The Boxer Bobber Tribute
The Boxer Bobber Tribute was comissioned by BMW Motorrad UK and designed and built by Down & Out. Down & Out was founded in Rotherham in 2013 by bike enthusiast Carl Portlock. Since then, he has gathered a like-minded and highly skilled team who specialise in custom motorcycles, including BMW classics.
The Inspiration
We have noticed many other customised R 18 bikes use a traditional bobber style, and we wanted to go with something slightly different. We decided to go back to basics, keeping it minimalistic, but maintaining individuality.
What inspired this R 18 build came from an R 80 custom we designed a few years back. The main feature is its unique front end. We have gone for custom-made springer forks, which we believe are the world's first on an R 18 motorcycle. We kept both brake discs and ABS and made a rear wheel conversion to the front - so you have a small chunkier wheel.
We’ve replaced the current R 18 "Fishtail" exhaust with a straight-through pipe to give it a throatier sound. The R 18 has a fantastic 1800 cc boxer engine, and we wanted to showcase its full potential.
We chose black and brass with a hint of gold accents for the paint scheme. The brass colour mainly takes inspiration from the R 80 build with its striking headlight.
There were some challenges throughout the build process, but the main one has to be the wiring. The R 18 is quite an advanced machine compared to some of the older ones we work on. So, we had to find a way to hide all the wiring and the computer systems to give it a classic clean look while keeping its rider aids usable – such as cruise control and traction control.
