It?s tough to get a restomod right. An authentic nuts-and-bolts restoration is more work, but at least you have a blueprint to follow. Knowing how much ‘mod’ to add to the mix?without treading on the spirit of the original?is an art.
Some BMW historians might baulk at the sight of a vintage boxer with even a single mod. But we’re giving Ramon Seiler of Kontrast Kreations ten out of ten for this delightful petrol-blue bobber. Especially since it started out as a pick-n-mix basket case.

Photographer Marc Schneider tells us how bad it was: ?This bike started life as a barn find BMW R51/2 with parts from a variety of vintage BMW motorcycles. The tank was from a R50, the gearbox from a R51/3, the ignition case cover was broken, and fins were missing from both cylinders.” “It was clear to Ramon that the bike needed a full rebuild.?

The bike’s new owner wasn’t keen on returning it to stock, so Ramon had some freedom to reimagine the vintage Beemer. But first, he had some repairing to do.
Luckily, he’s no stranger to old vehicles. The last build we featured from him was a custom BMW, but he spends most of his time restoring classic cars and motorcycles from a workshop in the village of Bonstetten, near Zürich in Switzerland.

He took apart the engine and gearbox, and rebuilt them with new seals. Then he painstakingly soldered and filed the broken case and missing fins, until it was impossible to tell that they’d ever bee...