Most people tend to believe that special bikes have a pretty ‘quiet life’: rarely out for a spin in the weekend, they just show up at some motorcycle event every now and then and spend most of the time collecting dust while on display in some fancy garage somewhere.
Well, that’s surely not the case of the one we are going to talk about today: the Wrenchmonkees have designed and created this awesome machine to take on the not-so-comfy roads of the Maghreb region, in Morocco, and we are told it is totally up for the task.
Apparently it all got started when one Mr.
Thierry, from Mauritania, wrote a letter asking for a simple and yet reliable bike, that would be easy to maintain too (since they haven’t got that many workshops over there.
.
).
It didn’t take long to the WM guys to figure out what to do, they went for the most obvious solution: an old two-valves BMW twin.
Why? Because it is sturdy, reliable and suitable for the occasional off road trip.
Hence they got themselves a R100RT and turned it into the awesome machine you can see in these pictures.
They shortened the rear part of the frame and replaced the original rims with old-fashioned 18″ spoked wheels.
Then, in order to make the bike capable of making it through the sandy hills of the desert, they added a new special fork and rear shocks courtesy of Bitubo.
Engine and carburettors got completely revised and served with K&N air filters and a bigger oil cooler.
This revamped R100RT also received brand new wiring, a heavy duty Odyssey battery as well as new head- and tail-light, while the tank has been replaced with an old BMW6 one, that gives the bike a sleeker and more ‘old-school’ figure.
Gaskets and bearings got replaced too, while the footpegs are from Tarozzi.
What was once an heavy and majestic colossus has turned into an light, agile and functional motorcycle that is not scared of climbing the dunes of the Sahara desert.
Surely this special babe ain’t your typical show-bike.