The BMW K100RS was borderline futuristic when it hit the scene in the 1980s. Between its blocky horizontal inline-four engine and its geometric fairings, it was a significant side-step from the boxer models that the marque was famous for.
Sure, it still looks like it came from the 80s, but that doesn’t make it a bad bike. Strip off the bodywork and throw a bunch of top-shelf components at it, and you could have a sharp, high-performing café racer on your hands. Which is exactly what Spain’s Bolt Motor Co. has done to this 1986 BMW K100RS.

Bolt’s client had requested a BMW K100 café racer with a race-inspired aesthetic. But while most clients usually only have a vague idea of what they’re after, his ideas were very specific. So specific, in fact, that he gave Bolt a detailed, full color sketch to work from. ?The entire team was stunned when a freehand drawing of how he wanted the bike arrived at the workshop,? says shop boss Adrián Campos. ?It was a drawing that was ready to frame, where every detail came to life. From that moment on, our goal was to bring that drawing to life.?

From the skeletal subframe to the Öhlins suspension, everything was laid out unambiguously. Performance was top of the list; no problem for Bolt, whose sister company is the Formula 3 racing team, Campos Racing.
From their shared workspace in Valencia, the team stripped the BMW K100RS down to its bare bones and got to work. It’s not the first time that Bolt has...