The oil crisis of the 1970s proved to be make or break for many big and small players in the automotive world, and although you’d never believe it today, BMW nearly ceased their production of motorcycles altogether. Thankfully management decided to ride out those tough times and needing a more fuel-efficient motorcycle that was still capable of competing with the Japanese for performance, the K100 was born out of some truly crazy prototypes. But who would have guessed that the ‘Flying Brick’ would not only save BMW motorcycles but go on to be a big hit in the custom bike scene? Probably nobody. But when you look at stunning examples like this, built by LA’s Saint Joshua Custom, it’s easy to see how the ugly duckling has emerged as pure classic cool.
One of the early concepts for the K bike included a motorcycle frame with a Peugeot 104 car engine bolted in it, laid flat on its side, to work with BMW’s beloved shaft drive system. There were many more years of work to come, but this basic idea would become the four-cylinder K100, while the K75 triple would follow, which equipped with a balance shaft took smooth revving in a motorcycle to all new levels. The bike ticked a lot of boxes, fuel-efficient, genuinely quick in a straight line and supremely reliable, but I’m not sure anyone ever considered the factory offering attractive. So to arrive at a bike this beautiful, Saint Joshua has really had to put in the hard work.
Originally from New York, his workshop is located in Los Angeles, and spending significant time in Berlin, this is not his first time spinning the spanners on a Bavarian. In fact, most of the customs he has built have been on the BMW R platform, with a stunning Royal Enfield thrown in for good measure. But if he was going to tackle the big K, he was going to do it with the sort of German precision that made the bike so good in the first place. To achieve this, he acquired a K100 as a donor, stripped it back and emptied the chassis of its considerable amount of wiring, and placed a bare frame on the bench.
From here, he cast his eye over the steel and decided the entire back half of the frame needed to simply be cut off and thrown away. To build it back up, a modular subframe has been installed, with the milled pieces giving the bike a true premium feel and simplifying what is from the factory one major hot mess. Underneath the new rails, a pair of electronics boxes have been fabricated, vital for a bike that carries so many electronics, and ensures the rear end maintains its uber clean good looks, with no ugly wires hanging out nor risking damage to the Bosch ECU.
To match the look of the new subframe, the popular lay-down shock conversion has been performed, utilising matching milled parts to bring it all to life. A new shock goes in just for the job, and allows the sag to be properly set when the rider is on board; which reduces the face-down, ass-up look sans pilot. To give the front end the kind of handling to match, Saint Joshua opted for a set of high-end Showa inverted forks, that slide through a custom triple clamp set up to bolt perfectly in place. The forks are again fully adjustable and the builder reports a smooth and easily controlled ride.
But with the stock bike tipping the scales at well over 230kg fuelled up, improved braking was a must. This has been brilliantly solved with a pair of massive wave-patterned rotors with cooling slots, which are clamped hard by radially mounted monoblock calipers from Brembo. The big factory rear disc remains, but the wheels have been replaced by newly laced up hubs, which match to beautifully finished rims in a burnt copper look. These form the merger between form and function, and to help assist in that aim, they’re wrapped up in aggressive Pirelli rubber.
The blacked out bodywork is all first class and the look is offset with that same metal inspired hue used for most of the bolts across the motorcycle. The tail is sharp and aggressive, with the minimalist lines offering a large contrast to that unmistakable fuel tank which is allowed to dominate the scenery. Gloss black gives the BMW a defiant appearance and then the seat is finished in style, with a stunning diamond stitched leather seat, accompanied by matching grips. The lighting is a mix of old and new, with the classic front headlight filled with LED globes and the rear is all grilled out, so that the red of the taillight has to escape through the bars.
And then it’s a case of coming full circle, as that beautiful four-cylinder engine gets some much needed love. From a visual point of view, it has been painted and file finished, but it really is that bank of four velocity stacks which truly steals the show. They must make a beautiful roar as the big Bavarian revs to life, only overshadowed by one of Saint Joshua’s signature pie-cut exhaust systems, which keeps the headers tucked tight to the motor, and then flows rearward to a sports bike muffler. A full rewire and mix of Motogadget electronics and machined components finish the build and the BMW proudly lifts the crown, appropriately named, ‘The Konig’.
