BMW R – Zillers' Killer

A bespoke bike created from a BMW R nineT blasts out of Russia

- By Duncan Quinn

Thundering through the mist from the future, a cyborg arrives clad in a sleek armadillo-like exoskeleton. He arrives on this thing. As if BMW were still cranking out fossil-fueled bikes in 2221. And the “Zillers Thriller” is where it’s at.

At least that is what this bike says to me, looking at it at a standstill planted on its bespoke pneumatics. It is like the fantastic lovechild of Terminator, Mad Max, Tron, Blade Runner and The Man In The High Castle. All bedecked in standard-issue Russian army matte grey atop its seamless aluminum curves. What a piece of kit.

BMW Motorrad Russia commissioned and paid for it. Dmitry Golubchikov of Zillers Custom Garage in Moscow dreamed it up and built it, taking a year to turn his aviation-inspired dreams into a bike constructed to aeronautic tolerances. In essence it is a 2016 BMW model R nineT—except for all the hand-built parts beaten, cast or 3D-printed just for the project. Meaning almost everything except the frame and drivetrain.