As an established Motorcycle manufacturer Vido Veldkamp's business involves more than just custom motorcycles. His workshop, WiMotoreceives just as many orders for individual parts such as frames, subframes, swingarms and exhaust systems, and even offers a range of bolt-on subframes for classic BMW boxer engines. But sometimes the Dutch master can bring all his design and engineering skills to bear on a single project, with neither a client nor a brief to rein him in.
When this happens, the results are usually on par with this outrageous BMW boxer. Nicknamed “Alfonso” after his father, Alfonso, who recently passed away, he displays some of Vido's best tricks and puts his unhinged imagination on display.
“I noticed that a lot of the BMW Boxer custom builds looked very similar and people were copying each other,” Vido says. “So I decided to take a completely different approach. Some people will find it beautiful and others might find it ugly, but I hope people will appreciate the amount of work and craftsmanship that went into this project.”
“Terrible” is the best way to describe the state of 1981. BMW R100 was there before Vido picked up an angle grinder. The unrunning bike, with its rusty engine block and a bunch of worn parts, served as Vido's platform for developing various bolt-on subframe designs. After it served its purpose, he decided it would be a shame not to do something crazy with it.
“In previous projects such as Honda CBX1000 And Suzuki GS550“I was working with a beam front suspension,” Vido says. “I decided to use that technique here too. I also wanted to fit a wider rear tire, as the original narrow tires weren't working for me.”
Sticking to his usual process, Vido began the project by firing up SolidWorks and sketching out the entire design digitally. The first hurdle was defining the bike’s geometry around the OEM engine and main frame. After that, Vido designed the front suspension and rear swingarm.
A beam-style front end was always in the cards, so Vido started with that. The entire setup was built from scratch, including the clamps and all the linkages. An adjustable Wilbers shock is mounted front and center.
Vido then plucked the wheels, brakes, and swingarm from a BMW R1150RT to complete the chassis. Plan A was to bolt the 1150 swingarm and final drive to the classic BMW R-series as-is, but he quickly moved to Plan B.
“Although the swingarm from the R1150RT fits the old R100 frame,” explains Vido, “you can only use a narrow tire and the shock is not centered, which I didn’t find aesthetically pleasing. So the only option was to design a new swingarm with the right specs.”
We're glad he changed tack, because the trellis forks and swingarm complement each other beautifully. The rest of the frame is mostly stock, except that Vido removed a bunch of tabs, added new ones, and tweaked a few other things into place. The subframe is new, too, with a neat connection under the tail that also serves as the top mounting point for the Wilbers rear shock.
A handcrafted, one-piece body is slathered on top of the chassis. “I started with sheets of XPS foam, glued them together, sanded them, and shaped them until I was happy,” says Vido. “It really was like sculpting. Once the shape was done, I lined it with epoxy and filler and used it as a plug to make the mold.”
The organic feel is echoed in the bike’s dual headlights. Wedged into the front of the beam, they take inspiration from the headlights on the latest BMW S1000RR. “I hand-cut the cover for one side,” adds Vido, “then 3D scanned it, mirrored it on the computer, and used my CNC machine to create the other side.”
A similar strategy was used to create the ducts that frame the fuel tank. After Vido built the body, he 3D scanned it, designed the louvered inserts digitally, and 3D printed them. The dual exhaust manifolds and cone mufflers, on the other hand, were done the old-fashioned way: hand-welded from sections of stainless steel.
The rest of the bike is littered with carefully designed one-offs. Custom bars meet at the integrated speedo housing and indicator light array, while custom foot controls do their job below. The cockpit sports a scattering of Motogadget parts, and a swingarm-mounted license plate bracket houses a pair of combination taillights and LED turn signal indicators.
With so many wild fabrications on display, Vido opted for simple but unusual finishes that would highlight his handiwork rather than distract from it. The only graphics are the “Alfonso” motifs on the fuel tank, which pay homage to his father.
“Something tragic happened during the building of this bike that gave this project a much deeper meaning,” says Vido. “My father, who helped me in the workshop one day a week for many years, was sadly diagnosed with Alzheimer’s disease, and his deterioration was rapid and inexorable.”
“My father did not want to wither away in a nursing home, becoming an empty shell, and he bravely chose euthanasia. I have never seen anyone show such courage.”
“He was my biggest fan, always looking forward to that BMW and thought it turned out fantastic. He was there to see me work on the body and before he died I promised him I would finish the bike. I hope he's proud of me there.”
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