It’s personal

The first motorcycle launch I attended was the BMW R nineT Scrambler in Cape Town in 2016. A month or two before that I had the machine to test ride for a week. In conversations and on the website, the one element that BMW Motorrad emphasised was how the R nineT was “made for individualisation” with various parts and accessories.

When BMW launched its R18 cruiser in 2020, individualisation and customisation were once again front and centre in the discussion. To launch the R18, BMW published A Bavarian Story, a 15-episode series that took you on the journey of the motorcycle, from conception and design to launch and customisation.

In episode 8, which focused on Individualisation options, one of the places that the protagonist, Tommy Kerns visits is the Roland Sands Design (RSD) premises in Long Beach, California. I first heard the name Roland Sands when learning that he had created custom parts for the R nineT. Digging deeper, I discovered he had collaborated with BMW Motorrad before, in 2013, to create the Concept Ninety, as a celebration of 40 years of the classic boxer BMW R 90 S.

I have come across the Roland Sands Design name more and more while delving into the world of motorcycles; and I have become curious how this American “custom motorcycle, parts and apparel company with roots in racing and the custom bikes scene” has gone international.

My lens has probably been coloured by the multitude of custom motorcycle reality shows that were all the rage a few years ago. Roland Sands, the man, came up in motorcycle racing while growing up in and around Performance Machine, a manufacturer of custom motorcycle parts established by his parents Perry and Nancy Sands. Sands eventually became Director of R&D and design before leaving to establish Roland Sands Design in 2005.

As to why he left, Sands says, “Everyone has to jump out of the nest at some point and, when my parents sold the business, I needed to create my own entity that I had ownership of. Using my name was part of that strategy as I didn’t want to build a brand that could be taken away from me by big business.”

Since then, RSD has built more than 250 custom motorcycles, working with just about every major original equipment manufacturer (OEM) in the two-wheel industry, including Ducati, Indian, Harley-Davidson, KTM and BMW.

For Sands, collaboration has to be with “a like mind in the product and design direction. We’ve always focused our partnerships on large brands ... so we can take advantage of the marketing and leverage our audience as well. It works well for product launches and momentum.

“We like to work on machines that were built with customisation in mind. It makes the ability to personalise something that much easier. Many brands do that well today. The BMW was like a whole new world ... it was a learning experience, but in the end we got something very cool and different.”

The latest collaboration is a Hooligan-inspired FTR, built around the FTR Carbon R model, with Indian Motorcycles, which I had the joy of riding earlier this year. Of this collaboration, Sands says, “The FTR, while being fully designed, still has the ability to transform while staying true to its streetfighter roots and raw mentality.”

When asked about RSD’s most challenging and rewarding designs/builds, Sands says, “Scooters like the TMAX (Yamaha) were tough, but can be pretty fun to do. I like to combine styles and see what we get. The BMW R7 we did was a tough build. An entire new way to build a chassis and bodywork, it was more like a car. But the toughest by far has been the King of the Baggers. Trying to create road racers out of the Indian Challenger has been crazy difficult, but very rewarding.”

Sands has also collaborated with riding gear and apparel makers, such as Bell Helmets, White’s Boots, Kriega and Hurley, which all complement the RSD collections. RSD accessories range from eyewear, watches and jewellery to hats, caps and wallets, and socks and skateboard decks. Top of my wishlist is the RSD x White’s Foreman Oxblood Boots.

Overall, Roland Sands’ design philosophy is simple. “What you think about you bring about, so think about cool shit!”