This R75 Brat Tracker is the most recent custom Boxer twin to come out of the Foundry Motorcycle workshop. It’s a 1975 R75/6 that came as one of a pair of basket case Beemer’s which were purchased about two years ago. The bike was bought through a small ad from ‘Mark in Midhurst’, who turned out to be one of life’s great characters with endless stories about the places he and the R75 had visited over the years. The intention was to build the bike as a tracker style variant as Tom’s daily ride, but for the second time that wasn’t going to happen.
After telling Terry, a regular Foundry Motorcycle customer, the stories of the bike’s many travels across Europe and Asia (and how it had been impounded by the Chinese border police just before going over the Himalayas), it was a done deal and Tom was without a bike, yet again!
“A fuel tank with so much history was never going to see fresh paint again, but after a complete strip down the frame and modified sub frame were blasted and powder coated, rims and hubs were bead blasted and during reassembly every seal and bearing was renewed.”
The engine had a complete top-end rebuild after being laboriously cleaned by hand to make sure it never got too shiny and the exhausts were hand-made in house, just for this bike. The bars were originally leftovers from Foundry’s Black R8cer build and after a complete re-wire, a digital Daytona speedo and MotoGadget switches were fitted.
The original rear mudguard was chopped, re-profiled and distress painted to match the tank, then topped off with a handmade leather seat. All of the above now rolls on a pair of Continental TKC tyres which, matched with some reasonable ground clearance, means the Brat Tracker is fun to ride on the road and more than happy with a little trail riding.
“Terry’s the kind of customer we like. He ‘bought’ the bike off the back of a sketch and a dented rusty fuel tank, told us to build the bike we want to build, left us to get on with the job and on seeing the finished article, was obviously as pleased with it as we are. We built the bike we wanted to build and it’s a real fun bike!”
As well as building some really nice bikes, Tom & Simon from Foundry Motorcycle in Chichester are a really great couple of guys and it’s great to see the custom side of their business build from strength to strength out of their already cool shop & cafe. If you’re ever in mid Sussex, go visit and say hi. See more from them on The Bike Shed’sFoundry MC pages and, on their Facebook and Website.
Thanks to Bike Shed regular photographer Merry Michau for the pics.
