We live in a world where you can stream entire discographies of music straight to your phone, yet vinyl sales are booming. Technology might be advancing at a relentless pace, but we’re still drawn to analog things?either for their charm, or for the sake of our own nostalgia.
In this context, neo-retro motorcycles are something of an anomaly. They look vintage, but they’re loaded with features that weren’t around back then?like catalytic convertors and electronic rider aids. This BMW R18 from Kingston Custom shatters that mold.

On the surface, it looks like a gentle, albeit tasteful, visual reworking of BMW’s monster cruiser. But the real genius here, is what you can’t see?or, more accurately, what isn’t there. This R18 runs without fuel injection, traction control, electronic rider modes or ABS. Removing all of that from a modern motorcycle is arguably far harder than changing its looks. So why did the man behind Kingston Custom, Dirk Oehlerking, even bother" Simple: he was asked to.

It all started with a chance meeting last year, at the St. Moritz Automobile Week, in Switzerland. Dirk was there to compete in the Kilomètre Lancé with his jaw-dropping ‘Spirit of Passion’ custom R18, which, unsurprisingly, garnered much attention. That’s how he met Kurt A Engelhorn?the founder and organizer of the prestigious classic automobile festival.
?I got to know Kurt through the bike and had some intense petrolhead talk...