Written by Martin Hodgson
Life is filled with many simple joys and one of them is to observe a true master craftsman at work. The artisan is found all over the world, the watchmaker with his intricate tools in Switzerland to the Balinese woodcarver sitting on the floor performing his magic. While many of us repair and restore their works, they create true art from the most basic materials in a way that seems almost mystical. And so we find amongst the forest in the small hamlet of Olivebridge, New York, Nick Cologero shaping metal into masterpieces. The latest build to roll out of the Catskill Mountain Customs Inc. workshop is a BMW R90 cafe racer that’s simply sublime.

By day Nick is a firefighter, but you can’t escape your greatest talent and so his spare time is spent in the workshop, building bikes, but first and foremost he’s a metal shaper. ? In early 2016 I finished up a little CB350 scrambler and took it down to a local bike night where the owner of this BMW took notice. Over the next few years he kept tabs on my work until the timing was right to turn the BMW over to me. The owner told me about the history of the bike, belonging to a friend of his, and how he took it over in poor condition with the promise of resurrecting it into a cafe racer,? Nick tells us.
The client gave Nick almost complete creative control, but before he could ply his signature trade he’d first have to turn the crusty R into a respectable roller. Not one to do thing...