BLITZ BMW R100RT ‘LA PARISIENNE’

If you visited the BMW Museum in Munich a few months ago, you might have noticed an interloper: a brawny custom with a Yamaha XT500 tank. Sharing space with a BMW concept car and an immaculate 1982 R100 RT, the custom looked like a pit bull amongst immaculately coiffed poodles.

The juxtaposition was not as incongruous as it seemed, though. The ‘Yamaha’ was actually a BMW R100 RT, just like its neighbor on the stand, albeit in disguise. It was built by the controversial French workshop Blitz Motorcycles and is called ‘La Parisienne.’

Confused onlookers who failed to recognize the bike can be excused—this R100 has been customized almost beyond recognition. The rear frame is completely new, and fitted with a bespoke seat and a mono shock. The frame and forks have been powdercoated in dark gray, and the engine, bars (from an R100 RS) and wheels powdercoated in a sinister black.

The bike has also been rewired with simplified electrics; a compact li-ion battery now hides in a box under the transmission. Mini switches control the blinkers and the digital speedometer display, and the engine start button is screwed into the bracket of the front brake lever. The levers (shortened) and brake master cylinder are from a Yamaha R1.

Vintage-style lights add a retro touch, along with 18” Coker rubber. The carbs sport handcrafted intakes and the shorty muffler is painted a high-temperature black on the outside and red on the inside. And yes, the tank really is from vintage Yamaha XT500 enduro—mounted on the frame exactly as it was found.

The effect is brutal and even disorientating. But it still caught the eye of the BMW museum curators. Maybe the Teutonic purveyors of motorcycling efficiency do have a sense of humor after all.

Head over to the Blitz website to see more of Fred Jourden and Hugo Jezegabel’s builds. And follow the news from the 17th arrondissement via the Blitz Facebook page.

from BIKEEXIF

KAWASAKI KZ750 BY VALTORON

Valdetorres del Jarama is a small village in Spain, half an hour from the center of Madrid. It’s also home to a sculptor’s foundry called Valtoron, named after the local river.

The foundry is run by two brothers with a passion for traditional metalwork. In their free time Carlos and Pablo live and breathe motorcycles, and occasionally, their two worlds collide. Over the years they’ve been quietly using their skills to create some remarkably original motorcycles, which were revealed in public for the first time at the 2012 Mulafest show in Madrid.

The reaction of the audience at the show convinced Carlos and Pablo to disclose more of their two-wheeled work—which includes this 1977 Kawasaki KZ750, repurposed into a vintage dual-sport machine. (If you haven’t heard of the KZ750, that’s understandable: it was designed to compete with twins like the Triumph Bonneville and Yamaha XS650, but despite having the requisite simplicity and character, it never really took off.)

Valtoron started by modifying the KZ750’s chassis for strength, and grafting on uprated components better suited to offroad use—including 41mm Husqvarna forks slotted into Suzuki triple trees, and Betor shocks from an Ossa Desert Fuego. The footrests are now from a vintage KTM GS 250, and the bars from a Bultaco Pursang—now fitted with Renthal grips. The front brake is from a Yamaha SR250.

Valtoron used their casting know-how to produce the bodywork, creating a look we haven’t seen before. All the panels were cast in aluminum in the foundry, from the fenders to the side covers to the tank, which was designed and shaped using clay. The gas cap has been cast in bronze.

It’s an unusual approach, as befits an isolated workshop operating outside the mainstream of custom motorcycle builders. But it ‘works’, to put it bluntly, and Valtoron is a name worth keeping an eye out for. You can follow Carlos and Pablo’s progress via theirwebsite and Facebook page: they don’t speak English, but the pictures speak a thousand words.

Images courtesy of Kristina Fender. Thanks to David Borras of El Solitario MC for the tip.

from BIKEEXIF

Can You Handle Our Top 5 Off-Roaders?

Defenders and G-Wagons are often the tools of choice when the going gets tough, but what if you’re looking for something a little less predictable? We look at some of the more unusual marauders of the mud.

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#5 Jeep Cherokee Chief


For those seeking G-Wagon virtues (V8 brawn, no-nonsense aesthetics and a touch of luxury) in a distinctly more Western package, a late 70s Jeep Cherokee Chief might be the answer. A world away from its modern counterparts, it does off-roading the old-school American way.

Buy this car in the Classic Driver Marketplace >>

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#4 VW Type 82 'Kübelwagen'


Resembling a bathtub on wheels, it’s little wonder the Porsche-designed Type 82 was given the nickname ‘Kübelwagen’ – directly translated as ‘tub-truck’. The Beetle-derived mechanicals proved solid during their service in WWII but, should you get stuck, you could always liberate your mount the old-fashioned way: using the accompanying shovel.

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#3 Citroën DS 21 'Rally'


A heavy, ambling saloon might not jump out at you as an ideal rallying candidate, but in period it soon became very successful – no doubt owing much of its success to the pioneering suspension system. With the road-going DS already widely regarded as ‘sub-zero’ cool, rally versions scarcely register on the thermometer.

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#2 Porsche 911 Safari


The 911 almost certainly has the most successful racing provenance of any sports car – and its success even extends to rallying. Raised suspension and the deletion of all but the essentials meant the 911 'Safari' was a match for the toughest of stages.

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#1 Lamborghini LM 002 "Ex-Rally-Dakar"


Ferruccio Lamborghini famously shielded his cars from the callings of competition; but when he left the company, the new owners decided it was time to showcase the talents of the LM002 by producing a rally variant. Based on the standard chassis, it shed 500kg and gained a host of rally-spec modifications in preparation for the gruelling Paris-Dakar. 

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Text: Classic Driver
Photos: Classic Driver dealers

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