Adam drops a brick
Builder Adam Kostka decided the best way to make a ripple in the custom pond was to base his build on BMW’S ‘flying brick’…
The K100’s engine layout is one of the most peculiar, looking, as it does, like the motor fell on its side during production and BMW built a bike round it anyway. But in Adam Kostka’s build, it looks intriguing and stylish, with a dash of brutalist elegance.
The bike is based on a 1990 K100RS – the faired version of BM’S ‘flying brick’ – and aside from the engine, tank and shaft drive, is all new. ‘Looking at the original bike, I saw
the lines I wanted,’ Adam tells Bike. ‘I really like symmetry and parallelism so I decided to make a frame that matches the fuel tank and the rear swingarm. I also wanted to hide all the cables, which was a challenge.
‘I chose the K100RS for two reasons. I really like the appearance of the engine – which is very reliable, incidentally – and I make motorcycle parts for a living, so I wanted to show what they look like when mounted on a motorcycle.’
Consequently the rear sets, fuel cap, clip-ons, top and bottom yokes and the tail fairing are all from Adam’s company Dixer Parts, in Poland. ‘I haven’t tuned the engine,’ he says. ‘I just gave it a very thorough service, replacing all the seals. The engine works great and the gearbox works very precisely too.
‘For the front suspension I took parts from several different motorcycles. The forks are from a Suzuki GSX-R1000K8, the wheels from a BMW R850RT and the brake discs from a BMW K1200. I got the calipers from a Kawasaki ZX-6R. Everything else I made myself. The yokes are inverted so I could get a smooth top yoke without a nut.’ Because Adam chucked away so much of the donor bike, he says it now feels a lot lighter (though he hasn’t weighed it yet). ‘To ride it feels more rigid and the brakes are much better. And the sound of the exhaust lets you forget about everything.’