UK winners announced in BMW Custom Championship

The UK winners of this year’s BMW Custom Championships have been revealed with the two radical BMW R18 bikes now heading to the European final for a chance to go to the Berlin grand finals later this year.

Voted first by custom fans is the Night Dragon owned by Dimi Mouras, and built by Pier City Customs in Henfield, just north of Brighton.

While most customs choose chrome and bling as the theme the Night Dragon has copper accents including an exhaust can end, spokes and pushrod guides.

Front to back customisation

The Night Dragon’s rear mudguard and passenger sub frame has been shortened by 70mm, while the front mudguard is also bespoke.

Other custom features include 21″/ 18″ spoked front and rear wheels with vintage valanced rims, headlight with copper accents, rear lights and Gen2 BMW R NineT master cylinders.

The UK runner up is the Cotswold Cruiser, built by Cheltenham’s Cotswold Motorrad, which draws inspiration from the classic California Cruiser with a British twist.

The most notable customised part is the exhaust system which consists of shotgun pipes, heat wraps and a polished end can.

Both mudguards have been replaced with other bespoke additions being the rear lights and indicators, handlebars, customised seat, headlight surround and a new wiring loom for its custom light set.

The Cotswold Cruiser is finished in a custom paint scheme that morphs between deep metallic gloss to satin.

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Custom cruisers: Special BMW R18 build competition kicks off in London

First published on 13 June by Stuart Prestidge

BMW kicked off their International Custom Competition by inviting the six UK finalists to unveil their creations in London at the end of last month.

This year focuses on the R18 cruiser, with the only rules being the bike needs to run, stop and perform a U-turn (easier said than done!). Other than that, the sky is the limit for the custom hopefuls.

The two best bikes from the British contingent will be picked by a public vote on www.bmw-motorrad.co.uk and will then go into the semi-finals against R18s from all over the world.

The grand final will be held in Berlin, September 2023 where the international winners will spend a full day with the BMW Motorrad design team, gaining insight into some of the creative processes implemented by BMW Motorrad’s top designers.

BMW have been celebrating the creativity of custom builders since the R18 was released in September 2020 as Neil Allen, BMW UK Communications Manager, explains: “It was a bike built to be customised; thanks to the way it’s built, it’s easy for people to take bits off and bolt aftermarket bits on.

“So as soon as the R18 came out, each market commissioned their own customs to show people this is a bike to be customised. There’s no better way of showing that than actually doing it.”

Among the UK entrants is a Bauhaus-inspired custom finished in orange, white and blue and the Marshall ApeBob with high swung bars and accessories made from the famous amplifiers.

You can read our review of the latest addition to the range, the BMW R18 Roctane online now.

Watch MCN’s original BMW R18 video review here