1986 BMW K75 · Café build

Yon's K75 Café

Metalflake bronze tank with gold roundel

The build

One tired tourer in. One bronze café racer out.

Picked up as a sun-baked 1986 K75 with hard bags, touring screen, and thirty years of grime. It came apart to the last fastener: frame de-tabbed and blacked out, engine cases refinished, every seal replaced, faulty/worn components replaced, the harness rewired by hand and the rear end reworked around a single Fox coilover.

What's left keeps BMW's bones and sheds the rest — slim café tank, diamond-stitch saddle, bronze metalflake over gloss black.

Stock K75, front three-quarter — AS BOUGHT - TOURING SETUP

Bare frame on the bench — FRAME STRIPPED BARE + CHOPPED

Engine and gearbox out on the floor — Engine + gearbox out

Old seals removed from the engine — Thirty-year-old seals out

Refinished cam covers — Cam covers refinished

Fox coilover on Hyperco spring — Fox coilover · Hyperco spring

Powder-coated frame lowered over the engine — Black frame back over the engine

Wiring diagrams and new harness — Harness rewired by hand

New bars and mini gauge on the triple — Low bars · mini gauge

Rolling chassis with bronze wheels — Rolling chassis · bronze wheels