into-one stainless-steel exhaust system is one other one-off half. “It sounds mechanical and crisp,” Bujar confirms. “It is surprisingly not as loud as anticipated, but it surely fits the bike completely.”
Out again, the K100’s new tail tapers right into a {custom} taillight meeting—one other splendidly thought-out element. Utilizing a 3D-printed louvered housing, it is a obscure nod to the grills on classic BMW cars.
Designated ‘Sort 25,’ Auto Fabrica’s {custom} BMW K100 continues the workshop’s nice custom of pushing the envelope. “Sort 25 suits into a brand new chapter for us—one which embraces extra architectural, concept-car-inspired pondering,” provides Bujar.
“It’s recognizably Auto Fabrica in its refinement and surfacing, however pushes the language additional: extra monolithic, extra sculptural, extra intentional.”
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