Meet Beijing’s new bike builder

“Building bikes in China is an adventure similar to Frodo’s journey to Mordor,” says Daryl Villanueva, an art director turned custom bike builder in Beijing. Using Chang Jiang 75s — a WWII-era copy of a Soviet copy of a 1938 BMW R71 — as a base, he’s hoping to create a new style of custom motorcycle designed by and for the Chinese market. The bike you see here is the first product of his new company, Bandit9. Dubbed “Loki,” it’s a do-it-all standard that improves on the original in every way.

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