I do like red. It’s an old trick, but when it’s used cleverly to pick out certain details, it can really make a bike pop. Meister Engineering from Geneva, Switzerland have been building bikes for ten years, and they know this about red too, which is why they’ve used it to great effect here on a BMW R80 GS build. After many BMW café racers, the Meisters found themselves inspired by the classic BMW R80 GS Paris-Dakar – y’know, the one with the lairy red seat– and so set about creating an homage to it with an old friend of theirs. The two Meisters, Antoine and Mathieu – were sitting around reminiscing about their teenage days, with fond memories of when they used to ride lots of Supermoto. Off the back of that, they decided that it would be cool to try and emulate the Supermoto ideal of a light motorcycle with perfect manoeuvrability, and blend it with classical cool so it would simply be a joy to ride. A friend of Mathieu’s dad had seen the Meisters’ builds and promptly sold them his 1993 BMW R80 GS, which became this project’s donor bike. They were originally going to run with BMW blue on the tank, but just before they were about to start they saw that someone else had beaten them to that particular punch, so instead they went down this road, using red and white from the Swiss flag – hence the name: Geneva-Dakar. The stock tank was swapped-out for one from a Honda CG to achieve a lighter look and feel. A bunch of other parts were upgraded too: fat bar with mini-switch, rear light in the frame, front brake (master cylinder), rebuilt and repainted the wheels. They also treated the frame with a special brushed effect and treated it to a no-rust process, then picked out detail parts in the wonderful red: seat, grips, and HT leads.They’ve done an awesome job of capturing the inspiration bike’s spirit, while giving the whole thing a kick-ass nod to modern custom styles of scrambler and flat-tracker. The Meisters are very pleased with the result, and have hit their intended goals of making it a joy to ride – it’s both light and powerful. They’re so pleased with it in fact that their next project is another Beemer. As of our last word with them, the bike was still for sale, so if it’s taken your fancy then drop the guys a line. Mister Engineering Facebook | Web | Instagram