After three years and several cracking custom builds, the Rotterdam-based duo behind Smokin’ Motorcycles are parting ways.
That sounds like bad news, but it’s not. Rob van der Heijden and Maarten Timmer aren’t downing tools for good, they’re just not working under the same banner any more.

A great partnership deserves an epic send-off. So here’s the last official Smokin’ Motorcycles build: a brawny BMW called ‘Ghost Dog.’ It?s based on the stunningly popular R nineT, which has helped BMW increase its motorcycle sales for seven years in a year.
Cinephiles will recognize the name Ghost Dog: it?s a nod to Jim Jarmusch?s 1999 crime flick, starring Forest Whitaker as a hitman who follows the ancient code of the Samurai.
It’s a bizarre connection for a motorcycle, but it’s also the favorite movie of the owner of this nineT. So Rob and Maarten were compelled to draw inspiration from it.
It was clear from the get-go that the modern Beemer needed a brutal and muscular stance. So Smokin’ started by swapping out the tank for a custom-made unit.

The design started as a sketch, and then became a 3D CAD render. Based off that, Marcel van der Stelt at Custom Factory then produced a one-off aluminum tank.
The team cleaned up the tail end of the bike next, by ditching the nineT’s removable passenger support subframe. The cast aluminum side pieces that normally sit under the seat at the tank junction are gone,...