The Blitz boys pose with their machine at BMW Motorrad Days.

The Great Escape - with a BMW R60/2

What does motorcycling mean to you? For the boys from Blitz Motorcycles, it's all about freedom, the open road, meeting new friends and building unique bikes that are designed to be used everyday but will always stand out from the crowd. One of their latest machines started life as a genuine BMW R 60/2 but has been interestingly customised and after creating an impact on the streets of Paris, has been making waves much further afield.

Known as 'The Great Escape', in homage to Steve McQueen's motorcycling heroics in the 1963 film of the same name, the Blitz Motorcycles' R 60/2 was first built in the same year that the movie was released. The model series ran from 1960 to 1969 and this classic boxer twin started life as a 30 bhp, 599cc machine. It belonged to Arno Bouchard, a good friend of Blitz's Fred Jourden, but after being knocked off it by a car in the French capital, Arno took it to a garage for repairs. After waiting a year for the bike to be fixed, he and Fred discovered that the garage had done none of the work and had even used some of the parts for fixing other clients' bikes.

Needless to say, Fred and Arno collected the bike and, having recently completed his motor technician training, Fred was keen to help his best friend out and fix up the R 60/2 himself. They took the bike to the workshop they had set-up with friend Hugo Jézégabel and so the project began, as Fred explains...

"At the time, we were very much into matt black painting and this was the artistic direction that we took for this project. Once we stripped down the bike to find out exactly what was missing, we were able to begin with the frame and body parts, which were all powder-coated or painted in matt black, with high-temperature resistant paint. We then rebuilt the engine with new gaskets and simplified the electric wiring. Also, the engine was recovered with high-temperature matt black painting, as well as the Vattier mufflers.

"Because we are both big fans of the movie 'The great Escape', we thought it would be fun to use Trials tyres on the BMW as a tribute to the Triumph TR6 Trophy used by Steve McQueen in the film. However, when researching these tyre options, I discovered that the aggressive profile of 'cross tires were even more interesting and suited this bike perfectly, so that's what we went for."

When Fred and Hugo got all of Arno's BMW parts back from the paint shop, they spent the next couple of weeks totally reassembling the R 60/2, although they had left the mudguards off at this point due to the profile of the tyres. However, when they put the wheels back in, they realised that it would be a shame to cover up the amazing look of the 18-inch knobblies, so form won over function and the mudguards have stayed in their boxes ever since.

After a few attempts to kick-start the 47-year-old bike, she eventually fired up and sounded amazing. Outside the temperature was hot, it was a sunny weekend and there was only one thing to do, as Fred confirms:

"It was time to 'expose' the BMW. We headed towards the most crowded place in Paris (the Marais district) and parked up. The effect was amazing and in no time at all, a crowd of men, women, young and old swarmed around the BMW, taking pictures with cameras and phones, asking questions and wanting to know all about the bike. Arno was treated like a rock star and his 'iron horse' was surrounded by dozens of people."

Buoyed by the reaction to this project bike, Fred, Hugo and some other friends decided to make a short film featuring the R 60/2. They had already enjoyed making a previous film called 'Riding September', which was an evocative slice of motorcycling life set in the sunny south-west of France to a Felice Brothers soundtrack, and featuring a number of their project bikes including a BMW R 100/7 'street-tracker' from 1979, a 1984 R 80/7 and a Yamaha XT500.

The Great Escape uniquely features the all-black R 60/2 and is set in the depths of winter in the grounds of a French chateau. The boys make the films just for fun, in the same way as they build the bikes. It's not about the money, according to Fred, it's all about the journey.

"We just enjoy everything we do and if it helps pay the rent, then it's enough for us," says the 36-year-old. "We don't need to be rich in money, just rich in life. The reaction to the films have been amazing - we were expecting some negative feedback from the 'purists', but it just hasn't happened - and everyone loved 'The Great Escape' when we took it to BMW Motorrad Days in Garmisch. These projects are, above all, just friends helping each other out, without any money changing hands - just the pleasure of being together and creating something unique from our own, oil-stained hands!"

To find out more about the boys from Blitz Motorcycles, and to see the 'Riding September' and 'The Great Escape' short films, please visit http://www.blitz-motorcycles.com which is available in English and French language versions.