Stunning Steampunk BMW R18 Custom Motorcycle
Headed up by Andrea Radaelli, Radikal Chopper is an award-winning custom motorcycle shop known for its idiosyncratic and old-school designs. And while all of Radikal Chopper’s builds are incredibly involved, the outfit has now delivered what’s almost certainly its most ambitious and transformative project to date with a BMW R 18 that’s been christened “Magnifica.”
Commissioned by Raffaello Polchi, a diehard moto enthusiast and the owner of Officine Riunite Milanesi, the build began life as a bone-stock R 18, though, aside from the chassis, swing-arm, and 1.8-liter Boxer twin, very little of the stocker remains. Created using traditional design and manufacturing techniques rather than utilizing CAD software, the big-bore cruiser bike takes inspiration from vintage two-wheelers from the 1920s, ’30s, and ’40s. As such, the build sports a scratch-built, modern take on a girder-style fork that’s comprised of bespoke billet pieces, an ultra-waspish mahogany tailpiece capped off with a rubber seat, a custom twin-cell tank with screw-down caps, and a bespoke fishtail-style exhaust.
The build also features a completely revised cockpit, with custom cruiser-style handlebars wrapped in one-off grips, and a custom Magnifica-branded speedometer that now acts as the BMW’s sole instrumentation. Riding on custom-machined five-arm wheels shod in Metzeler rubber, the project is also brimming with smaller detail...
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