Hugo Eccles isn’t your average custom motorcycle builder. Born in the UK and based in San Francisco, Eccles was formerly trained in industrial design before going on to spend the next 25 years working for brands like Ford, Nike, and TAG Heuer. Eventually, Hugo would open the SF shop, Untitled Motorcycles, allowing him to harness his design expertise and apply it to churning out immaculate one-off motorcycles.
One such bike is UMC’s “Kalifornia” build, a tired early ’80s BMW R100 that’s been completely redesigned to achieve a scrambler-meets-brat-meets-cafe racer aesthetic. Eccles has treated the BMW to one-off fenders front and aft, a custom headlight housing that now accommodates a yellow lens and a Motogadget speedometer, a bespoke exhaust system culminating in a pair of stainless steel cafe-style cone mufflers, a custom cross-stitched tan leather seat courtesy of Acker Leather Works, and ultra-low Renthal bars equipped with CRG bar-end mirrors, Tommaselli grips, modified Posh switchgear, and Motogadget bar-end LED indicators. The airhead’s stock tank also remains in play, though it’s been hit with a custom white livery accented via a brushed bare metal front section, BMW M Racing color stripes, and bespoke metal UMC tank badges replacing the fuel cell’s factory Roundels. And, in typical UMC fashion, Eccles has bestowed the build with a slew of subtle details such as fully de-tabbed and powder-coated framework, reconditioned shocks and forks with upgraded internals, internally-routed wiring, upgraded brakes, a new wheelset, new valve covers, a custom hub-mounted license plate bracket with an integrated LED plate light, and a stripped and vapor-blasted engine, just to name only a few of the build’s more than 50 custom features and components.
Untitled Motorcycles’ 1983 BMW R100RT “UMC-029 Kalifornia” build is currently for sale on The Bike Shed’s classified pages just outside of San Francisco in Los Altos, California. Priced at $20,000, the sale includes the iconic custom build, as well as a bespoke Bell Bullitt helmet with matching livery.
