The custom scene event calendar has boomed over the last few years. For fans like us, it means more opportunities to bask in the glow of custom moto culture. But for builders, it means extra deadlines, as they scramble to release new work at key shows.
For Ronna Norén of the legendary Swedish shop Unique Custom Cycles, Glemseck 101 is the show. He uses it each year as the perfect excuse to kick out a new custom build.

Although UCC made their name building choppers, Ronna is also skilled at producing exquisite ?metric? machines. As the date for this year’s Glemseck 101 approached, he cast his eye over his bike stash and picked out a rather unusual donor: a 2015-spec BMW R1200R.
?I thought building a water-cooled boxer would be a nice challenge,? Ronna tells us.
?We?ve done a bunch of air- and oil-cooled boxers, but this is the first water-cooled one. Plus I have seen these bikes in action: they run like corn through a goose!? Which is not surprising: the R1200R is packing 125 stout German horses and 92 ft.lbs of torque.
I’ve spent time on the R1200R myself, and can confirm that it’s a phenomenal motorcycle to ride. Aesthetically, it’s decent-looking from some angles?but feels disjointed overall.

So Ronna started by stripping off anything that didn’t make it stop or go.
Then he set about building a new tail unit. ?I wanted to do a super clean tail,? he says, ?with all the necessary functions integrated, but well hidden. All the electroni...