A Motorcycle Shop Turned This Modern BMW Into An Art Deco Masterpiece That You Can Own

The arts décoratifs movement of the 1920s and 1930s, better known as Art Deco, extended far beyond the realms of traditional art by celebrating consumer goods, architecture, technology, and a general sense of optimistic modernism. Art Deco’s influence on the cars and motorcycles of the 1930s is inescapable, and if you love the look, I have just the modern motorcycle for you.

Yes, modern. Despite looking as if it has arrived via time machine from the 1930s, the BMW R nineT is a 2019 model modified by a custom shop into an Art Deco masterpiece. It’s a real motorcycle that you can ride anywhere, and look like a million bucks doing it.

Our resident designer, Adrian Clarke, likes to say that cars are not art. I am not going to question a professional car designer in his craft, but I will say that I violate his rules and see and use vehicles as art. I have a 1986 Honda Spree in my living room and various car parts hanging on my walls. I often visit my secret storage unit and do not actually drive every car and motorcycle in it, but admire how they look. I love to appreciate the work designers for decades ago had put into vehicles that, in most cases, drove a bunch of miles for a decade or two and then just got thrown away when they’re used up. History is full of vehicles that were beautiful in their functions, like the Boeing 747, GMC New Look buses, Zephyr trains, or the Douglas DC-3.

Perhaps my love for staring at the beauty of the past is why I’m a sucker for boutique vintage-style motorcycles like the one on your screen today. These motorcycles ride on modern platforms, but look like they’re nearly a century old. Is this kind of style sort of inauthentic and overdone? Maybe, but my heart doesn’t seem to care. This 2019 BMW R nineT was crafted by NMoto Studio of Miami, Florida, to look like it came from the 1930s. It’s been a while since I last wanted a new-ish BMW as much as I’m attracted to this thing.

Looking To The Past

Retro-style motorcycles are all the rage right now, and BMW is right there with everyone else in making new motorcycles that look like they came from several decades ago. The R nineT is an interesting motorcycle because it began riding the vintage-style wave before it hit its fever pitch in recent years. From BMW:

The BMW R nineT, which has been created to mark “90 years of BMW Motorrad”, radiates purism and power in undisguised form. It skilfully blends the boxer engine’s rugged character and the design traits of various motorcycle eras with cutting-edge technology and a modular concept that offers the rider maximum scope for personalisation. Strictly reduced to the essentials, the BMW R nineT – or just nineT for short – is made all the more alluring by its hand-built feel and strong emotional appeal.

The classic roadster bike is built to cater to the many motorcycle enthusiasts who yearn for unadulterated, stress-free riding pleasure. When it came to developing the design of the nineT in particular, terms such as “puristic simplicity”, “emotion” and “authentic, traditional materials” were also high on the list of priorities. Styling cues from old-school motorcycle manufacture are thus united with the very latest drive and chassis components on the nineT to produce a sensational motorcycle that is just as adept at cruising along serenely as it is at powering down country roads.

According to BMW and motorcycle publication interviews with designers Ola Stenegärd, Roland Stocker, and Thrass Papadimitriou, if you squint hard enough, you should see some vintage BMW in the design. The tank, for example, is supposed to be a bit of a nod to the R 90 S.

Here’s the Roland Sands Concept 90 that BMW unveiled before the R nineT. You can definitely see the vintage lines in there. Apparently, the R nineT doesn’t just look good, but it’s gotten rave reviews since its launch in 2014. Owners certainly seem to love them.

BMW also says that it built the R nineT to be a blank slate for motorcycle customizers to do anything that they want with. The bike maker claims that, in designing the R nineT, it decided to take complexity out of the platform. This was done so that builders could easily jack up the bike to create a scrambler or slam it down to make a cafe racer, just like they could with a real vintage bike. One of BMW’s taglines for the R nineT is that it’s “Born to be Customized.”

So, in a weird way, NMoto Studio’s BMW R nineT Nostalgia is extreme, but it’s exactly what BMW was hoping that builders would do with the R nineT. BMW really wanted people to use its bike to make a different motorcycle.

The R nineT Nostalgia

According to Cycle World, the R nineT Nostalgia is a nod to a motorcycle that shocked the crowd at the Pebble Beach Concours d’Elegance in 2012. Back then, BMW had rolled out the R7, a stunning Art Deco one-off concept motorcycle that had been built in 1934, but never put into production. Cycle World has more of its story:

[T]he 1934 BMW R7 was a motorcycle so far ahead of its time that it never even got to see the inside of a production facility. BMW created the audacious, sweeping Art Deco concept in 1934 as the showcase for a host of design and engineering innovations like the first telescopic forks in the motorcycle world, a pressed steel bridge frame, and various engine and gearbox ideas. But during the depths of the Great Depression, even masterworks didn’t survive unscathed; the only prototype R7 was ultimately dismantled and mothballed in a back room at BMW, where, in a stroke of luck, it was rediscovered in 2005. BMW undertook the painstaking restoration of the severely rust-damaged machine and several years later, the R7 finally rolled back onto the world stage. At the 2012 Pebble Beach Concours d’Elegance, it won Best in Class in the motorcycle category and took top honors in Class X for German motorcycles, besting a 1954 BMW R68 and a 1968 Münch Mammoth.

One of the folks in that crowd was businessman Alexander Niznik, and armed with the knowledge that BMW itself was never going to bring the R7 into production, he made it his mission to do what BMW had not. Soon after Pebble Beach, he founded NMoto Studio in Miami, Florida, and launched the Nostalgia Project.

Niznik unveiled his new BMW R nineT Nostalgia in 2018 at the International Motorcycle Show in New York, and he said that his motorcycle wasn’t a clone, but a sort of tribute bike that was inspired by the 1934 BMW R7 concept. Niznik didn’t really mess with the base BMW R nineT’s 1,170cc boxer and its 110 HP, 86 lb-ft of torque, and 140 mph top speed. So, this is a bike that looks old but with modern performance. It even has Brembo brakes!

Cycle World notes that while Niznik didn’t have to build an entire motorcycle from the ground up, replicating the look of the R7 was no walk in the park:

“We started from scratch. Actually we had a huge picture the size of the original R7 motorcycle on the wall and we worked from the picture. We re-created it all in 3-D design software, there were no original blueprints or sketches, nothing.” It also meant all the electrics had to be redesigned; NMoto says it’s the first to successfully integrate the BMW R nineT system with aftermarket controls in the handlebar. But Nostalgia also incorporates old-school techniques. “We use the lathe machine, the English wheel, hammering the metal, nothing is stamped—it was difficult for me to find the people who could do all this stuff. We produced parts that never existed before. I’m planning to keep it all handmade.”

To put a finer point on it, the donor R nineT is outfitted with 96 handcrafted pieces including 74 parts built by NMoto fabricators (like the 12-liter gas tank, throttle system, fenders, mounts, custom stainless steel mufflers, etc.) in-house, while more than 11 premium parts come from reputable aftermarket companies. Constructed primarily of aircraft-grade aluminum, the Nostalgia motorcycles are lighter than a stock R nineT as well as the original 1934 prototype.

That’s some impressive work! In keeping with the theme, NMoto sold the Nostalgia in classic BMW colors. Of course, like most boutique motorcycles, the custom work commanded a high price, with a base BMW R nineT Nostalgia starting at $49,500. That got you black paint and cream pinstripes. Options were vast, and included 11 different paint combinations, different seats, steering options, grip options, storage solutions, custom footrests, a passenger seat, and more.

In 2020, NMoto followed the Nostalgia up with the announcement of the Golden Age, a remix of the BMW C 400 X inspired by the 1936 Courtney Streamline.

Unfortunately, NMoto’s website went offline early this year, and its social media pages are locked down. It’s unclear if NMoto is still operating. Either way, all of the company’s builds are super rare, and who knows, they may no longer even be in production.

This Art Deco Machine

That brings us to the 2019 BMW R nineT Nostalgia up for grabs on Bring a Trailer.

This model has some sweet options over the stock Nostalgia. The highlight of this build is its green paint and white pinstripes, which look great on the aluminum body. Contrasting that is a brown saddle with matching grips and top case. Oh yeah, don’t let your eyes deceive you. That’s not a passenger seat, but a tiny storage case. The bike even has a warning sticker not to place a load any greater than eight pounds in that area.

The seller says that he was the original owner of the motorcycle and ordered the build you see here, a project that took NMoto ten months to complete. The motorcycle is somewhat quirky, too, as it does away with the sporty stance of the stock R nineT for floorboards and features a rear brake that’s activated with the rider’s heel rather than their toe. And clearly, the level of detail in this machine is amazing. Take a look at the bars here.

Now, take a look at a stock BMW R nineT’s bars:

If you did not have prior knowledge of what this motorcycle is based on, you’d have no idea. All of the functions of the R nineT’s bars are here, but are now put into metal buttons that look like large rivets. The clock and mirror-like tank are also fantastic touches.

I also like how the motorcycle has bright turn indicators, but they’re hidden enough that they shouldn’t ruin the vintage look.

Admittedly, not all of it lands with me. I think a normal number plate would have been so much better than the goofy “Nostalgia” plate on the fender. But that’s an issue that you can fix in a minute of time. Overall, I’m in love with the thing, and would be a bidder if I didn’t know any better.

The listing states that this motorcycle has only 340 miles on its odometer, and you get all of its documentation, plus two fobs and a battery tender. In other words, this motorcycle is pretty much brand-new. The auction is going for another day, and bidding is currently at $8,100. I don’t know where the hammer will fall, but I expect it to be north of where bidding is at right now. If you do buy this, I would love to ride it!

I know the whole “everything retro” movement is probably getting exhausting for some folks, and look, I get it. Feel free to fire up that keyboard and tell me I’m wrong. But I think there’s still some room for modern vehicles that nod back to the 1930s. My hot take of the day is that Art Deco is underrated, and I’d love to see more of it!