Chris Hodgson, owner of San Jose BMW (SJBMW) has been building and racing BMW's for over 35 years. This stunning R75/5 Cafe Racer was built a couple of years ago when Chris discovered he "had enough spare parts to build a new airhead"- we wish we had enough spare parts lying around to build a bike of this calibre. That's not to say that this bike was built overnight. It was a year in the making with Chris ensuring the bike was built to be period correct, either using vintage parts or having them custom made. The beautiful tank was pounded by Evan Wilcox to Chris's pattern which was styled on the early British cafe racer tanks. Some other specs included Mikuni round slide carbs, Akront high shoulder wheels, drum brakes, old Ducati seat and exhaust pipe made by Swarbuck Racing. After the project was completed Chris said "we just had to race it - so off to Bonneville we went". Not only did they race it, they got a new 750cc record - hitting a top speed of over 130 mph. Pretty impressive for a 750cc at 4600ft of elevation on a 100 degree day. For more shots of this awesome airhead now known as the 'Bonneville Speeder' check out SJBMW Racing or this link to see Chris with his pride and joy on the salt flats.

The BMW R65 is personally one of my favourite BMW motorcycles. It was BMW's answer to the new generation of Japanese bikes hitting the market in the late 70's. Built shorter and smaller to compete with these Japanese light and middleweight street bikes flooding the markets. Now 30 years later it's great to see the Wrench Monkees (WM) work their magic on this German icon. Firstly by placing a R80 engine in the R65 frame, adding Gazi Gas rear shocks and many custom WM features like their megatron muffler, and a no-nonsense monkee seat. The old-school Firestone Deluxe Champion tires are the final icing on the cake. Not sure whether the debadging of the BMW logo is an anti-establishment statement or just WM claiming complete ownership of their creation. Whatever the case, it just works. For more pics of this uber cool bike visit the Monkee #09 gallery.

These pics were taken at the Audi Museum in Munich. It's a stunning 1939 US 250 DKW. The German company DKW where once the largest manufacturers of motorcycles in the world. By 1928 they were building some 65,000 engine units annually, and DKW engines could be found powering some 60 German marques of the interwar period. They soon joined Audi, Wanderer and Horch to form Auto Union in the 1930s, merging again in the 1950s with Victoria and Express to form Zweirad-Union, which in turn was absorbed by Sachs in 1965. DKW motorcycles usually used two-stroke engines and were technically ahead of their time (like most German motoring companies). To view more amazing bikes from the BMW museum check out Stefan's flickr page.

We have seen this beautiful BMW concept brought back to life on lots of sites recently. It's the 1934 BMW R7 prototype designed by engineer Alfred Böning. After living in a box all these years it has recently been restored to its former glory by a team of BMW restorers. Unfortunately they never went into production of this bike. God only knows why? (even he may be confused). The story goes that this art deco masterpiece would have been too heavy and too expensive to manufacture. To say this bike would have been a classic is an understatement. We still can't believe it was created over 70 years ago... that's timeless design. For more pics visit Retro Things.

Last September Gateway BMW bought a sorry looking 1988 R100RT and Ryan Manley (pictured) was given the job to transform the R100 into a beautiful cafe racer. The silver tank and seat with black frame, wheels and final drive is a great look. We also dig the new exhaust pipes on it. They are EMGO universal Shorty pipes, which apparently can be heard over a Harley. The seat is not finished in this pic but you can see it on the Gateway BMW site, plus all the details on the build. The bike has been sold to some lucky bastard and I'm sure he hasn't stopped grinning.

Japanese Ritmo-sereno are famous for their BMW cafe racers. However their website is full of other european bikes like this beautiful Moto Guzzi Le Mans. The Le Mans was Moto Guzzi's top sports bike in the 80's. The big bore lOOOcc version was a welcome addition in 1985 but is essentially similar to the 850 Le Mans they had been producing. We wanted to give you the before and after shots of this bike to show the work thats gone into the build. Ritmo have taken this dated Guzzi and turned it into a cafe masterpiece. With its beautiful cafe race seat, purple racer fairing and 2-in-1 stainless steel exhaust. We simply love it.

Richard from Sweden's Richard Garage is an amazing BMW motorcycle restorer. We all love before and after shots, and this is one of the best I've seen. The 1952 BMW R25/2 motorcycle, was found in a garden where it had stood for 42 years, only covered with a oil cloth. That's Richard standing with the bike when he found it. The stunning white BMW motorcycle is what he turned it into after lots of hard work. Respect.

BMW has unveiled a really nice new concept bike called the Lo Rider. One of the goals of this concept is to custom fit man and machine. Going well beyond accessories, the Lo Rider will offer a huge choice of components other than engine and chassis. Each bike can be customed straight from the factory. Great concept, hope they actually make it! Click here if you want to see the vid.