Source: Bike Bound
“STR10” by VTR Customs…
Back in 2009, BMW shocked the motorcycling world with the introduction of the S1000RR, their first venture into modern superbike territory. The DOHC 16-valve inline-cylinder literbike was a winner from the get-go, and the company soon transplanted the potent engine into other machines.
Someone in Munich must have asked the fateful question: What if we mashed together our RR superbike and GS adventure bike into a single “sport adventurer”? The result would be the S1000XR.
“An enviable mix of feisty S1000RR and classy R1200GS/R1250GS, it’s no wonder the end result is brilliant.” –Motor Cycle News
The 999cc RR powerplant was retuned for stronger midrange, packing 160 horsepower in XR trim, and the twin-beam aluminum perimeter frame was given better geometry for backroad bombing on bumpy surfaces.
Enter former pro supermoto racer Dani Weidmann and the team at Switzerland’s VTR Customs, one of the world’s best-known customizers of BMW machines. When the Schmerikon-based team realized they’d only built one four-cylinder BMW over the years — their “Silver Bullet” S1000R — they decided it was time to build not one but two high-powered four-cylinder BMW customs.
This 2017 S1000XR would be first on the chopping block, and they give us the full beat-by-beat build process below. Highlights include a modified pre-production RR tail with custom seat, 17-inch Kineo spoke wheels, SC Project exhaust, tons of carbon parts, Nardo Grey paint, and a one-off front number plate with hidden lighting…and much more!
Nicknamed the “STR10” for Supermoto Tracker 1000cc, this beast came out looking like a naked racebike ready to attack the nearest racing circuit…but it’s actually street-legal, and keeps the same suspension and geometry that makes the XR such a beast on real roads. VTR Customs is well-known for fun and irreverent little details to their builds, and so it’s only fitting that the pilot’s name is “FOO KIN FAST” — a reference to a local “Subaru freak” — and you’ll find a few other “easter eggs” if you look closely at the photos below.
Today the bike is happily in the stable of one of the workshop’s top clients, and there will never be another one like it.
“None of the parts are available to buy or as a kit. They are all handmade to measure. One of our client promises is we are building single and unique bikes and no copies will ever be reproduced by us.”
Below, the VTR Customs team gives us the full blow-by-blow breakdown of the STR10. And stay tuned for the bike’s sibling — the SSR10 — coming soon!
BMW “STR10” Supermoto Tracker: In the Builder’s Words…
Concept and Name
After building so many NineT’s, R1200 R, and 2-valve Boxers, we realized we’ve built only one 4-cylinder BMW so far, the S1000R “Silver Bullet”. Maybe that’s because Silver Bullet was the bike that broke Dani’s collarbone (the titanium plate acts as a talisman on Dani’s POLIZIA 1.9). So it was time for some 4-cylinder customizing in Schmerikon…
Looking to the 4-cylinder shelf, after S1000R there’s the XR1000 and RR1000 left. The decision was made to build two “sister” bikes, and the S1000 XR was the first on the table. Dani had seen a super cool XR racer on a track in the US and remembered thinking: “Wow! That’s a very cool looking XR.”
The next idea was a racy Supermoto style, and Dani has at least a thousand pictures in his head from his Supermoto career in the Swiss Championship. If you know Dani, none of his race bikes was stock — all were customized and had special designs and looks beside modified engines, forks, shocks, etc.
Hmmmm… the idea was to build a street tracker/fighter but not with the BMW bike one would think of (S1000 R) but with the XR for the Supermoto twist. Naming? STR for Supermoto Tracker, 10 because 1000ccm, but 1000 is too long for a race number. So let’s go with 10: “STR10” was born.
Design
As usual, we started stripping everything down in order to start up our brains to find the right lines. The first idea was to keep the key part of the XR front fairing, but cut it very small and “race style,” giving it a more aggressive front view with different headlights.
The next decision was to build a super racy tail section, solo seated, short, and high, but matching the modern shapes of an XR. Around that time, the brand new S1000 RR 2019 was shown for the first time in Milan. Yessss — these headlights — and double-yessssssss, that short tail from the RR is super sexy. Hmmmmmmm…
Build
As a well-known BMW customizer (Spitfire, etc.), we know quite a few people in Munich. So let’s call the Munich guys to ask if they somewhere, somehow, maybeee, with a little goodwill, would find a prototype tail section of the new RR, and maybeeeeeeeeeeeee those headlights too???
Some calls and emails later, and with the promise to share a good whisky and a cigar at the next custom event, we got the solution 😉 The tail is going to look very RR 2019 like, but of course custom-fitted with add-ons from VTR. New seat, handmade alloy covers, the smallest 3-in-1 taillights, etc.
Also the Kineo spoke wheels were clear right from the beginning, but this time alloy-polished instead of black, and with a special nipple setup (all black, just left and right from tire valve blue and red) — we are Swiss and we like things complicated… 😉 Exhaust is an ultra short SC project. Then tons of HP carbon parts and HP foot pegs, etc.
On the front end, things started to be a bit more tricky. We cut and cut… The fairing became smaller and smaller, the windshield cut down almost to nothing. The RR 2019 headlight just did not want to fit in the fairing, even if we’d built an alloy cover by hand.
Dani still wanted the XR to be visible and RRracy-looking… But it just didn’t look good or VTR style. After the 7th or 8th attempt, Stefano had THE idea: Let’s build it Supermoto, Superbike style and take all the fairings away and build a big number plate at the front instead!
Yep that was it — but we did not want the same as on the Shitane and ST33 NineT’s (headlights integrated into the number plate). So we decided to “hide” them underneath the number plate. Combined with the tail light solution, you see almost no lights, meaning this is racing only… Nevertheless, Swiss street legal!
Color scheme? Easy! Dani had just got his new BMW Series 5 touring with special order paint in “Nardo Grey” — a stunner and perfect match to the carbon parts. So the sibling bikes both got the same Nardo grey.
Some jokes on the bike? Welcome to VTR… Inspired by rally cars and a Subaru freak in the Schmerikon area, the pilot’s name became a FOO KIN FAST sticker.
And there’s the usual VTR sh*t like “Turtle-Rabbit” signs on the throttle, etc.
The bike was sold the second day of the Swiss Moto Show in February. STR10 has a new home alongside some other VTR Customs at a well-known client’s garage. So she and we feel happy 😉
And…just to be clear and to avoid several e-mail requests…none of the parts are available to buy or as a kit. They are all handmade to measure. One of our client promises is we are building single and unique bikes and no copies will ever be reproduced by us.
Build Specs
Basis: BMW R S1000 XR 2017, 4800Km (Ex-demo bike)
Tail S1000 RR 2019 — customized
Front No. plate: VTR Customs, handmade alloy
Wheels : Kineo spoke wheels 6×17 / 3.5 x 17
Tyres: Race Slicks (Delivered to customer with supersport street-legal tyres)
Tail light and indicators: Kellermann Atto 3-in-1
Front Light: HIGHSIDER
Exhaust: SC Project (Racing only, delivered with street-legal version)
Handlebar: Magura SX Black Line
Brake & Clutch levers: Pro Brake
Carbon Parts: BMW HP & Illennerger
Gas tank cap: Rizoma
Engine, Drive, Frame: Standard BMW S1000 XR
Rear Shock and Fork: BMW standard
Seat: Custom made by VTR Customs and Yves Knobel upholstery, Kaltbrunn
Paint job: Nardo grey by Paint Shop Freuler, Benken
Extended Gallery
Follow the Builder
Daniel Weidmann, Owner and General Manager of VTR Motorrad & VTR Customs
Web: www.vtr-customs.com / www.vtr-motorrad.ch
Instagram: @vtrcustoms
Facebook: VTR Motorrad
Photographer: Patrick Usseglio (@patrick.usseglio_photography)”}]]
