Baula

Baula

El Solitario's boundarypushing BMW custom

Baula is the Spanish name for the leatherback turtle, the huge sea creature that inspired the build. The bike was commissioned by one of David Borras' friends, Jimmy. Years earlier, the pair had hidden, drunk, in the grass of a Costa Rican beach as the leatherbacks dragged their bulk up the sand to lay eggs.

Squint and you can see the resem blance. The cylinders and heads, stuck out in the breeze, are Baula's flippers. This behemoth is marginally better on land than in water, though.

Baula started life as a 1969 R75/5."The inspiration was a mixture of the 1939 TT-winning BMW Rennsport and the Art Deco Henderson

scooter" Borras explains. El Solitario fit ted a huge Hoske touring tank and made the subframe, curved race seat, deeply skirted front fender and tinted windscreen. The engine was rebuilt, in standard trim, and fitted with Velocette Thruxton fish tail pipes. Twin Bates headlights, Royal Enfield bar-end levers and Buco panniers finish the look.

I followed the build on the Internet and remember thinking it was shaping up to be a collection of the wildest "statement" parts but that it lacked cohesion. Then I saw its debut at the Wheels and Waves show in the south of France last summer, and I instantly fell for it. It is the antithesis of things I normally look for in a bike, yet I still love it.

"Baula is the beautiful chubby girl," says Borras with real affection. "Anything you put on her looks great." -Gary Inman