Photo: BMW Motorrad
Humans have a sort of morbid fascination with barn finds. Some of them have enough resources and knowledge to rescue these decrepit vehicles and bring them back into the open world, but most of us just go through the many barn find ads, articles, and whatnot just out of curiosity.
There are even a few that are so fascinated with barn finds that they go the opposite way and make perfectly fine and new machines look like they’ve been through the hell of years of neglect.
That’s exactly what happened to the once brand-new and shiny BMW R 18 we have here. True, despite its makers’ best efforts it still looks new and shiny in most places, but one has to love the barn find touches (read peeling paint, fading colors) on the fuel tank, fenders and elsewhere.
The bike is called post-conversion The Great Wave and is the last of seven R 18-based builds BMW showed at the end of November. It was put together by Motorrad’s Polish sales partner Team Dlugoleka and Unikat Motorworks as a combination between Japanese art painting, Japanese bobbers, and the said barn find feel.
The decrepit look displayed here and there was achieved by means of said peeling paint, but also copper colors used on the short silencers’ end pieces, shaft drive, brake calipers and cylinder head covers.
The bobber touch is hinted at by the rear ducktail mudguard and shorter frame at the rear, but also by the brown leather single seat.
The bike’s fuel tank is adorned with The Great Wave of Kanagawa, a throwback to Katsushika Hokusai’s 1800s woodblock print that has become one of the best-known bits of Japanese art.
The bike has changed in other ways as well compared to stock. Large cross-section Shinko tires make the connection to the ground, a flat drag bar handlebar, with leather grips at the ends, was fitted up front, and various emblems adorn the engine.
Just like all the other six R 18s we covered, this one too is a one-off and another warning sent to Harley-Davidson to watch its back.
That’s exactly what happened to the once brand-new and shiny BMW R 18 we have here. True, despite its makers’ best efforts it still looks new and shiny in most places, but one has to love the barn find touches (read peeling paint, fading colors) on the fuel tank, fenders and elsewhere.
The bike is called post-conversion The Great Wave and is the last of seven R 18-based builds BMW showed at the end of November. It was put together by Motorrad’s Polish sales partner Team Dlugoleka and Unikat Motorworks as a combination between Japanese art painting, Japanese bobbers, and the said barn find feel.
The decrepit look displayed here and there was achieved by means of said peeling paint, but also copper colors used on the short silencers’ end pieces, shaft drive, brake calipers and cylinder head covers.
The bobber touch is hinted at by the rear ducktail mudguard and shorter frame at the rear, but also by the brown leather single seat.
The bike’s fuel tank is adorned with The Great Wave of Kanagawa, a throwback to Katsushika Hokusai’s 1800s woodblock print that has become one of the best-known bits of Japanese art.
The bike has changed in other ways as well compared to stock. Large cross-section Shinko tires make the connection to the ground, a flat drag bar handlebar, with leather grips at the ends, was fitted up front, and various emblems adorn the engine.
Just like all the other six R 18s we covered, this one too is a one-off and another warning sent to Harley-Davidson to watch its back.
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