Most images that we receive fall into one of two categories: average photographs of a very interesting motorcycle, or beautiful photographs of a fairly common motorcycle. So when you happen across a photographer who is also a vintage bike nut, it’s a marriage made in heaven. This exquisite customized R60/5 is owned by commercial photographer Josh Withers, and he’s shown off the bike to perfection. It helps to live near a Californian beach, I guess, but this machine would look equally gorgeous in the grungiest Atlantic City alleyway. The Berlin-built R60/5 was in the middle of BMW’s ‘slash 5’ range—the others being the R50/5 and the R75/5—and had a 600cc air-cooled motor in the traditional boxer configuration. Josh’s machine is a 1973 ‘toaster‘-tank model from the last year of production, and he paid just $500 for it. As with many bargain bikes, the problems soon started to mount up, and Josh ended up doing a bare-frame restoration. But the result was worth it, don’t you think?

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Words: Phillip Tooth, Potos: Josh Withers

Josh Withers always loved the Toaster tanks and who doesn’t love the café look? So check out this R 60/5 special that he built to rip around the downtown streets of Los Angeles

Based in LA, Josh Withers is a photographer who specializes in advertising shoots for everything from the automotive industry to dog food. Being creative with a camera and using Photoshop to modify his images can be satisfying but he missed working with his hands. “I have a passion for vintage cars, motorcycles and surfboards,” says Josh, who commutes to work on a 1977 R 100 S. What he really needed was a project bike.

“I’ve always liked the look of the Toaster tank BMWs,” says Josh. “So when I heard of a 1973 R 60/5 for sale in Santa Fe, New Mexico I thought that it would be a nice reminder of the four years I spent there.” The fact that the Toaster was described as ‘runs well’ and was only $500 probably helped clinch the deal.

The /5 was shipped to his studio in LA but Josh soon realized that you don’t get much for $500 these days. “It barely ran. I tried to ride home on it, keeping off the main roads, but it died about five blocks from my house and I had to push it the rest of the way.” It didn’t take him long to work out that the Toaster needed a lot of work to sort it out. “The carbs were a mess and there were too many odd parts on the bike. I found Lucas electric components and bits of wire holding things together – the sort of bodge that would make any BMW purist cringe. My new toy needed a thorough check through, and before I knew it I had it down to the bare frame.”

That bare frame became an empty canvas where Josh could let his creative juices flow. “My other BMW is more on the stock side, so I decided that I would build a Toaster café racer. That was four years ago. I didn’t think it was going to take me quite as long as it did!”
Josh describes the 60/5 engine as a complete mess so he parked it under the workbench and bought a motor from a 1979 R 100 CS. “It was more powerful than I needed for a town bike, but when a BMW guru in San Francisco by the name of Dave Gardner offered to guide me through a complete strip down and rebuild I decided to go for it,” he says. Although the CS had been converted to twin plug heads, he decided to set it up with single plug ignition and adjust the ignition timing to suit. “I wanted to get a good feel for the single plugs before I eventually convert to the dual plugs. That way I’ll have a solid foundation to gauge the difference.”

The flywheel was lightened, and Nikasil barrels and new pistons fitted. Josh originally wanted to keep the four speed gear with kick start, but soon realised that the kick lever would interfere with the rearset linkage. Instead he used a five speed transmission from a 1975 /6 that somebody had given him as a spare for his daily ride. “Fortunately the 1971-84 airheads have many interchangeable parts,” points out Josh. Professional help didn’t run as far was cleaning the engine case. “I used my own elbow grease.” The aluminum timing and valve covers were cleaned with a baking soda solution before polishing, then spraying with a heat-dispersion clear coat to finish off the job. I particularly like that the starter cover on top of the crankcase says BMW in aluminum, which only the 1979 engines have. Earlier engines had the model designation as well, while later models used a black plastic trim.”

The 40mm Bings were bead blasted, and Josh ditched the bulky airbox cover to trim some fat and mounted K&N filters straight to the carbs. “I have a friend in New Jersey who works as a machinist for Coke-a-Cola,” says Josh. “I would send him templates and he would bend and fabricate stainless steel sheet to make a cover for where the airbox used to live. That’s how I got the license plate and tail light bracket made as well.”

The old Toaster used the longer swingarm, but Josh converted it with a short swingarm to give a more aggressive look better suited to a café racer. New fork springs came from Progressive, while a pair of Koni Dial-A-Ride shocks look after the back end. Italian rear-set pegs were adapted with an Omar rear set linkage. But then the project almost came to a very unhappy end. Josh sent parts for powder coating but the shop vanished over a weekend. “Crazy huh?” says Josh. “Turns out it was a shady guy trying to avoid his rent and he pulled out all the stops to move a powdercoat booth over night. It took me months to track down my missing components.”

The original BMW fenders were too bulky for the café racer look, so he trimmed a few inches of fibreglass off the front guard and “tons” off the rear. Because of his work in advertising he knew a couple of companies who prepare cars for photo shoots. “Those guys painted the fenders and tank for me,” says Josh. That’s probably why the Toaster café racer looks pretty as a picture. Other neat touches are the drilled alloy triple clamp, the clubman handlebars and the custom white speedometer.
Josh chose a Corbin seat and had it made with blue piping to match the paintwork. Both the tail light and turn signals use neat LED lights. The Toaster café racer was finished off with stainless pipes and Norton Commando Peashooter silencers. “The bike hardly sounds like a BMW anymore,” laughs Josh. “It has some serious throat to it.”

But Josh wasn’t too impressed with the first trip on his freshly built café racer. “The first 75 miles on the bike was the worst ride of my life. Turns out, because I assembled the forks a couple of years before I fitted them to the headstock, they got stuck in their extended position. In my eagerness to ride the bike I really didn’t notice how stiff the front end was. Then I took it down the highway to do a little engine break-in and I thought my kidneys were going to explode. A friend suggested something was wrong with the forks and sure enough they were seized solid. I took them apart, loosened them up.” Everything has worked smoothly for the last 600 miles.

“Every time I get on this bike and hear the roar from behind as I tear down the street gives me the liberating feeling of what riding a motorcycle is all about. Heads turn when people hear the sound of those Peashooters and I’m always getting compliments about the café look. Just the other day I passed a guy on the freeway, only to have him speed up to me, honk his horn and give the thumbs up. It is definitely an attention grabber.”

Josh is not finished yet. The final drive is geared too low for a good snap off the line, so he might change that. And the bike could use a better front brake someday – a twin leading shoe Fontana or Grimeca would look cool. “When funds allow I want to replace the wheel rims and add chrome spokes and tweak the rear sets as well,” adds Josh. But for now he’s going to enjoy the ride.

September 04, 2013

We got to chatting, and he quickly revealed his interest in having me make a custom motorcycle for him just like my latest build. Due to the internet and a few magazine articles, my bright blue 1973 R60/5 toaster cafe conversion was attracting attention from all over the world, and now from this guy Shane in North Dakota. In this first conversation with Shane, I prefaced that I was not a professional mechanic and I work out of the garage of my humble Southern California townhome. I would need help rebuilding the engine, I’d have to send off items for paint, etc., and it would take about a year or two due to my day job, a teaching job, getting married, being a father, etc. He was understanding of that, put his faith in me, and thus our project and friendship began.

Within a month of starting, we found a carcass of a 1972 R75/5 for $600. It was in really bad shape. Broken rod, wiring was a mess with extra lights and switches drilled in the headlight and many other parts were missing, broken or downright bastardized. As I met the seller in the California desert, took the bike out of his pickup truck, began to take it apart to load it into my station wagon, another man walked up and asked if I would be interested in another R75. Considering I already had one halfway into my car, I laughed him off at first, but then we got to talking. I soon learned that he lived nearby and had a warehouse full of motorcycles. His R75/5 was a complete bike but hadn’t run in twenty years, had no title, yet he was asking $400. I had to check it out and before I knew it, I had not one but two 1972 R75/5 motorcycles in my garage. Let the restoration begin.

Shane’s one request was that the bike matched his recently restored silver 1965 Porsche. Given that this bike was for somebody else, I couldn’t cut the same corners I did for my own personal restoration. I decided to have everything rebuilt so the bike would run like new without any guessing or wondering when an old part will fail. This means completely rebuilding the engine, rebuilding and upgrading to a 5 speed transmission, new drive shaft U joints, rebuilt final drive, wheel bearings, front forks, steering bearings, speedometer… I think you get the idea.

The other opportunity was to upgrade whatever we could along the way with all the new upgrades and accessories available today. I am very happy to see that the aftermarket part selection on old airheads is always growing. We found a good selection of bodywork in the past few years since my last restoration and settled with Cafeboxer who even made a custom ridgeless front fender for us. I found a local powder coat shop that also uses a liquid based baked on enamel for a well known brake caliper company that matches the Porsche color. After hearing good reviews from the Siebenrock piston and cylinder upgrade kit, we decided to buy a set instead of spending extra money on a BMW set of R75 pistons. The Siebenrock kit bolts onto the same rods and uses the same heads as the stock R75. Supposedly it offers a 20% upgrade in power. A lightened flywheel was a must. Electronic ignition from Dyna was added. Rear shocks from YSS looked like the match for our ‘theme’ bike. And what would be a classy cafe bike without some wide shoulder Akront rims laced on powder coated white hubs. LetÕs hope the hubs stay clean!

A Shorai battery has been tucked under the cafe seat. The tail light came from an old British retrofitted 6V turn signal. I found a set of drag bars that matched the same reach as my clubman handle bars on my blue cafe. Of course I had to get some custom gray and silver throttle, brake and clutch cables made. I had custom swing-arm caps made to match his Porsche, and the stripes on the toaster panels were painted white to match our side covers. To customize the bike even further, we found a reproduction set of exhaust from a 1937 R12 BMW. It was Shane’s idea to get the mufflers and at first I was hesitant, but now I have zero regrets. I had to customize them to fit the header pipes and then sent everything off to Jet Hot to get coated so the pipes would forever stay silver. They sound beefy too!

Two years and four months after that first phone call, I was happy to let Shane know that his bike was complete. I’ve enjoyed every minute of the zen time in my garage designing another custom BMW. I had a lot of help along the way and continue to learn the nuances of these old bikes. Above all, through this process, Shane and I have shared countless phone calls, emails and text messages throughout the two years and about 25% of them related to his motorcycle. We have become good friends and have shared the joys and sorrows of two separate lives from completely different parts of the country. Shane and I will meet face to face for the first time in a few weeks. It will be a bittersweet encounter for it also means that I will have to say goodbye to my two year labor of love and send it to North Dakota. In order to heal that anticipated wound, I’ve already started planning out my next build!

I am a Los Angeles Photoshop artist who specializes in automotive retouching. I grew up in a working class suburb of New York City where I was always tinkering or building things whether it was a tree fort or my first car, a 1973 Volkswagen Beetle.

How did you get into bike restoration?

I had been riding bikes legally since the late 90’s but I think it started when I purchased my first BMW motorcycle 14 years ago.  I wanted to give it a non-stock paint job to make it unique and personal to me. After that, I considered buying a new Ducati when a local mechanic in San Francisco convinced me to rebuild a 1977 BMW R100S under his guidance to make it entirely ‘new’ again.  I figured in the long run, it would be cheaper and more unique then any other Ducati Monster on the road.  I have always had an appreciation for classic cars and motorcycles, so the decision was easy.

Is this becoming a trend? Where does it come from according to you?

I think it already is a trend.  After completing my first cafe bike in 2008, there were not that many cafe bikes on the road and finding cafe BMW parts was impossible.  Now, the bikes and parts resources are everywhere.  I think people recognize and appreciate a simple, classic and stylish design when they see it.  The internet and popularity of TV programs has catipulted that image even further. Now I am seeing lifestlye advertisements for companies like Levis with vintage motorcycles so once corporate advertising gets ahold of something, it is definitely trendy.

What is it exactly you’re striving for? Authenticity? Vintage performance? The good ol’ sensations?

All of the above!

Actually, I try to upgrade whatever I can without making the bike too modern looking.  But, if on the inside it can run the best it can with modern components, I will skip authenticity for reliability.  Aside from all the upgrades, it is still a 40 year old machine and sometimes your heart skips a beat as you push the corners too hard or expect modern braking.  It takes a certain kind of person to appreciate the sensation of an old machine.

The best part of the whole process?

Working in the garage is theraputic.  It is a total departure from my day job and I love using my eyes and hands for something tangible versus on a computer.  Ultimately, the best part is breathing life back into a machine that was considered dead.  I see way too many motorcycles out in the world that I want to ressurect into something new.  I am just lacking the time to do it.

You executed a commission work for a guy you’d never met before. Can you tell us about it?

I figured ‘What the hell,’  I might as well give it a try.  I thought about all the ways it could backfire and go wrong by trying to please somebody, meet deadlines, make design decisions for somebody else, etc…  Luckily the person I built the bike for was compassionate, understanding and appreciative throughout the entire process.  And to top it off, we quickly became friends so it wasn’t just a bike build, it was a collaboration with a friend.  I just wish he lived closer so I could continue to ride, and tinker on his bike.  I truly miss both of those aspects.

Do you do custom jobs for people abroad, or overseas? If not, would you be open to it?

I am actually building another version of the silver bike for a customer on the other side of the world.  So yes, I am open to it.  I still have to figure out the logisitics of delivering his bike to him though!

What other adventures did motorcycles bring you?

Honda used to have an advertising slogan, ‘You meet the nicest people on a Honda.’  I have met some amazing people and satisfied my needs to tinker and build something I am passionate about.  Then of course there are the adventures of riding motorcycles. I did a small ride in Peru and a few years later, a 5 day ride in Ireland.  I think it is a wonderful way to experience a new place.  Arriving somewhere on a motorcycle is an instant conversation starter. And it separates you from the typical tourist.  Additionally, once you leave the congested freeways and road of Los Angeles, there are some amazing roads for testing out a motorcycle.  I am fortunate to live in a place in which the landscape and weather suit motorcycles wonderfully.

You’ve been receiving a lot of attention online and in magazines after your last two restorations. Have you been approached by any company?

Actually, I do have something in the works…  More on that at a later date.

Your dream collaboration?

Oh man…. This question has my head split into a million directions.  There are so many great bikes, bike builders, vintage car restoration shops and car designers that I would love to work with.  I still consider myself a student of this build process and would love to sit with the elder gentelmen who were actually building these bikes in the 60’s and 70’s.  Their knowledge needs to be passed on as well as the classic skills (such as brazing metal). However, a dream would be to sit down with BMW and design a truly retro motorcycle. Triumph did it with their Bonneville and Thruxtons but something about those bikes are slightly too modern for my taste.  Royal Enfield seems to have the classic styling figured out. A true modern classic BMW is achievable.

You never ride without…?

A helmet and cell phone.   After all, these are 40 year old motorcycles! haha.

What are you currently working on?

I have a few projects I am working on.  One is another cafe bike as mentioned earlier.  That bike is the priority due to a deadline.

And your upcoming projects?

I am planning a franken-airhead for myself with a classic foundation but modern suspension and braking.  I also have a street tracker in the works too.

June 22, 2013

If you’re like me, and many other custom bike riders out there, you’ve had to face the rather daunting task of getting that dream bike out of your head and into the skillful hands of your chosen builder. There’s probably as many ways to do this as there are custom bikes on the road. Photoshop, sketches, emails – why, I bet there’s a guy somewhere who’s described his ideal two-wheeled vision using his deft mime skills. But if you’re taking sheer cool efficiency as a means of judging the best brief, then Shane Balkowitsch’s ‘make it match my ’65 Porsche’ really takes the cake. And that’s just the brief that Sothern Californian Josh Withers received when he decided to take on the classic BMW build of a lifetime.

Here’s Josh. “I was just coming off the high of my second ‘frame off, down to the crank’ airhead restoration when I got a random call from a guy in North Dakota. We got to chatting, and he quickly revealed his interest in having me do a custom motorcycle for him just like my latest build. Due to the internet and a few magazine articles, my bright blue 1973 R60/5 toaster cafe conversion was attracting attention from all over the world, and now from this guy ‘Shane’. In this first conversation with Shane, I prefaced that I was not a professional mechanic and I work out of the garage of my humble Southern California home. He was understanding of that, put his faith in me, and thus our project and friendship began.”

“Before I knew it, I had not one but two R75/5 motorcycles in my garage.”

“Within a month of starting, we found a carcass of a 1972 R75/5 for $600. It was in really bad shape. Broken rod, wiring was a mess with extra lights and switches drilled in the headlight and many other parts were missing, broken or downright bastardized. As I met the seller in the California desert, took the bike out of his pickup truck, began to take it apart to load it into my station wagon, a stranger walked up and asked if I would be interested in another R75. Considering I already had one halfway into my car, I laughed him off at first, but then we got to talking. I soon learned that he lived nearby and had a warehouse full of motorcycles. His R75/5 was a complete bike but hadn’t run in twenty years, had no title, yet he was asking $400. I had to check it out and before I knew it, I had not one but two 1972 R75/5 motorcycles in my garage.”

Read the full article on Pipeburn »

By Ben Lucareli September 12, 2013

We don’t do a lot of motorcycles at Road & Track, so when we do, we try to make sure that they’re really something special. This 1972 BMW R75/5 more than fits that description. Josh Withers, photographer by day and amateur BMW Airhead revival artist by night, shares the story in this Petrolicious video of his two-year restoration of a classic BMW Airhead.

Read the Road and Track article here »

Two like-minded BMW R60/5 riders transform a Toaster

More than one striking custom motorcycle has sprung from a random thought or arbitrary scheme and here’s an example. Homebuilder Josh Withers answered his phone one day to find Shane Balkowitsch who asked him build a BMW custom and “make it match my ’65 Porsche.” Here, in Josh’s words, is what happened.

“I was just coming off the high of my second ‘frame off, down to the crank’ airhead restoration when I got a random call from a guy in North Dakota. We got to chatting, and he quickly revealed his interest in having me do a custom motorcycle for him just like my latest build. Due to the internet and a few magazine articles, my bright blue 1973 R60/5 toaster cafe conversion was attracting attention from all over the world, and now from this guy ‘Shane’. In this first conversation with Shane, I prefaced that I was not a professional mechanic and I work out of the garage of my humble Southern California home. He was understanding of that, put his faith in me, and thus our project and friendship began.

Within a month of starting, we found a carcass of a 1972 R75/5 for $600. It was in really bad shape. Broken rod, wiring was a mess with extra lights and switches drilled in the headlight and many other parts were missing, broken or downright bastardized. As I met the seller in the California desert, took the bike out of his pickup truck, began to take it apart to load it into my station wagon, a stranger walked up and asked if I would be interested in another R75. Considering I already had one halfway into my car, I laughed him off at first, but then we got to talking. I soon learned that he lived nearby and had a warehouse full of motorcycles. His R75/5 was a complete bike but hadn’t run in twenty years, had no title, yet he was asking $400. I had to check it out and before I knew it, I had not one but two 1972 R75/5 motorcycles in my garage.

Read the full story on Iron Trader »

Shane Balkowitsch knew a thing or two about restoring old Germans to new glory. He’d recently restored a 1965 Porsche 356, and decided that he wanted a bike as a companion piece to the car. He’d been watching Cafe Racer on Velocity and fell in love with the modded style. The medical supply distributor from North Dakota had a vision, and now he needed a way to fulfill it. First, he chose the brand.

“Why a BMW? It only made sense to do another German vehicle, they’re both air-cooled and with similar opposing cylinder set-ups,” explains Shane. With the model in mind, Shane then needed a partner in crime. A search through magazines and the internet brought him to Josh Withers’ restored 1973 BMW Cafe Racer. Josh had designed and built the bike himself, turning a ’73 BMW R60/5 into a cafe racer with a ’79 R100 engine. Shane thought it was the perfect model for what he wanted – a foundation that he could then expand on. Shane was based out of North Dakota, and Josh was in Southern California, but the distance didn’t matter to Shane. He called Josh, and two strangers were suddenly on the path to restoration.

Read the full article on BikerHotline.com