Analog Motorcycles, headed up by Tony Prust, have been in the custom game since 2009 and satisfied a good few customers along the way, and we’ve featured a small number within that portfolio. Working mostly on commission builds they rarely embark on a project with the objective of selling upon completion, in fact it’s only happened twice before. This R90/6 from 1976 is number three and one that Tony has particularly enjoyed, having no brief to follow, free to get creative and build how he wanted.
Tony fills us in on the detail; “It started life as a bike in pretty rough shape. One of those you talk to the owner for a while and the time at which it was last on the road changes each time they tell you a story. So I would have to guess it hadn’t been ridden in about 4 years before I rescued it. As soon as I picked this one up I had intentions of getting it running and just riding it. Of course plans always change and when I finally got time to sort it out I quickly realized it need more to get it road worth than I had planned so why not take it to the next level and give it the full Analog treatment with no customers opinions to consider. This one I got to do my way from start to finish”.
“I have been seeing a lot of custom airheads coming around lately and one thing I noticed is very few take the engine treatment all the way. So I figured what the heck, a full disassembly of the engine and transmission for powder coating. That meant a full rebuild and so I called on the local airhead specialists, Motoworks of Chicago. Steve and Jason gave the engine a complete refreshing. This is basically a brand new factory spec engine now. I decided to run the Earth X battery and the Motogadget M-unit in the airbox area so hammered-out a steel version of the airbox complete with venting to make the engine look complete. Rebuilt carbs run K&N pod filters and a custom made 2 into 1 exhaust is reigned in by a Cone Engineering muffler. The ignition was upgraded to a Dyna III set-up and charging components were replaced for improved charging”.
“Next was the chassis setup. I opted to ditch the old stock thin-tubed sub-frame and bent-up a completely custom setup and welded in place. I added a little more slant on the rear shocks and called on Race Tech to make up a set of custom shocks tuned to this chassis and rider. Race Tech’s gold emulators and progressive rate springs in the stock rebuilt forks sort the front end and this thing now handles incredibly. On my trip to California for the Quail Gathering I stopped in Utah to rip up some canyon roads and was blown away at how well this bike turns. Not your typical /6 soft comfy suspension but rather a race tuned twisty welcoming suspension, just the way I prefer it”.
“Along with chassis improvements Free Form Designs helped design and CNC a new top triple setup with bar mounts for standard 7/8” bars. We also cut our grenade style pegs for rider and passenger…that’s right, a full blown custom with passenger pegs. I had them CNC some peg mounts as well. If you have ever ridden an airhead with a passenger I am sure you noticed their toes touching your heels so we added a some length to the passenger mounts giving the rider more clearance for his/her heels. While Free Form was doing all that CNC work I figured lets go ahead and add a couple nice BMW logos for the tank”.
“The electrical is all Motogadget. I can’t say enough good things about the their products. I am sold on using them from now on. This build has M-unit, M-button, M-switches, and Tiny speedo, all linked by a brand new wiring loom. I took an old British style headlight and made a tube to set the speedo in and welded it together, finishing off with handmade bracket. The taillight is the Analog Motor Goods Revolver LED taillight that we sell on our website. The rear turn signals from Watsen Design are frenched into the frame rails and the front signals are LED bar end units”.
“A few other things we did were gave the bike some low scrambler style handle bars because I think they looked cool and really fit the build. The rear fender is a front fender picked up at a swap meet and frenched into the rear frame loop to get more wheel clearance. We used Beringer levers and master cylinders for both clutch and brake as they are very nicely units machined from billet and really added to the super modern feel and function of the bike. The front caliper has been rebuilt and a stainless HEL brake line actually makes this thing stop”.
“A bobbed front fender keeps the worst of the crud at bay without being too classic looking. The custom seat pan and a new design for us with honeycomb style stitching was upholstered in leather by Rod’s Designs”.
“The paint scheme is classy with a modern accent. I was given some extra powder from my powder coater and this blue happened to be in the box. I figured I would use it some day. Since this was a build I got to do what ever I wanted I opted to coat the spokes blue with black rims, hubs and nipples. I loved how they turned out so I added the blue accent color in the tank stripe and the seat stitching. The tank is raw metal clear coated on the bottom and grey metallic on top, with the headlight bucket and fenders to match, all carried out by Kiel’s Kustoms (formerly Crown Auto body)”.
“Since I had final say on every aspect of this build I am extremely happy with how it turned out. It handles amazingly, has plenty of power, looks great and I can have my wife or daughter ride on the back. It checks all the boxes for me and will be very difficult to part with but as a business move I “should” sell it and keep building more like this. It has that vintage soul but very modern and upgraded. It is basically a brand new 1976 R90/6 but with all the upgrade options they never offered back then. That’s why I call it the R nine T/6″.
In the constant quest to meet, or hopefully exceed, a customer’s expectations the creative desires of a builder can sometimes remain quashed. So it’s important to take time out and go with one’s own flow. Tony has certainly done that here and it’ll be a brave person that tries to drive a hard bargain, it’ll probably one of those take it or leave type of deals.
via The Bike Shed
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