Most custom motorcycles start out stock?blank canvases for builders to splash their ideas onto. And if they’re old, a little restoration work usually comes first.
But this 1980-model BMW R100 RS was in need of complete salvation when it landed on Maria Motorcycles‘ workbench. Before they could turn it into the handsome machine you see here, they had to undo some nasty ‘custom’ work.

?When our client bought the bike, it already had some changes,? explains Maria founder, Luis Correia. ?It was really in bad condition, without fairings and more stripped.?
?We decided to divide the project into two stages: Stage One was to recover the most out of the original parts. Stage Two was to create a classic style that fit our client’s ideal.?
Once the Maria crew had torn the bike down, they started sorting through the stock parts worth keeping. Then they set about cleaning and polishing the aluminum bits?like the triple trees and carb covers.
?One crazy thing we did was to polish the wheels,? says Luis. ?We?ve never seen a BMW with the wheels polished, and now we know why! Hours and hours of work, but we think it deserved.?

The bulk of the man-hours went into restoring the engine. Maria rebuilt it with a host of new parts, and also glass-blasted it?adding a clear coat afterwards to protect the metal and seal in the beautiful finish.
Their client’s love for old boxers stopped Maria from swapping out the tank for something smaller. But the rear-...