Roland Sands and BMW Motorad recently teamed up to re-imagine the original BMW R90S It’s a near perfect marriage of old styling, modern engineering and hand made craftsmanship. It combines custom work (like a hand hammered fairing and many other custom parts) and years of larger scale motorcycle engineering, the result is a modern race bike that looks AND performs. It’s so good to see a resurgence of classic motorcycle styling amongst modern day motorcycles.
Neve been a fan of Roland Sands personally, this is far better than his previous work in my opinion but certainly not a bike I’d want to own.
In regards to a resurgence of classic motorcycle styling in modern machines, it’s always been far more prevalent with bike manufacturers than in car design, Triumph and Royal Enfield have been making new versions of their classic machines for years, but this particular example may be a hint of a hybrid of classic and modern as opposed to classic OR modern like we see currently.
@bradley Yeah thats one of the things that really struck me about this bike. It’s blend of classic and modern, styling and engineering. Whereas the bikes from Triumph and Royal Enfield are more like “re-issues”.
Honda’s even “re-issued” a take on their old CB’s http://d.pr/t90K
I love classic bikes but the gap between old style and modern performance is huge (not to mention modern sport bike design). The concept 90 seems to straddle both worlds in a unique way.
Ha! I’m an old CB owner and that’s the first I’ve seen of that new one! Looks completely gutless!
Agreed that the Enfields are very close to their predecessors, the Triumphs actually share very little, the new bikes are huge in comparison and mechanically are a million miles away, they will actually start on a cold day!
It seems that a lot of the manufacturers are looking backwards in terms of styling, maybe a lot to do with how fashionable the café racer scene is right now. http://www.kawasaki.co.uk/W800
Is this BMW/Sands collaboration going to lead to a production of this machine? Or is it just a one-off?
Is it something related to Laverda 750 SFC?
@bradley Yeah, that new CB looks a lot softer than the originals. I’ve got a a 75 CB 750 I’m rebuilding right now. You can see some of it on IG @sethhallwood
I think the manufacturers have definitely noticed the “cafe racer” scene. I think in the near future we’re going to see a growing interest in retro race bikes with vintage fairings. I love Ducati’s PS1000LE (the Paul Smart commemorative edition) http://d.pr/i/nBK.
@Chargr Theres definitly some similarities there. I love those old Laverda’s
BMW is due to launch a classic roadster later this year, a machine that reportedly harks back to the original R-series.
The problem with many modern bikes is that the performance is not usable on the road. Anything over 100 hp is of limited use, and more people are realizing this.
That’s why machines such as Triumph’s Bonneville and Moto Guzzi’s V7 range are becoming popular—adequate performance for today’s roads and much more style than plastic-clad sportbikes.
Hi! I’m at work surfing around your blog from my new apple iphone! Just wanted to say I love reading through your blog and look forward to all your posts! Carry on the fantastic work!|
I’m gone to say to my little brother, that he should also pay a visit this blog on regular basis
to take updated from most recent news.