This Stunning, Affordable BMW Street Moto Revise Embraces Its Retro Café Racer Appeal

The styling and price on this R12 nineT treatment are unbeatable, even if actually procuring one is rather logistically challenging.

Blue BMW motorcycle fuel tank and front fairing with gold front suspension forks.

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By Steve Mazzucchi

Published December 1, 2025

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Updated December 2, 2025

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The finest chess players can checkmate you with a minimal number of moves. Similarly, Shiro Nakajima’s 46Works can transform a stock motorcycle with just a few understated brush strokes.

That rare skill is on display with the custom shop’s revision of BMW’s R12 nineT, whose base form is such a willing blank canvas it’s practically a Honda Civic on two wheels.

Blue BMW motorcycle with gold front forks and round headlight parked on grass near a wooden building. — What a difference a color makes. In the case of this magical moto makeover, that color is called 46 Blue.

Munich-based Diamond Atelier gave the bike a high-end, limited-run makeover in July.

Now, from Japan’s Yatsugatake Mountains comes a refined riposte so casually confident, it calls to mind Val Kilmer’s Doc Holliday cheekily flipping around his whiskey cup in Tombstone.

Just blue it

The first smart move 46Works made with what it calls the R12 nineT 46Works Complete Custom #02 was to not even touch the original bike’s chassis and engine.

Why bother when the 1,170cc boxer already makes a substantial 109 hp at 7,000 rpm and peak torque of 85 lb-ft at 6,500 rpm?

Blue BMW motorcycle with gold front forks and black tires parked on grass in front of a building. — The 46Works crew wisely laid off the engine, instead focusing on little things like the low-riding TANAX mirrors.

No, the starting point for this makeover is not its heart but rather its skin, thanks to a beguiling hue called 46 Blue, whose look shifts depending on how the light hits it, ranging from warm, soft tones to metallic highlights.

Complementing this color are the gold legs of the suspension fork, wire spoke wheels befitting the bike’s boxer shape and a bikini cowl framing that big round LED headlight.

Front view of a blue BMW motorcycle with a round headlight on and gold front forks. — From this angle, you can appreciate just how smoothly the white accent stripes flow from the bikini cowl to the tank.

White lines snake across that mini-fairing, the contoured tank and the single-seat cowl, accenting the bike’s curves with minimal fuss.

Low-profile TANAX 46 mirrors and a machined 46Works badge are two well-appointed indicators of this makeover’s provenance, yet more examples of the under-the-radar attitude.

The minimal moves are a big reason this custom bike still lands under $20,000.

BMW Motorrad Sagamihara

Speaking like a chess grandmaster, Nakajima himself says: “This is the second R12 nineT 46works Complete Custom that keeps costs down with as few moves as possible, but brings out the charm of this model even more.”

He’s not kidding.

Blue motorcycle fuel tank with white graphics and digital speedometer on handlebars. — A Micro TFT meter panel can be added to the dash for those who crave a bit more digital modernity.

Derived from a brand-new R12 nineT, it retains BMW’s warranty while carrying a price tag roughly equivalent to $19,170 USD, less than two grand over the bike’s base price of $17,245.

The biggest challenge, then, is actually procuring one.

Availability and pricing

Just nine units are being produced — and sold for 2,998,000 yen through BMW Motorrad Sagamihara in Kanagawa — meaning more than a few moves would be required to bring a bike stateside.

Blue BMW motorcycle with gold front forks and round headlight parked on grass.

R12 nineT 46Works Complete Custom #02

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About the Author:

Now managing editor, Steve has served in a variety of roles with GP since 2019. Having previously written and edited for such publications as Men’s Health, Men’s Journal, Esquire and ESPN, he enjoys covering a range of topics — but mostly those pertaining to cycling, snow sports, pocket knives and motos — and dreams of a utopian world in which everyone’s bike seat is at the proper height.

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