Wandering among a custom motorcycle license plate at Manual display in Austin, Texas last month, our Stateside team had the difficult task of selecting the best bikes in three categories. When it’s time to award the best paint job, this illusion BMW R80 is an easy choice. The story only gets better when we discover that the person who built it, Eli Carver, is colorblind.
Based in Wimberley, Texas – a village about an hour southeast of Austin – Eli became passionate about BMW cars after building his first and only custom Honda CB550. “I have built a number of custom locomotives over the years,” he tells us, “and had the honor to display three of them in the Handmade Show. I have also bought, refurbished and sold a number of aircraft locomotives and really enjoyed learning how to assemble them.”
Eli bought this special project sponsor’s bike, a 1987 BMW R80RT, for a whopping $50. It was neglected for years, but he managed to get it back on the street with just some new parts. Then he built some brackets to fit a Dnieper sidecar, and ran it like that for about a year, before stumbling across a 1977 Ural sidecar with an explosive engine.
“I sold the original sidecar and used the R80RT engine to get the Ural back on the road,” he said. “Then I found myself getting divorced and really wanted a project to get me out of my family problems.”
As if in need of extra motivation, Eli also won forks and brakes from a Kawasaki Ninja ZX-6R in an Instagram giveaway. They come with a pre-assembled BMW boxer-style handlebar for the bottom trio and are just begging for a bike to call home. Eli has ordered a fairing he has loved for years from Flat Racer in the UK and has been very busy.
“I decided to build a truth cafe racer he say. “I pulled the R80R chassis out and started fiddling with it to see what happened.”
Eli’s BMW really isn’t going anywhere without a new engine. So he traded in a bunch of accumulated airfoil parts for a 1990 BMW R100GS engine. It needed a few major repairs, but he tweaked it to shape, and put it together. with the R80 gearbox and the final actuator.
The original carburetor and airbox were refurbished, because, as Eli puts it, “the BMW engineers knew what they were doing when they designed the intake manifold for that engine.” The exhaust system has two-in-one pipe tips painted black, with a Scorpion muffler.
Moving on to the chassis, Eli installed the Kawasaki front end, then mounted a new set of Excel rims using parts from Cognito Moto. Like the engine, the rear wheel comes from a BMW R100GS; Eli modified it to fit the R80’s side swingarm and fitted it with an offset to ensure the tire had enough ground clearance. A Hyperpro shock absorber supports the rear.
The cafe racer-style rear end sits further, perched on a custom subframe. Frankie Ynclan at Ballin’ Customz in San Antonio is responsible for the saddle with charming contrast stitching.
Eli installed a Flat Racer crank up front, but had to modify it to accommodate heavier shocks. Right behind it is the BMW OEM fuel tank. Aside from the final frame, transmission, and drive, this is the only original R80 part left on the build.
The R80’s original front fender is still technically used, but Eli has split it up to form separate front and rear fenders. Each is mounted on its own bespoke stand. The battery box, exhaust mount, and license plate mount are all disposable.
Complementing Eli’s handcrafted work is a luxurious mix of pre-made parts. The headlights, turn signals and taillights are all LED, and the bike has been hooked up with an Antigravity battery and a full Motogadget kit. The cockpit features a new clip-on, equipped with a Domino throttle and controls.
A single Koso gauge does duty behind the windshield, with a custom kill switch located just below it. It was labeled ‘Flight’ and ‘Ground’, because it was borrowed from a 1940 French aircraft.
And then there’s the award-winning paint job. Eli told us: “I saw a photo of an old Land Rover online that had a color scheme that I liked. “I have always built bikes with black frames and wanted to make colored frames on this bike. I also wanted the car to have a ‘beach’ feel, just to force me out of my comfort zone a bit.
“I decided to change up the Land Rover color scheme a bit and use a palette of teal, orange, yellow and jade green. Being colorblind, I had to find colors that I liked, but also had to look good to others.”
Eli talked back and forth with Jerry Leach at Leach Custom Cycles about the final paint scheme, before Jerry expertly put it down. Eli said: “He suggested a spooky pearl motif in the middle of the dashboard, fuel tank and seat cover. “I’m a bit annoyed with that, because I don’t know what he really wants to do.”
“But because I knew I was also out of my comfort zone in terms of color, I allowed him to continue, because I believed we had the same vision for the bike. When the paint was done and I went to pick up the pieces, I really loved what he did.”
If you had told us a month ago that we were going to award a bike with an orange frame for its paint job, we wouldn’t have believed you. But there’s no denying that Eli’s BMW is an incredible car, in the best sense.
And if you agree, we have good news: he’s selling it. Anyone have a riding suit to go with it?
Eli Carver’s Instagram | Image of Ana Valdez Carver
