Putting an old school custom cafe racer in the ultra-modern city of Abu Dhabi might sound unusual (it is), but it could well be the coolest combination.
Mohammed, or ¨Moe¨ is a successful entrepreneur based in Abu Dhabi who’s hobbies include bikes, bikes and….well, bikes. He owns scramblers, bobbers, a cafe racer, and now, a Cafe Racer Dreams.
Moe gave us a call with a simple request ¨CRD102 with slight modern touches¨. He’d heard about the new Motogadget M-unit Blue, which enables you to start your motorbike with a Bluetooth system from your own cellphone and wanted to include this on his built. Moe put full trust in our judgement and we got hands on. We believe ourselves to be curators of art in a sense, so this feeling of freedom to create is home to us.
That same week our team travelled to a small town in the north of Spain called Castro Urdiales, around 5 hours away from Madrid. We had an eye on a BMW R-100 RS in Navy blue for a while. We knew this was the perfect fit for our newest built, CRD111. After a long ride in our white Mercedes truck, we made it to our destination.
The owner, Diego, was into custom cafe racers himself. He had built two one-offs and was thinking of transforming this next one soon, but explained he didn’t have any spare time, so had decided it was time to let it go. Diego was impressed to hear we were going to take over his original plan of customizing his donor bike. ¨Make sure to send me photos of how it ends up looking!¨, he repeated. The donor bike looked perfect, to say the least. Aesthetically, it seemed completely new. No scratches to the paint job or cables hanging on the sides. We tested the engine, gave it a few rides around the town, and looked into the mechanics before we sealed the deal. 5 hours and a half back to the capital, and time to begin works.
Our mechanics followed instructions to turn this old custom cafe racer into CRD magic.
It took us 7 weeks to have the bike reach its full potential and perform full throttle. Although unnoticeable by the crowd, the metallic tank is darker than usual. The seat is 3 cms wider, making it more comfortable to ride. For the same purpose, the suspension is 3 cm higher, as Moe requested we fit the bike to his height. The leather used in the seat is dark brown, making the bike look ¨meaner¨. The indicator lights are egg-shaped and modern, placed just under the seat. As always, we paid incredible attention to aesthetics, function, and of course safety.
This is the third CRD off to the UAE, an amazing accomplishment for the team. We understand that their love for bigger, greater and more state-of-the-art, makes the UAE a place where ¨anything is possible¨ in terms of building. Submerging ourselves into this location and environment will enable us to create differently, and with no limits or restrictions.
Back to work!
