BMW R80 - The Story Behind The Bike

BMW R80 cafe racer bought 

It all started once I bought an old BMW R80 RT ’84 from an old man who didn’t use it for many years. Then, the pandemia arrived and so did the lockdowns also. How to convert this bad period into something useful? My answer was to surf the internet and search for ideas, parts, and projects and to go to the garage and work hard on them. Thanks to a couple of friends, Samuele and Tazio who help me out in this project in the end I transformed the original bike into this my first unique model! What do you think?

The name of the BMW R80 cafe racer

His name is “Blackdown” due to the predominant color black and because it was created during the lockdown.  Of course, it’s not only a coat of paint! The original bike has been completely disassembled. The frame has been black painted and the original electrical system removed and substituted with a brand new: new cables, new central unit keyless, new functions and wires from Motogadget Mo.Unit Blue.

Painting and wrapping 

Then the engine has been cleaned and coated with 3 coats of primer and painted with embossed black paint. As paint needs heat to react correctly and I don’t have an oven like a professional painter, I created an artisanal oven. Not very nice but efficient! The original tank was sold because I wanted a tank with the toolbox, very rare but useful also. So I found an old tank from, maybe, an R80 G/S or R45 that I completely revisited in and out, wrapping the lid with carbon and creating a methacrylate window on the lid, slightly “fume”, so I can keep a smartphone into and follow the navigator. There is a USB socket underneath and the cable comes through the original hole already present. All the engine has been revisited.

Further conversion of the BMW R80 cafe racer

Also, the original BMW logo has been changed with a new design and a couple of lateral pads has added. I worked a lot on the rear frame: I cut it and now it is shorter and bi-level with a led tail light into it and an old-style saddle. In the meantime, a lot of spare parts and aftermarket parts were arriving from all over the world following my internet research: special sparkplugs with booster kits from the UK, vintage wire from the USA, switch buttons from a Denmark factory, and so on… I think to have visited at least one hundred websites and more than one thousands picture of different BMWs before making my selection. In the end, as you can see, my bike has many small and big “goodies”: red micro-led under the rear foot peg, front white LEDs under the crash bar, handmade air intakes, rocker covers, starter motor cover, a clutch friction plate oil-resistant, carburetor transparent float bowls, bigger sump for a better oil cooling down, rear-wheel covered, bar-end turn lights...

Finish BMW R80 cafe racer

One of the most difficult parts was the forks to assemble. I choose one upside-down fork from a Kawasaki z1000 with Nissin double pistons twin calipers and new 300mm brake discs for a better stopping power than the original one. In the end, this kind of pairing is wonderful in my opinion. For me this bike it’s a never-ending job as I’ve already had other changes in mind! But for now, I’m enjoying it!