On the occasion of the 2019 Wheels and Waves festival in the south-western French coastal town of Biarritz, France, BMW Motorrad presents the new ‘Type 18’ R nineT scrambler custom bike built by Auto Fabrica.
Less is more: this is the core belief of the brothers Bujar and Gazmend Muharremi, whose custom workshop Auto Fabrica is one of the best in the British scene and is constantly setting trends. With their shapely design and curved lines, they have refined the R nineT and created a new Soulfuel bike – “Type 18” is excitingly different.
The brothers are rarely genuinely enthusiastic about the design of a series bike. The R nineT Scrambler is a clear exception to the brothers. “This bike has definitely sparked the fire in us,” they agree. The initial ideas for “Type 18” originated in geometric architecture and aircraft design. No coincidence, because Bujar and Gazmend are inspired by the BMW Museum in Munich. “We immediately fell in love with the older aircraft with the BMW engines.” The brothers are passionate about cars and motorcycles from the timeframe between 1910 and 1980 – the design of the most beautiful and most expensive bikes of that time is clearly incorporated into their conversions.
From concept to end product: Auto Fabrica designs, prototypes and manufactures the conversions under one roof, covering all disciplines. The harmonious balance of function and form with outstanding and unique products is the focus of the workshop. The customizers work with old production techniques and combine them with modern design language – the metamorphosis from the R nineT Scrambler to the “Type 18” takes over a year to complete. The most challenging part of the construction is the handcrafted aluminum cladding and the seamless integration into the original framework. As simple as “Type 18” may look, the production of the details is very elaborate, the level of construction and design extremely complex.
Auto Fabrica makes its own covers for the cylinder heads. The same goes for the hand-made exhaust pipes with the curved mufflers. Or the mounting for the headlight, which was manufactured by 3D printer. The two customizers set the bar high: “The bike is a retro-modern, conceptual design study that transcends the boundaries of vehicle design.” Typical Auto Fabrica – super-minimalistic, very detailed and extremely high-quality.
