Ironwood Custom’s ‘The Interpreter’ BMW R100R Scrambler
About Ironwood Custom Motorcycles
Redefine - Reimagine - Renew - Reinvent - Reshape
Nice to meet, ''Bold & Minimalistic'' at the same time, we are Ironwood! IWC Motorcycles is a Dutch custom garage founded by Arjan van den Boom & Partner in 2012. Together we customize, conceptualize & realize motorcycles to one-of-a-kind vintage machines, piece by piece! Let’s start first with; we are crazy about bikes, pretty much all of them as noticed on first glance but our hearts will skip a beat when seeing properly manufactured cafe racers around the globe.
The actual journey of taking on the build, tear down the bikes to its bare bones and rebuild them from the ground up provides us that all-time high. Our L-O-V-E for custom motorcycles is no secret so every project we handcraft will have its own specific details and key features to tell its own story. Throughout the process of building, we mostly envision our bikes as mean and fast ''brat style” or ''bobber'' rides with a few touches from the industrial universe of the 20th century.
We constantly have new ideas shuffling in our heads and when it comes to finding the perfect tailored solution for each assignment, we will be challenged by conventional concepts blended with innovative defiance.
We achieve to deliver a work of art on every vintage machine, turning scrappy metal into gold! Each bike has it's own unique design and character, depending on budgets involved.
We perform semi projects, full rebuilds, build to sell and modify customer motorcycles into killer bikes!
We like to be different and get the most out of life. Our vision is to apply a mix of creativity. Some vintage, some with a modern twist.
Paint The Town, Ride Ironwood!
Ironwood Custom’s ‘The Interpreter’ BMW R100R Scrambler
Ironwood Custom Motorcycles has built a dozen BMW R customs in the last five years and the client has chosen the right shop. When a client approached Ironwood Customs with very specific requirements, the pressure to deliver was on Arjan van den Boom. His ability to visualize someone else's wishes are as refined as his motorcycle building skills and he turned a tired 1992 BMW R100R into this beautiful black scrambler brat, usually called' The Interpreter. 'Since he enjoyed the surroundings and hospitality of the Ironwood display room in leather sofa comfort, he had built up an idea of what he did and did n't want; and he was firm in his view! “ We do a lot of tailored solutions but for us, this bike reflects the interpretation of the specific demands from our customer. We tried to read each statement or comment from him and convert it directly onto the design of his BMW,” explains Arjan.
The first task was to find a specific donor and it wasn't long before BMWs were popular in the Netherlands. An old motorcycle collector had just the right bike for sale and the cash was handed over to him. At Ironwood, it was torn down and the team was able to work the way forward with non-negotiable customers " spoked wheels, big chunky tires, bulky gas tank, mono shock, and a floating seat. " In order to ensure that the entire team was on the same page, Arjan developed a design and work could begin.
Chassis modifications were initially introduced with the standard subframe thrown aside and the Ironwood signature seat post, which protrudes nicely from the welded backbone. This fits the customer's floating seat style, but he also dreamed of some swingarm changes. “The one-off rear shock design challenged us to execute it properly as envisioned on paper by the customer in advance of the project,” Arjan tells Pipeburn. While the stock bike uses a mono- shock, the client wanted it to move further in the right frame rail.
Arjan was clear that he didn't want to make the swingarm a bulky metal mess to fit the design, so instead of guessing something so vital for the performance of the bike, he reached the HyperPro suspension wizards. Together, they developed a nice solution, perfectly welded new mounting points and custom-made for the HyperPro shock fitted for good measurement. With everything glued and excess tabs removed, the frame, swingarm and a bunch of different pieces were sandblasted and sent out for black powder coat dusting.
“the welded headers are to die for and merge under the motor in a hand-built twin exit muffler.”
With the bulk of the motorcycle out of the shop, the engine was opened and treated to a complete rebuild to make sure for trouble-free riding. The Bosch ignition was replaced by the entire electronic and adjustable system of Silent Hektik. While the fuel side is still fed by Bing carbs, they have been revised and re-jetted to the K&N pod filters. But here the amazing exhaust system is stealing the show and that is Marcel's work from The Custom Factory. The welded headers of full stainless construction are to die for and merge under the motor in a hand- built twin exit muffler.
The assembly started with the new rear suspension bolted up and the hubs hung up front and rear. They are tied to new black rims and wrapped in the Heidenau K60 dual sports tyres, the choice Arjan 's. The front suspension keeps the standard externals lowered by the powder - coated triple trees, the internals being changed to match the new rear end setup. Plenty of weight removed the factory Brembo twin disc brakes are more than capable of hauling up the blacked-out beauty.
The previous model tank gets the look spot on and has a Monza filler for good measurement. The deep gloss black paint contrasts perfectly with the matte graphics, the company motto of the customer, painted by Jacco from Royal Kustom Works. The floating seat request is completed by a solo and stitched by Miller Kustom Upholstery. The front headlight has a modern interpretation of the classic style with an LED set- up and the rear indicators feature clever taillights installed into the outer rings.
All the factory wiring was removed and replaced by only the best from Motogadget with an m-unit as the operating brain. A set of Motogadget m.blaze turn signals works with bar end mirrors on the braced bars. While things are kept minimal with an offset motoscope mini that serves as the instrument cluster to recreate a killer build beemer. BMW R builds have become a staple of the custom scene, for good reason, and as long as workshops like Ironwood Customs can translate the dreams their customers into rolling masterpieces they will continue to be the moto du jour par excellence!
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A post shared by Arjan Van Den Boom (@arjanvandenboom) on Dec 6, 2018 at 5:34am PST
[ Ironwood Customs – Facebook – Instagram | Photos by Paul van ML ]
