Custom BMW Honors a Racing Legend, Kind of Intimidates Us

Hold onto your lunch money

March 24, 2017 9:00 am

In some circles, Eddie Lawson was as big a star of the ‘80s as Madonna, Prince and big hair.

He won the 500cc World Championship four times during the decade (‘84, ’86, ’88, ’89), was the AMA Superbike champ in ‘81 and ’82, and was named the 1984 AMA Pro Athlete of the Year. 

So to honor the man who dominated their favorite sport in that critical decade (now 30 years ago, somehow), the grease monkeys at Switzerland-based VTR Customs modeled a BMW R1200R boxer after their hero’s signature Kawasaki Z1000 and came up with a squared-off build that might get Lawson out of retirement.

Custom BMW (6 images)

Equipped with an overhauled gas tank, restyled exhaust system and a tailpiece that was built by hand in-house, the Eddie21 bike features custom upholstery and a hand-painted No. 21 logo along with one-off wheels covered in Bridgestone tires and a muffler that isn’t always in use.

“It shoots half-meter flames out of the can when it’s quick-shifting through the gears,” VTR owner Dani Weidmann told Pipeburn. “And it sounds like hell!”

Well it looks like a slice of heaven, and one that’s actually up for sale — unless Lawson gets to it.

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