Draped in liquid-smooth aluminum bodywork, this visually stunning custom motorcycle features a number of air scoops that wouldn't look out of place on a fighter jet, as well as a nearly fully-enclosed front wheel and some absurdly low-mount clip-ons.
It's the work of South Africa's FabMan Creations (FMC), built at the request of a customer using a BMW R NineT as a base. Most of the bike's frame and guts remain intact, including the signature boxer engine, whose cylinder heads peek out through the side panels.
But absolutely everything outward-facing has been replaced. Indeed, even the fuel tank and subframe underneath the bodywork are new. According to BikeEXIF, FMC's Wayne Buys taught himself how to shape aluminum, hammering out panels on a tree stump, a decade ago. He's come along a tad; the metalwork on the Storm looks just about immaculate.
In order to keep shutlines to a minimum, some of these pieces are large and intricately shaped. The main metal fairing, for example, stretches from the front cowl right back to the stubby tail, with barely a fastener visible anywhere to interrupt the silky metal finish.
Not even the handlebars are allowed to interfere here. Buys has created a set of clip-ons that attach to the forks below the bottom triple clamp, then rise up around the fairings to end up close to a normal cafe racer position.
Jet-fighter-style air scoops bring cooling air past the finned engine cylinders at speed, helping the Storm to recover some cooling capacity within its metal shell. Another scoop at the back left pushes air past a relocated oil cooler, and the surreal-looking front fender, which covers the vast majority of the entire front wheel, has two more air scoops in its sides, to bring airflow through the brake calipers.
The back wheel gets large hub covers too – there's no room for spokes and rims messing up the look on this machine – and the bike's standard single-sided swingarm and shock are hidden too. The gap between the swingarm cover and the main bodywork looks so small you'd struggle to get a pinky finger into it, and yet it allows the back wheel to travel up and down normally.
Some concessions have been made to the all-metal-everywhere concept up top. There's a small leather pad of a seat, a fuel filler cap, some upper heat vents and a dash with some buttons. Indeed, it looks like the standard single-bucket dash off an R NineT Scrambler. The ignition is gone, replaced with a keyless system.
The bike runs and rides, as evidenced by a few Facebook videos, and it sounds terrific. FMC says it's been approached asking if it'll make a kit for other R NineT owners, but that seems unlikely given the complexity of the build. Still, this bike's for sale, and the rest of us can enjoy it in pictures. Nice work!
Source: FabMan Creations via BikeEXIF
