Source: Bike Bound
[[{“value”:”Photo: Handbuilt Show / Revival Cycles
Tyson Carver’s R100GS Restomod…
The BMW R80GS, introduced in 1980, is known as the bike that spawned a whole new breed of motorcycle, the adventure bike. Here were big multi-cylinder, multi-sport bikes that could cross whole continents, tackling both the open country (Gelände) and the street (Straße) — hence the BMW “G/S” moniker. The GS quickly proved its worth in the world’s most grueling race, the Paris Dakar Rally, delivering legendary riders like Hubert Auriol and Gaston Rahier to victory.
Photo: Kody Melton
But motorcycles aren’t too different from beasts of the field — they must evolve or die out. And so BMW unleashed the next-gen R100GS in 1987, offering several improvements: a larger 980cc engine, Paralever rear suspension, beefier 40mm Marzocchi forks, 17-inch rear wheel, rim-edged spokes that allowed the use of tubeless tires, and other upgrades.
Photo: Kody Melton
This was a bike that could take you about as far as your butt and gas money would allow, and more than one rider took their GS all the way around the world.
“There remains a barrelling thunder about a Boxer BM when you really roll it on. So, roll that throttle; roll around those bends; roll a little Beethoven or Strauss around in your helmet and…it’s ‘Next stop: Somewhere Very Far Away’, cos that’s the sort of fun it brings.” -Bike Magazine, 1993
Photo: Kody Melton
One such adventurer is our friend Tyson Oak Carver, who signed up his twin brother, Eli, for a motorcycle class nearly 15 years ago, and the rest would be history. Between them, these Texas twins have had many a motorcycling adventure and built many a bike. However, while we’ve featured several of Eli’s custom builds in recent years, it’s been seven years since we featured Tyson’s XS650 street tracker.
Yamaha XS650 Tracker by Tyson Carver
Tyson has certainly stayed busy since then, learning to fly powered paragliders, building up a real estate business, and going on two-wheeled adventures with his wife and brother — many of them on a vintage GS. But when he got hold of a “clapped-out” ’89 R100GS that had been raced in the California desert, it was time for another custom to call his own:
“It had been about eight years since I had built a motorcycle for myself, so this was quite an opportunity for the dream R100GS build I had banging around in my head for a while.”
Indeed! Tyson gives us the full rundown of the build below. Modern suspension and brakes, upgraded lighting and instrumentation, rebuilt engine with Siebenrock goodies, more robust charging system, custom bodywork, a livery that recalls the glory days of the Paris Dakar Rally, and much more.
Suffice to say he’s built an airhead GS restomod fit to tackle just about anything he can dream up, from more adventures south of the border to the bright lights of the Handbuilt Show to the mountains of American West. We can’t wait to see where this “dream GS” takes him.
BMW R100GS Restomod: In the Builder’s Words…
Photo: Kody Melton
A friend of mine had purchased a clapped-out 1989 R100GS some years back for $2500. It had the big Acerbis tank on it, a rudimentary aluminum dash, and had been ridden hard racing in the California desert by an Iranian man. At least that’s the story I got…
My friend had decided to have it rebuilt from the ground up, so he had two different shops over the course of five years rebuild the engine, transmission, and final drive, as well as powder coat the frame in Alpine White with the plan of a mostly stock looking but upgraded motorcycle.
Forward progress had petered out and I was asked to complete the build, but after a few days thought, it was offered that I could buy the project instead. It had been about eight years since I had built a motorcycle for myself, so this was quite an opportunity for the dream R100GS build I had banging around in my head for a while.
The bike now sits on fully custom suspension with an Öhlins shock in the rear and WP4860 forks up front from a KTM 450. The forks have been re-valved and sprung for the weight of the bike and were lowered 1” internally. The front KTM hub was vapor-blasted and Buchanan spokes were linked to the Excel rim and wrapped with a 90/90-r21 Heidenau K60 Ranger tire.
The front rotor is from Galfer and the caliper is a stock KTM unit from Brembo, and a quick pull front axle holds it together. Fork protection is from Acerbis and a Playboy Bunny valve stem cover is the cherry on top. The front fender is NOS Acerbis Baja from 1986.
Holding the front end together is a set of triples and risers from Myth Motors in NYC. The fairing and windshield are from SWT-Sports in Germany. A custom-fabricated mounting for the front end holds a KC Lights 7” Gravity headlight in an Amazon bucket and a custom dash made from carbon fiber.
The dash sports a Siebenrock GS gauge, indicator lights for the turn signals, neutral, oil pressure, and high beam. A Quadlock powered phone mount splits the dash with the charging mount on the front side and the vibration dampener hidden behind. The knob adjusts the low beam brightness on a set of Clearwater Erica lights that are mounted to the crashbars.
The handlebars are Pro-Taper Evo Adventure bars in the standard height, the hand guards are X-Factor from Acerbis but trimmed down, the controls are stock GS bits, and the mirrors are from Doubletake. The spacers on the windshield are from a rubber hand sander from Ace Hardware.
After getting the bike running and putting about 1500 miles on it, I decided the engine needed attention as it was vibrating more than is should and had some strange harmonic whine noises at certain rpms. I bought a short block from a local BMW guy and went to work swapping all the bits over.
The new Siebenrock clutch assembly was balanced at a local machine shop for good measure, the Siebenrock pistons, wrist pins, and connecting rods were all balanced to within less than a gram and installed with the new Siebenrock cylinders as well. The big valve heads were rebuilt previously but the 40mm Bing carbs were vapor-blasted and rebuilt.
A 410 watt charging system from Silent Hektik provides the electrical power and a Silent Hektik crank mount ignition or a Wedgetail cam-mounted system provide the spark. The central “brain” for the wiring is the R21 from NWT. The exhaust system is the SGS 2 from Siebenrock and the rally airbox is from SWT-Sports.
The main frame of the bike was not modified but the factory center stand and Migsel sidestand were both lengthened to accommodate the added height. A factory R100GS subframe was shortened 9.5” with an added tail rack and supports on the sides. Factory luggage mounts were reworked for the custom subframe. The rear fender is the Baja from Acerbis as is the extender to cover the Antigravity battery in the stock location but in a custom box.
The rear wheel was disassembled so the rim could be powder coated black and then re-laced with Buchanan spokes and offset 3.5mm to keep the Heidenau K60 Ranger from rubbing the shock. A stock R80G/S seat pan was modified with quick connect seat latches and wrapped in white vinyl sides and a black Alcantara top by Ballin Customz.
The R80G/S Paris Dakar tank was purchased with poor paint and a loose liner, so the liner got stripped out and the tank (along with the fenders and fairing) got a brand new paint job from Jerry Leach at Leach Custom Cycles.
With travel in mind, I have the option to run factory BMW luggage, a vintage set of aluminum luggage from Touratech, or Enduristan Blizzard soft luggage.
I will also be on the Airhead 247 Podcast soon talking about the bike and my motorcycle journey as well in the near future.
Follow the Builder
Instagram: @tysonoak
Paint: Leach Custom Cycles (@leachcustomcycles)
Upholstery: Ballin Customz
More Builds from the Carver Twins
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