Some custom shops crank out the same style of build, over and over again. But for Federal Moto that would be terminal. Their crew is young, eager to experiment and wary of stagnation.
So when a local film production company approached Federal to build a custom bike, they picked a genre they hadn’t yet tackled. For their seventeenth project, commissioned by Divisionist Films, the Chicago workshop created their first BMW-powered bobber.

?Eight years ago we started off as a ‘cafe racer’ custom shop,? says founder Michael Muller, ?and here we are now moving into the bobber genre. We want to be a diverse shop that isn?t tied to one style of moto ? motorcycles are fun, who said you can?t play with all of the kinds"?
Federal started by sitting down with their client, and going through reference material to figure out what would hit the mark.
The resulting concept was a skinny monochrome bobber based on a /7 series BMW boxer. And as luck would have it, Federal had a 1978 BMW R80/7 laying around the shop and looking for a good home.
The R80 needed some love though, so Michael and Federal staffer David Pecaro started by rebuilding the 797 cc motor, five-speed transmission and Bing carbs. The work included new seals and rings, a new electronic ignition, and NGK spark plug boots and cables.

The motor was beautifully finished with a mix of ceramic paint and hand-polished touches. Federal also added custom-made velocity stacks, and custom exhausts with t...