When it comes to BMW R-Series customs, right now Kevils Speedshop is nailing it. Every single time. While Kev Hill and his crew initially got some criticism for specialising almost exclusively in flat-twin Beemer customs it’s now clear that Kev’s masterplan of refining the art of the boxer twin cafe/brat/scrambler has paid off, with bike after bike rolling out of his workshop doors, each built to order and no two identical.
This latest brat-style build is 1978 R80/7, and like a few recent Kevils builds it uses a Honda tank, much like the recent Blitz BMW which was seen at the BMW museum. It’s a great look that many of Kev’s customers have wanted to emulate, and it really changes the overall balance of the bike’s design, giving more visual clout to the engine and slimming down the view from the seat.
The bike was Commissioned by Mads of Bergen, Norway who flies helicopters for the Norwegian Armed Forces. He popped into the workshop on his way home from RAF Culdrose where he is training in Search & Rescue.
As usual, Kevils have stripped and rebuilt the donor bike, and worked the bike up to a Brat-Style spec with a dark brown leather seat, Kevils tail light, wide bars wearing clear grips, fronted by a Motogadget multifunction mini speedo. The header pipes have been wrapped leading to twin black megaphone silencers. The wheels have been rebuilt with wire spokes and the rims wear Avon tyres.
The bike was airbrushed in a design inspired by the WWII Mustang P51, also called the Gunfighter, and the photos were taken at Reims Airfield in France on the way back from Glemseck 101.
It’s a great looking bike and a lovely evolution in Kevils’ line of boxer twin customs. See more from Kevils on the Bike Shed, or on their own pages, here.
