Three of our four concepts are cold. This one is deliberately, unapologetically warm.
Candy is the most difficult finish in the trade and the most rewarding when it lands. Zinnober carries a black base, then a metallic ground, then five translucent amber coats, each one deepening the last. Get a coat uneven by a fraction and the whole flank tiger stripes and the panel goes back to bare metal. There is no correcting a candy. There is only doing it again.
Against that, the leather. Tan hide selected from a single skin so the grain runs continuous from the saddle to the tail pad, diamond stitched by hand with a contrasting thread and edge waxed until it burnishes. It will darken over years of riding, and it is meant to. Ten years from now this is the panel that will tell you the machine was used.
The wheels are brushed and then gold anodised, warm rather than bright. The exhaust is polished stainless run high on the right, and the engine cases are left dark so the eye goes where it should. Nothing on this motorcycle is warm by accident.
Written down, because it will be checked.
Every commission ships with a bound build record: photographs of each stage, part numbers, supplier provenance and the name of the person who did the work.
- Donor
- 1995 BMW K1100RS, low mileage, acquired in northern Italy
- Engine
- 1092cc DOHC 16 valve longitudinal inline four, rebuilt, dark satin cases
- Exhaust
- Hand bent polished stainless, high right side exit, twin outlet
- Frame
- Original spine, hand fabricated tail loop, gloss black
- Bodywork
- Hand formed tank and matched floating tail unit
- Finish
- Black base, metallic ground, five coat translucent candy amber, gold hand pinstripe
- Wheels
- Cast alloy, brushed and gold anodised
- Suspension
- Rebuilt forks, bespoke rear monoshock with remote adjustment
- Seat
- Tan hide from a single skin, hand diamond stitched, waxed edge
- Fasteners
- Stainless, polished, gold anodised accents
- Build time
- Approximately twelve months
- Availability
- Open to commission