Designed by Ulfert Janssen of Gannet Design, and built by Stefan Fuhrer, a former MotoGP racing mechanic and his crew at Fuhrer Moto, this CB1000R with its unique camouflage livery has won the Honda Switzerland’s custom CB1000R competition, and was presented at the 2019 Swiss Moto Show in Zurich last February. “Our aim was to produce a completely new appearance mainly by changing the proportions and handlebar position while leaving the basic components untouched to show the extensive possibilities for this model’s customization,” explains Ulfert.
The contemporary camouflage graphics on the tank and the paneling was created by precise painting work and was gradually built up in 7 layers. Through the special collaboration with 422 Corse, this bike has been fitted with high-performance carbon fiber rims from Rotobox, as well as a carbon fork from CeraCarbon. The altered proportions, along with the modern graphics and ultra high-tech carbon parts, give this Honda R-adical an incomparably aggressive fast forward attitude.
The project started with initial loose sketches and design studies by Ulfert. The aim was to leave the basic components of the CB1000R as it is and to produce a completely new appearance mainly by changing the proportions and handlebar position. The design of the belly fairing helps to put the bike visually tight on the road. “Many people underestimate the importance of balance and proportion in a custom build,” says Ulfert. “Just by changing the stance, angles and position slightly, you get an entire new perception and attitude of a bike.”
Stefan started the transformation by adapting and custom milling the triple clamp to make it lighter and more racy. Then Stefan adapted the belly fiberglass fairing according to the design, giving the bike a low and sexy stance. “The front is incredibly beautiful and hot. Through CNC milling, we have created a new fixation design for the front light and the mini windshield,” explains Stefan. “With the new three-piece CNC mechanism, we can now change the height of the headlight and adjust the windscreen to any angle. The front headlight has been moved forward by 60mm and slightly lowered . This new special fixation together with the Multiclip, the triple clamp, and the carbon fork give this bike a very technical and cool visual impression like in a Transformer movie.”
Dario Dauru at 422 Corse, is our special partner for carbon lightweight performance parts, such as Ceracarbon forks and Rotobox wheels. The bike is now equipped with the ultralight CeraCarbon-Racing front-fork and custom made sprockets.
The front-fork is designed and constructed in Carbon-fiber with Dyneema and a unique patented Ceramic technology. It has the strength and stiffness of the standard steel fork but the lightness of Carbon and the Ceramics provides the wear-resistance.
As an example: one typical 43mm steel front fork inner tube has a weight of almost one kilo, while a CeraCarbon 43mm front fork tube has a weight of 237gramms. It is 75% lighter than the conventional steel front fork inner tubes, and reduces the unsprung weight by 1.5Kg on a complete front fork. CeraCarbon offered us amazing support and went all the way in, by specially fabricating a new sprocket prototype for our Honda R-adical project. This sprocket is made of aluminum and is ceramic coated. This ensures a long life and the carbon inlets provide additional stability and lightness.
The wheels are high-performance Carbon Fiber Wheels by Rotobox. These wheels are up to 50% lighter than original equipment rims and are the world’s only one-piece carbon monocoque wheels. As this new Honda CB1000R is from 2018, there were no carbon rims yet on the market for this model. With the special help by Dario at 422 Corse, Rotobox went the extra mile and specifically developed these new rims within one month to fit the Honda CB 1000R-adical to premiere at the 2019 Swiss Moto show. The Dimensions of the rims are 17×3.50 front and 17×6.00 rear and got fitted with Dunlop Moto 2 Rain Tires which also enhances the unique appearance of the bike.
For the clip-on’s, the project was sponsored by ABM Fahrzeugtechnik who equipped the team with their Multi Clip and some fine Synto Evo brake/clutch levers in grey/black to fit the color scheme of the bike. In addition, the motorcycle was equipped with K+N air filters for better breathing and an exhaust upgrade with the titanium/carbon fiber muffler by Akrapovic which provides a rich sound.
“The idea of the contemporary graphics was to reinterpret the camouflage design with sharp graphics and certain highlights in yellow to make it modern and sporty,” says Ulfert. “These graphics together with the new tight and sexy proportions transformed the tame CB1000R into a camouflage power rocket.”
The fine paintwork is a masterpiece by Gannet Design’s painter Walter Oberli, who was gradually building up 7 layers of paint to achieve the final camouflage pattern. “By using paint layers, we could control each single element and place it without any deformation you would get by using foil,” explains Ulfert. “Therefore the result is very precise and you can clearly see the impeccable paint job by Walter.”
“I found this work on the CB1000R extremely exciting and inspiring. When I think back it is almost like a poem or a story. I spent evenings and nights screwing together parts to take them apart again because it was somehow not consistent yet. It is a gradual building process to get the right coherence of the bike. At the end, you can clearly identify the original Honda CB1000R donor bike, but yet the impression of our custom build is totally new,” concludes Stefan.