Running Lean: Fuel Motorcycles' sleek R65

‘Svelte’ is not a word that sits comfortably in the BMW design language. These days, the machines that roll out of BMW Motorradwerk in Berlin are best described as imposing—or in the case of the sportbikes, angular. It wasn’t always that way, though. The R65 of the early 1980s had a compact frame, and it’s that slender underpinning that defines this elegant new custom from Spain. It’s the work of Karles Vives of Barcelona-based Fuel Motorcycles. He’s the man responsible for Scram Africa, an epic ride across the North African desert, and best known for his neo-retro trail bikes and...