Honda CB1000R-adical by Gannet Design and Fuhrer Moto

This is the first Honda CB1000R featured here. I’m not the biggest fan of contemporary custom bikes. Being retro-oriented, I find the classic look and old school bikes more appealing. Being also pragmatic and having the knowledge from this blog viewer numbers – I also know for sure that I’m not alone on this.

On the other hand, You have to stay open-minded right? Ten years ago hardly anyone heard about Cafe Racers. Then they exploded all over the custom world. And right now they are losing the numbers to Scramblers… built on small single cylinder dual-sport motorcycles. Who knows what comes next? Maybe making the Sports bikes naked will be the new Cafe Racer trend?

No one can tell, but if this build of Gannet Design and Fuhrer Moto is an example of the new direction – I’m on board.

Streetfighter? Neo racer?

Our aim was to produce a completely new appearance mainly by changing the proportions and handlebar position, while leaving the basic components untouched to show the extensive possibilities for this model’s customization.

The bike is designed by Ulfert Janssen of Gannet Design, and built by Stefan Fuhrer, a former MotoGP racing mechanic and his crew at Fuhrer Moto. Ulfert´s design studio and Stefan´s workshop are 100m apart, so it is a perfect setup for smooth and quick interaction. They put their heads together and worked on every detail without compromise, and their strong teamwork made this build a precise translation of the initial design concept.

Many people underestimate the importance of balance and proportion in a custom build. Just by changing the stance, angles and position slightly, you get an entire new perception and attitude of a bike.

says Ulfert.

The project started with initial loose sketches and design studies by Ulfert. The concept was to leave the essential components of the CB1000R in place and only play with the fairing, riders position and handlebar. The added belly pan was attached to keep the thing lower to the ground visually.

Sounds like playing it safe?

As the CB1000R is a real performance machine… What can You improve? It turns out – a lot!

Dario Dauru at 422 Corse was an exclusive partner for carbon lightweight performance parts, such as CeraCarbon forks and Rotobox wheels.

Stefan about the build:

The front is incredibly beautiful and hot. Through CNC milling, we have created a new fixation design for the front light and the mini windshield. With the new three-piece CNC mechanism, we can now change the height of the headlight and adjust the windscreen to any angle. The front headlight has been moved forward by 60mm and slightly lowered . This new special fixation together with the Multiclip, the triple clamp, and the carbon fork give this bike a very technical and cool visual impression like in a Transformer movie.

The bike was equipped with the ultralight CeraCarbon-Racing front-forks, designed and constructed in Carbon-fiber with Dyneema and a unique patented Ceramic technology.

They have the strength and stiffness of the standard steel fork but the lightness of Carbon and the Ceramics provide the wear-resistance. As an example: one typical 43mm steel front fork inner tube has a weight of almost one kilo, while a CeraCarbon 43mm front fork tube has a weight of 237gramms. It is 75% lighter than the conventional steel front fork inner tubes, and reduces the unsprung weight by 1.5Kg on a complete front fork. CeraCarbon offered us amazing support and went all the way in, by specially fabricating a new sprocket prototype for our Honda R-adical project. This sprocket is made of aluminum and is ceramic coated. This ensures a long life and the carbon inlets provide additional stability and lightness.

Wheels by Rotobox

The wheels are up to 50% lighter than original equipment rims and are the world’s only one-piece carbon monocoque wheels. Rotobox went the extra mile and specifically developed these new rims within one month to fit the Honda CB 1000R-adical to premiere at the 2019 Swiss Moto show.

They got fitted with Dunlop Moto 2 Rain Tires with a very characteristic thread pattern.

The clip-on’s were delivered by ABM Fahrzeugtechnik. Equipped with their Multi Clip and Synto Evo brake/clutch levers in grey/black to fit the color scheme of the bike. Also, the motorcycle was outfitted with K+N air filters for better breathing. The exhaust upgrade with the titanium/carbon fiber muffler comes from Akrapovic.

Paint – no foil print!

Ulfert:

The idea of the contemporary graphics was to reinterpret the camouflage design with sharp graphics and certain highlights in yellow to make it modern and sporty. These graphics together with the new tight and sexy proportions transformed the tame CB1000R into a camouflage power rocket.

The fine paint work is a masterpiece by Walter Oberli. It took seven layers of paint to achieve the final camouflage look. I know from a friend that these kinds of patterns are a real headache of any painter.

Making of video:

This bike will be at The Reunion in Monza and Glemseck 101 among others. It is also the winner of the Honda Switzerland’s custom CB1000R competition. It was presented at the 2019 Swiss Moto Show in Zurich this February.