It’s a motorcycle that brings custom lovers and BMW devotees together featuring over 200 horsepower at the rear wheel and a higher torque figure than the formidable six-cylinder K 1600 GT.

From the first glance anyone can see this is no ordinary boxer, it’s a turbo-charged special known as the ‘Slugger’, created by Swedish custom bike builder Stellan Egeland.

In a discipline traditionally dominated by American V-twin motorcycles, Stellan came to the attention of many custom fans, including those in the BMW community several years ago when he created a project bike known as the ‘Harrier’, loosely based on the BMW R 1200 S. The motorcycle took second place in the European bike building championship and went on to enter the world championship of custom bike building in Sturgis, USA.

The Harrier was sold to an enthusiast in California and is now in a showroom in Beverly Hills, but Stellan missed riding it so much, he decided to start building a simpler version of the Harrier.

But, as is often the case with custom bike builders, he got carried away and an even more radical project started taking shape. Finding spare time is not easy for a guy who works from 7am to 11pm most days, but after five months and a total of 854 hours of painstakingly detailed work in his spare time, the ‘Slugger’ was finished.

Reportedly, Stellan chooses BMWs to customize in the first place purely because he likes the look of the boxer engine. He makes no design sketches as he is able to visualize exactly what the finished product will be. The Slugger looks huge, but a lot of care has been taken to keep the weight down, such as grinding away any excess material from the turbo and using titanium wherever possible, like on the exhaust. As such, the Slugger only weighs 173 kg dry, or 190 kg with a full tank of fuel.

When he sits on the bike, the weight distribution is exactly 50/50 front to rear. The fuel tank is located under the seat and a pressure pipe from the turbo (in the form of an oval aluminum tube) can now be seen where the tank used to sit. There is a carbon-fiber scoop used to direct air to the intercooler, which is located just in front of the seat, under the scoop. All the milled parts are supplied by Swedish performance parts specialists ISR, who have made the special hub steering system and all the brake parts. Another Swedish company – ?hlins – has supplied the suspension.

“My intention with the Slugger was primarily power, but I also like the look of technology and tubing all over the place, so the turbo got to be a big part of the design,” said Stellan, explaining that this high-tech, futuristic machine is designed to be ridden, not just looked at.

Despite all the trick components, its base is still an HP2 Sport, and as anyone who has ever ridden BMW Motorrad’s finest ever sports boxer will testify, handling and road-holding are everything – something which is important to Stellan too.

“From 5,000 to 8,000 rpm, we get around 200Nm at the rear wheel, and that is really fun to use when you ride it, “notes Stellan, “The acceleration is impressive and it pulls extremely hard, no matter what speed you are running at. I don’t know what the top speed of the Slugger is, but I guess that it wouldn’t take too long before you hit the rev limit, or blow off the back of the bike, since it is naked!”