Trends and tradition are two major themes of what we do around here at Bike EXIF. We’re always watching out for the next hottest thing making waves, but at the same time, the motorcycling hobby has an intense reverence for its past. It’s all about bowing your head to where we’ve been, while imagining a unique way forward, and I think it’s safe to say that our top performers of December embrace this philosophy.
Trackers, café racers and choppers have been around for a long damn time, and considering their continued representation in our stat highlights, it’s safe to say we’ll continue to see them long into the future.
BMW R 12 nineT Street Tracker by Rough Crafts
Rough Crafts is no stranger to building formidable customs, but their latest project steps outside their usual all-black palette with a BMW R 12 nineT that takes visual cues from a custom safari-style Porsche 911. The bike was commissioned by GrowthRing & Supply Co., a Hong Kong-based streetwear label that already had a bespoke 911 built, and wanted a motorcycle to match it for the Yokohama Hot Rod Custom Show. Winston Yeh, the frontman at Rough Crafts, knew the boxer engine in the Porsche and the BMW made an obvious pair, so he leaned into that relationship when sketching the design.
Though Rough Crafts was already working on an R 12 nineT build when the GRS project came up, few parts were shared between the two bikes, because the GRS machine demanded its own unique details. The standout element is the custom fuel tank, whose silhouette mirrors the 911’s roofline while the sculpted knee indents recall the car’s wheel arches. On top sits a wood-trimmed tank rack that echoes the Porsche’s roof rack and makes room for an offset Rough Crafts fuel cap. The tail section is a handmade cowl perched on a bespoke subframe, wrapped in luxe leather, with KOSO-branded LEDs doing duty as taillights and indicators.
Rough Crafts also reworked the front end with an abbreviated fender and a compact LED headlight tucked into one of their signature grills, flanked by KOSO turn signals. The small TFT screen on the R 12 nineT nestles neatly behind it. For controls and ride feel, they used Gilles Tooling handlebars with BMW OEM switches, Rough Crafts risers, Beringer brake and clutch masters and Motogadget bar-end mirrors. The 17-inch wheels and Brembo brake calipers remain from the base bike, but molded wheel covers now mirror the iconic Fuchs wheels of the 911 without adding weight. Öhlins suspension and Gilles Tooling foot controls round out the handling upgrades.
A bespoke exhaust carries the safari theme with high-mounted mufflers under the tail that nod to some Porsche center-mounted twin-pipe designs. Once the bespoke parts were ready, everything was stripped off Rough Crafts’ test mule and shipped to BMW Motorrad Sagamihara in Kanagawa, Japan, where the team reassembled the bike on a fresh donor frame in time for the show. Though it was built to complement its four-wheeled counterpart, the Rough Crafts x GRS R 12 nineT holds its own on its own merits, catching eyes and respect even without the Porsche in frame. [More]
Royal Enfield Continental GT 650 Café Racer by Omega Racer
Omega Racer has been quietly earning respect for its handcrafted alloy parts and full custom builds for more than a decade, and their latest Royal Enfield Continental GT 650 café racer pushes their metalworking skills front and center. Based in Thailand but with work seen all over the world, Omega’s founder Markus Pintzinger wanted to showcase his team’s ability to shape raw aluminum into something that feels both radical and refined. The goal was simple: transform a 2019 Continental GT donor into a bike that looks bespoke without requiring irreversible modification, offering a plug-and-play kit that other owners could eventually order for their own builds.
With that vision in hand, the team stripped away all OEM bodywork, leaving the engine, frame and running gear largely untouched. The centerpiece is a new fuel tank in the style of Omega’s popular Mugello series—longer and more sculpted than stock, with graceful knee indents that give the bike a classic racer silhouette. To match, a hand-formed tail hump was shaped with deep creases that echo the tank’s lines, finished off with a rich leather seat pad by long-time collaborator Songsaeng Boonthong of The Sports. The tailpiece sits slightly shorter than the original subframe, a subtle nod to the Continental GT’s proportions while keeping the lean profile clean and purposeful.
Despite the bespoke alloy panels, the bike’s side covers appear original at a glance—but they’re new pieces shaped to fit the polished aesthetic of every other component. For the front Omega took a different inspiration, crafting a custom fairing and aluminum fender that pay tribute to two very different machines from the 1990s—the Gilera SP02 and the Ducati 900SS. The rectangular headlight tucked into the half fairing is a bold choice that works surprisingly well on the Continental GT platform. Shark gill slots cut into the fairing add an aggressive touch that conveys speed at a standstill.
Omega Racer didn’t paint the bodywork—every panel was polished to a mirror finish so the raw aluminum remains the star, juxtaposed against the stock bike’s patina for extra contrast. Beneath the shine, the stock mechanicals remain largely as they came off the showroom floor, but the team added a stainless steel exhaust that sheds about 40 percent of the stock weight and delivers a much better sound. When the build was complete, Markus christened the bike Promethea, inspired by Alan Moore’s visionary graphic novel, a symbol of transformation and evolution that resonates with the spirit of the project. [More]
Royal Enfield Himalayan 450 Flat Tracker by Guerilla Moto
When famed Tokyo builder Toshiyuki “Cheetah” Osawa set out to rework a Royal Enfield Guerrilla 450 into a flat tracker, he wasn’t interested in a mild styling job or a simple street bike with off-road vibes. Osawa, known for his imaginative, performance-focused custom flat trackers and as the founder of the “Have Fun” flat track event in Japan, approached this project as a true track-oriented machine. The resulting build, dubbed the Carolina Reaper for its fiery looks and attitude, is a radical reinterpretation of the Guerrilla 450 that balances retro flat track attitude with thoughtful engineering.
To achieve the right proportions and handling characteristics, Osawa started by tearing the bike down to its core. The stock main frame was retained, but nearly everything else was redesigned. A bespoke chromoly tubular subframe and custom swingarm replaced the factory rear setup, eliminating the stock linkage in favor of a direct-mount shock arrangement with multiple lower mounting points so rear geometry can be quickly adjusted for track conditions. Up front the bike wears WP Suspension inverted forks held by KTM Duke 390 triple clamps, and the wheels were swapped for 19-inch rims wrapped in Maxxis DTR-1 flat track rubber. Braking is pared back to a single Brembo caliper at the rear, reflecting pure flat track logic.
The custom bodywork is equally purposeful. Osawa crafted a two-piece polished aluminum tank and fairing unit with generous space to clear the oversized aftermarket air filter, seamlessly integrating side boards, number plates and tail bump into a cohesive whole. The cockpit is minimal—just a set of Mika Metals handlebars with essential controls and a front number board in place of a headlight. Foot controls are bespoke with Bates rubber pegs, and the exhaust flows through a tailored stainless-steel header and IXRACE muffler that trims weight while giving the engine a firm, race-ready note.
Visually, the Carolina Reaper lives up to its name. Painted with a scorching custom scheme—laid down in collaboration with S Paint Works and finished with judicious red highlights and engine-turned aluminum accents—the build confidently fuses Cheetah’s modern flat track language with hints of 1970s American racing aesthetics. [More]
TVS RR 310 Café Racer by Smoked Garage
The TVS Apache RR 310 may be compact, but its 312 cc single-cylinder engine and nimble chassis have made it a fun and affordable platform where it’s actually available. In Indonesia, Smoked Garage took that potential and pushed it toward a neo-retro café racer they call the RR310 Speedline, describing the build as “a pursuit of speed, purity and purpose.”
Smoked Garage began with the rolling chassis, replacing the original wheels with a set of custom alloy rims mounted with race-slick tires, fitting a 200-section tire in the rear. The wider rubber exceeded the clearance of the stock swingarm, so the team fabricated a new aluminium swingarm from scratch and paired it with an Öhlins shock for modern compliance and feedback. Up front, the forks were upgraded and braking was enhanced with RCB four-piston calipers and a custom air duct to aid cooling, sharpening both feel and performance.
With the chassis sorted, the aesthetics were reimagined from the ground up. The stock sportbike bodywork was removed in favor of a hand-crafted café fairing that flows cleanly into a newly-shaped fuel tank with a rounded, classic profile. Composite body panels and radiator shrouds tidy up loose edges and emphasise the bike’s new lines, while the fairing houses a round LED headlight and lets the digital dashboard sit unobtrusively behind it. Low clip-ons, Groza levers with bright red Smoked grips and a minimalist cockpit tie the riding position to the café racer ethos.
The rear section is finished with a bespoke tail unit and integrated LED lighting, two-tone upholstery and a sleek belly pan that reinforces the build’s purposeful silhouette. A wide-open stainless-steel exhaust gives the RR 310 a more assertive soundtrack, and the vibrant red and silver livery with late-90s-inspired graphics gives the bike a timeless race aura. The result is a machine that feels cohesive rather than chopped; a thorough reinterpretation that respects the RR 310’s inherent strengths while reshaping its character. [More]
Royal Enfield Classic 650 Chopper by Custom Works Zon
At the 2025 Yokohama Hot Rod Custom Show, Custom Works Zon unveiled one of the wildest builds in recent memory: a Royal Enfield Classic 650 fitted with two parallel-twin engines. Shop founder Yuichi Yoshizawa wanted to make a statement that went beyond stretched land-speed machines or simple power mods. Instead he imagined a dual-engine chopper that used the elegant, character-rich Classic 650 parallel twin as a foundation and repeated it for a dramatic visual and mechanical impact.
The basis for the build was relatively simple: two complete Classic 650 engines positioned front and rear, but the execution required several creative workarounds. To keep the overall chassis from ballooning in size, the team staggered the height of the engines—using only the crankcase and chain drive of the front unit and retaining the full gearbox on the rear. Yoshizawa and his crew fabricated a custom extension for the front crankshaft and a primary drive gear to link the two powerplants mechanically, ensuring both delivered torque through a single connected drivetrain. A single ECU powers both engines, and Yoshizawa relays that this part of the process was actually quite straightforward.
With the thermal and mechanical heart of the bike sorted, attention turned to the chassis. The stock Classic 650 frame was no longer adequate, so Custom Works Zon built an entirely new hardtail backbone and matched it to a bespoke girder front end that blended strength with visual balance. The forks, crafted from thick steel plates that were bent and carved by hand, imbued the bike with a presence that felt equally purposeful and elegant. Rolling stock is bold and oversized—26-inch front and 18-inch rear wheels with Performance Machine calipers and Hot Dock discs.
The bodywork and finish speak to a philosophy of material honesty. Rather than hide every surface under paint, the team left steel, aluminium and wood largely unpainted, celebrating their natural textures and contrast. A fuel reservoir under the seat replaces the traditional tank position, while a box where a tank would normally sit houses vital electronics. Mahogany trim and masterful leatherwork add warmth and refinement, and a sculpted aluminium bird motif evokes motion even at rest. Named Vita—Latin for “life”—this twin-engine Classic 650 is as much a sculpture of metal and wood as it is a rolling machine, a build that pushes both design and fabrication boundaries while maintaining the charm of its Royal Enfield roots.
