Although the BMW R nineT was originally designed as a throwback to classic BMW boxers, it’s always had a modern edge. That leaves customizers with two options?ramp up the nineT’s retro appeal, or lean into its modern underpinnings. No points for guessing which way Shawn Yang went with this BMW R nineT café racer.
Based in China, Shawn’s been fiddling with his nineT since he bought it five years ago. Most of his experimentation has been outwardly focussed, with the bike used as a test bed to develop bolt-on parts and kits for other nineT owners. So not only does his BMW look slick as heck, but it’s loaded with carefully prototyped 3D-printed parts.

Shawn’s rolling project kicked into high gear when he connected with an industrial designer on the other side of the globe. ?I love to share drafts and prototypes on Facebook groups to get feedback,? Shawn tells us. ?When I posted a prototype of a tail tidy, I met Trevor Dyment, an industrial designer at Formlabs who loved my designs and offered help to refine them.? ?We collaborated across the Pacific through the internet. The main idea was to build a futuristic, concise, and top street performance café racer, based on my favorite BMW R nineT.?

Most of the bespoke parts on Shawn’s R nineT (which he’s nicknamed ‘The Futurist’) were created using four distinct 3D printing techniques. The transparent bits were made using the popular stereolithography (SLA) printing method...