The BMW R18 is just a darn good canvas for customization. Over the years, custom bike builders have gone bananas with BMW’s heritage bike. In fact, there were even a few builds that surfaced a while back that drive that point home even further.
But out of the many custom R18s we’ve seen so far, this might be one of the most unique ones yet: the R18 Iron Annie. This badass-looking bike was inspired by a legendary American aircraft and was built by BMW partner VTR Motorrad AG & VTR Customs in Schmerikon, Switzerland.
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The bike’s body has been completely rebuilt. The fuel tank, rear and side panels, and mudguard are all custom aluminum sheet metal handcrafted by VTR customs. The bike wears a grey and black color scheme with blue and white accents. The custom brown saddle up top serves as the icing on the cake.
This custom R18 also has shortened front forks and height-adjustable suspension struts. It features a Walzwerk exhaust system, a custom speedometer, and 21-inch front and 18-inch rear wheels shod in Avon Cobra tires.
“One of the big challenges with the R18 Iron Annie was the replica cooling fins in the area of the rear silencers,” said VTR Motorrad & VTR Customs owner and managing director Daniel Weidmann. “Shaping these parts into parallel and beautiful radii and at the same time still fastening them harmoniously took a number of attempts.
“What almost pained us a little when we saw all the handmade, bright aluminum sheets shimmering and shining was that they would have to be painted,” added Weidmann. “However, we are extremely satisfied with the result because the R18 Iron Annie differs even more clearly from our well-known SPITFIRE, which is also designed in aviation style.”
This thing’s quite the looker, isn’t it? Would you rebuild your classic BMW R18 like this? Check out more photos of the Iron Annie below.
More photos of the BMW R18 Iron Annie:
