In the history of the internal combustion engine, only a handful of companies have been successful in the world of both two and four-wheels. Standing proudly at the top of that pile, BMW has ensured their meticulous German attitude to engineering has seen them always produce a quality product. And yet, one motorcycle has for decades held up the two-wheeled division on its lofty shoulders, winning races and hearts alike, and accounting for a third of the company’s motorcycle sales. The mighty GS is one hell of a bike, and to pay tribute to the legend, Croatia’s Incerum Customs have pieced together this stunning restoration of a 1988 BMW R100GS.
It’s because of the sales success of the GS series, that it is the bike that most people conjure up in their mind when thinking of the Bavarian brand. But while BMW has been producing motorcycles for a hundred years now, the GS was only born in 1980. And unlike the years of expensive R&D that goes into the average BMW product, the GS had no such official program of development. Instead, engineers and mechanics at the firm with a love of off-road and trials riding, built the bike in their own time and then with it seen at huge international events like the Six Days, people across the industry began to talk.
Management didn’t need their arms twisting, and the program was given the green light to become an official model, with the GS available to the public just 21 months later. This is an incredibly short turnaround time, for a company like BMW which never takes such risks, it was and still is unheard of. But the thought of being the company that produced a Range Rover type machine for the two-wheeled crowd meant that development was not going to be allowed to go slow. And the very next year, in 1981, BMW would prove to the world that the GS was here to stay, as a Range Rover took out the car class of the Paris-Dakar, and their new GS took out the motorcycle division.
Wins again in ’83, ’84 and ’85 cemented the legacy and from that day forward, whether you’re Ewan Mcgregor and Charley Boorman filming your global adventures or a Sunday rider who demands the best Dual-Sport machine money can buy, the GS has sat proudly at the top of the tree. And so it’s no wonder that tens of thousands of them are sold each year, but the modern machine has lost a little of its raw mechanical edge, it is practically the Starship Enterprise with all of its electrical wizardry.
So, being the lover of old air-head BMWs that he is, Antonio Ferhatovic of Incerum Customs decided that if he was going to pay tribute to the great GS, he was going to do it with a bike from its true golden era. Sadly, there was nothing so golden about the 1988 model he picked up to serve as the donor for the build. It was a wreck and rough in every single way, in fact, it probably made sense to cut it up to be one of his radical customs, but he just felt this adventure seeker deserved a new lease on life.
Taken back to a bare frame, the chassis, all of the protection bars and luggage racks, were blasted and given a fresh coat of hard-wearing black powder. The paralever rear end has had a complete rebuild and it is this ingenious design, an indestructible shaft-drive with almost no torque reaction transfer, that helped to build the bike’s reputation for reliability. The front suspension has all been restored to factory original condition, you could literally eat off the lower legs, and then the rear suspension is one of the few non-factory components, with an adjustable shock added to the mix.
The spokes had practically rotted away to nothing, so the hubs have been beautifully restored, before being re-laced to new rims with stainless spokes that should last another 40 years of service. Now rolling and the powerplant needed a new lease on life and you’d be hard-pressed to find any bike of this age with an engine you’d trust to take you into the Sahara and back out again. Antonio’s attention to detail is remarkable, the carbs are not only overhauled but all the clamps are replaced with NOS items. And if it’s not the little things, then the unique exhaust instantly transports you back to the ’80s and is as flawless as the rest of the build.
The bodywork is what really tells the story and helps to separate the GS from any other R series bike of the period. Every last part and panel has been restored to be arrow straight and the distinctive front fairing of the time perfectly captures the adventure vibe. The paint job with its flawless alpine white, M sport graphics, Dakar logo and signature blue are simply a thing of beauty, and the seat reupholstered to match, just makes you drool.
Antonio even went so far as to restore the original clocks, the odometer might show mileage, but nothing about its appearance does. The Incerum build is a truly fitting tribute to one of the world’s finest motorcycles, and if you’re as impressed as we are, it’s for sale at a very reasonable price.
[ Incerum Customs ]