Jay Beier has spent his life working in gas mechanical, plumbing, and pipefitting. The husband and father of two, is a full-time estimator for a natural gas utility in the greater Nashville area and is the personification of the working-class builder ethos. There is no year-long waitlist for a slot in his garage, nor does he churn out flashy, hyper-stylized show bikes designed strictly for Instagram algorithms. Beier appreciates well-crafted engineering that lasts, performs, and gets the job done right. He builds purely for the love of the craft, and the deeper you look into his work, the clearer that passion becomes.
We first crossed paths with Beier at the inaugural Builder’s Best Show in Lebanon, Tennessee, with his custom 1984 BMW R100. For those in the know, the late-era R100 is the quintessential airhead workhorse, which is probably why it is the choice of so many customizers. It was powered by a 980 cc air-cooled, four-stroke boxer twin producing roughly 70 horsepower, with a five-speed gearbox and shaft final drive. It offers a robust, stable platform, exactly what a builder is looking for.
Adopting the Brat Style credited to Go Takamine of Tokyo’s famed Brat Style shop in Japan, Beier has updated the mild-mannered rambler with a stripped minimalist street stance. Beier started with an updated subframe topped with a custom seat. Up front, elevated riser bars mount to a Motogadget top clamp and house integrated indicator lights. The cockpit remains exceptionally clean, seamlessly pairing classic lines with modern utility.
Beneath the understated aesthetic lies serious mechanical work. Beier started by tearing down the engine. While the crank was left untouched, everything else was gone through to ensure reliability on the road. The Bing carburetors now breathe through high-flow pod filters. At the same time, spent gases exit through a stainless-steel exhaust system from Cone Engineering, leveraging every potential performance gain from the 40-plus-year-old motor.
The electrical architecture received an equally thorough modern upgrade. A Motogadget m-unit controller manages the system, delivering power to minimal handlebar push-buttons, a digital speedometer, and Kuryakan LED turn signals. For Beier, the wiring is a point of immense pride. Standing next to the machine, he enthusiastically flips through phone photos detailing wire routing, heat-shrink sleeves, and hidden connectors with the same pride most parents reserve for family albums.
Despite its utilitarian roots, this R100 packs substantial performance upgrades. Up front, the stock telescopic forks were binned in favor of a modern Suzuki GSX-R inverted setup, mated using custom CNC-machined triple trees from Cognito Moto. Out back, updated YSS twin shocks damp the swingarm. With the updated potential for speed and increased front-end rigidity, dual Tokico radial calipers now bite down on upgraded rotors, giving the airhead modern stopping power while retaining its classic rear drum setup.
A pair of cast wheels were freshly powder-coated in black and wrapped in Avon Trailrider AV54 rubber. Technically rated as a 90/10 dual-sport tire, the aggressive tread blocks hint at Beier’s potential intention to push this bike beyond pristine tarmac. Combined with the upright seating position and the low center of gravity inherent to the boxer layout, it is built to be ridden hard and put away wet.
See It Live at Barber Vintage Festival
Jay Beier’s R100 is proof that world-class custom motorcycles don’t require corporate sponsorships or million-dollar shop setups, just vision, patience, and a relentless work ethic.
You can inspect Beier’s build in person alongside custom creations from Marek Kruszynski, Parker Zamarelli, and top builders from across the continent at the Builder’s Best Show, presented by the BMW MOA. The showcase takes place during BMW Motorrad Days Americas within the Barber Vintage Festival in Birmingham, Alabama, from October 9–11, 2026.
If you’re riding your BMW to Barber, you don’t have to leave your machine in the main parking lot. All BMW owners are invited to ride their motorcycles directly into the Builder’s Best display area on Friday and Saturday to park, hang out, and show off their rides alongside these featured custom builds.
(Photo Credit: Tom Gosselin )
