Written by Andrew Jones
Somehow in all the hype and limelight that surrounds custom bikes, the customer often gets lost. While more than a few bikes we feature on these pages are labors of love that are entirely funded, made and ridden by the builders themselves, a fair whack of them are funded by regular Joes like you or I. Joes with hard-earned money, a moto passion and the will to make something special happen. And as with most people who are footing the bill, they will want things a certain way. Often this can create a certain tension between builder and customer but for Austria?s Vagabund, the process of working with their client allowed them to take this bike to a whole new level.

Our first chat with Paul and Phil about this, their 10th official Vagabund build started much like any other. Being old hands at the Pipeburn interview process, their responses came back with clockwork precision – the kind of precision that you’d expect from two Austrian guys who can craft a bike that would put a Swiss clockmaker to shame. Made for the taller gentleman…
Built from a locally-sourced ?93 BMW R100R, the bike features all the usual top shelf touches that make Vagabund?s build stand head and shoulders above their contemporaries. There’s the modified and black ceramic coated R100R presilencer with an always cool SuperTrapp muffler attached, along with a Motogadget Motoscope mini speedo, milled and powder coated front forks, a new rear frame, and a fully w...