Good things come in pairs or threes depending on which proverb you decide to believe, but for today’s story, we can make both work. This is a tale of three friends, two incredible gathering places, one motorcycle that forever keeps evolving, and a welcoming call to ‘share the ride.’ All of this falls under the Baffle Haus banner, the creation of three university friends who have gone on to establish two locations: Baffle Haus The Cedars and Baffle Haus Old Post, where you can drink great coffee, eat amazing food, and buy all of your motorcycling needs. They’ve both rapidly become a great meeting place for like-minded enthusiasts and an increasingly curious public. And you can’t fulfil their motto to ‘share the ride’ if you don’t have a slick steed to do it on. Enter the Baffle Haus Customs BMW R9T 2.0, and boy, she’s a beauty.
So, let’s unpack the tale. The three friends turn out to be Welsh Rugby International George North, entrepreneur Sam Daymond, and the owner of the BMW, Glamorgan County Cricket off-spinner Andrew Salter. They’re ultimately old friends who like nothing more than taking a ride on their custom bikes together, and finding somewhere to have a good coffee. So, they decided to turn their passion it into a business. The Cedars and now Old Post are everything that Baffle Haus is all about: two perfect places to take a ride to, where you can have a drink, sample the great menu, chat bikes, and buy all the gear from the best brands; everything that comes with being a rider who truly appreciates the culture.
Andrew, who is known as Salts, bought the BMW back in 2019 after doing a bike review on one and falling in love with the platform. He hadn’t had the 2016 R nineT long before he felt the need, like so many of us, to get stuck in and customise the Bavarian beauty. And as luck would have it, he had the perfect place to go, Cid Motorcycles, run and owned by the father of fellow Baffle Haus founder Sam. This led to a murdered-out vibe, with a re-painted tank, powder coating of various parts, trick pieces from Motogadget, and a rear tail tidy.
Then, friends of the crew, the guys from Pier City Cycles, used their expert knowledge of the BMW platform to give the bike some extra ponies. This was achieved with a full air-box removal and a Rapid Bike tuning module. The result was the Baffle Haus R9T 1.0, but then things took a twist. Salts reached that stage we all sadly get to, where you have to be mature and come up with the money for a house deposit, which meant selling the bike. “We’ve all been there, tough times… but I kept tabs on the bike, and it ended up with a gentleman called Marcus, who is a total hero, an all-around great guy. We kept in touch, and he said he’d always offer the bike back to me if he moved on.”
Three years later, Marcus made that call, and in 2024, Salts was able to roll the BMW back into his garage. And I’m guessing he whispered to her, “I’ll never leave you go again, beautiful.” Or maybe that’s just me. Whatever the case, it was time for Cid to work his magic once more. For version 2.0, Salts had a very different vision for what the R9T should be. “I got carried away with 1.0, and it became a somewhat fierce and modern-looking street fighter. The combination of the following parts all added to that: LED ring headlight, Competition Werkes end can, and the re-painted sharp-lined tank.”
Those CW mufflers make just about any motorcycle sound like a Formula 1 car, but the new vibe was all about moving back to a more classic feel. “I wanted to take the R nineT back to its core identity, to pay homage to the past, and make it look back-dated while further improving its performance,” Salts explains. And nothing makes a BMW R look more like the machines of yesteryear than carrying out a tank conversion for that iconic ’70s style. The guys at Unit Garage make this ridiculously easy with their incredible tank kits, which are a bolt-on proposition, using the factory fuel pump and weighing 2kg less than the longer factory item.
To give his new tank a unique touch, Salts had Baffle Haus regular, Rich, laser-cut a set of custom tank badges, and he did a brilliant job of capturing the company logo. The leather Unit Garage seat is a huge improvement over stock, and replacing the factory headlight with a Bates-style piece really tops off the new vintage vibe.
Cid had to do his thing along the way, making new parts work with old modifications, but 2.0 was now well on its way to being a stunning modern retro. But to make sure the handling was spot-on, things turned high-tech, with all the latest goodies from Nitron. One of their brilliant shocks takes care of the rear, while the front forks are rebuilt with their adjustable internals, and the outsides have been anodized silver.
The beating heart of the bike would get attention too, and with the Boxer no longer screaming out of the CW pipe, Salts needed an alternative. Again, the guys from Unit Garage came to the party with one of their beautiful full systems, featuring custom headers and that stunning high pipe to finish. A pair of K&N filters finish out the engine mods, and the previously installed Rapid Bike module makes the most of the upgrades.
Finally, to literally wrap up the build, on advice from the guys at Pier City, Salts had the wheels fitted with Dunlop’s super-versatile Mutant tyres. “A summer of ‘pit stops’ and fun on two wheels awaits us all, especially with the R9T 2.0 itching for its first proper ride-out,” Salts smiles. And with two incredible locations, The Cedars and Old Post, you’d be crazy not to join the Baffle Haus crew for a good brew, great vibe and a chance to share the ride.
