Guess which bike hides beneath this 13-foot-long art deco streamliner

Royal Enfields are notoriously good at being the lab rat for all kind of customization. In fact, its Shotgun 650 was itself ‘inspired by custom’ per the company… and that bike is exactly what serves as the donor heart of this gorgeous one-off creation.

Designed by Dirk Oehlerking from Kingston Custom, based in Gelsenkirchen, Germany, the finished bike is called the Kingsman, paying homage to the popular British comic book and film series of the same name. I’d best describe it as an art deco streamliner, but of course, there are more layers to it.

Oehlerking’s methods are traditional, where he often sticks to starting with a 1:1 scale on cardboard, as opposed to using digital renderings. And when he was satisfied with what he came up with for this one, he went on to assemble individual pieces from 2-mm aluminum sheets.

The result is a 3.9-m (12.8-ft) streamliner that may look like it’s meant to break land speed records, but a 650cc Enfield twin motor still powers it. And that’s hardly super fast. But this isn’t about speed; it’s about expansive imagination brought to life.

At the front of the Kingsman is a streamlined nose cone that’s supported by a hand-built bracket attached to the bike's steering neck. That nose is finished with the Shotgun 650's OEM LED headlight, under which sit the fork-mounted wheel covers.

The central fuselage is where most of the details are focused. There are cut-outs on either side that reveal the engine and the handmade exhausts, which are quite noticeably short.

On top of that, the bodywork is a central cover bolted down with rivet-type fasteners. Down below sit the foot controls that peek through all that bodywork. Oehlerking has also been mindful of cutting in a small hatch to take care of routine maintenance.

The cockpit sports custom-made handlebars with the stock controls and grips. It also maintains the original Royal Enfield speedo. Very neat indeed.

You’ll sit on a brown suede seat that's now positioned further back, right where the central and rear parts of the body intersect. That’s exactly where the custom's elongated tail section tapers from, finishing in a sharp concave cutout that sports a 1958 Cadillac taillight.

Oehlerking was also mindful of using the space behind the rear wheel wisely. He fitted it with a roomy storage compartment that’s lined with wood and suede, and kitted with … wait for it … an umbrella, a mirror, a comb, a bottle opener, gin, tonic, glasses, and some cutlery.

As much as it may seem like it, the Kingsman isn’t just supposed to be an art deco showpiece. It very much moves. There’s a custom-built fuel reservoir that's placed in front of the rear wheel, accessed through a retro-style filler cap.

The right-side-up forks were taken from the Royal Enfield Classic 650, while the rear shocks from the Shothun 650 were swapped for rigid struts. Even the 19-inch front and 18-inch rear wheels were taken from the Classic 650, which are now paired with whitewall tires. Oehlerking has finished the setup by extending the swingarm by 100 mm (4 in).

The Kingsman wears chromed bullet turn signals, a vintage Royal Enfield badge up front, and delicate pin-stripes on a chic cream color tone with gold accents. I’d love to swing a leg over it, but on a bike that’s almost 4 m long, I’d definitely have some difficulty parking the thing in tight spaces.

It’s clear this creation is meant more to be admired than ridden, but still, knowing the thing can run is still appreciable. But I still wouldn’t say it's practical – it absolutely isn't.

What makes the Kingsman so fascinating is its intricacies. In an era where custom builds increasingly rely on CAD renderings, algorithms, and social-media-friendly shock value, there's something refreshing about a builder spending countless hours shaping metal by hand to create something this gloriously unnecessary.

Sure, it's still a Shotgun 650 underneath. But that's like saying the Statue of Liberty is just a pile of copper. Technically correct, perhaps. But completely missing the point.

Source: Royal Enfield x Kingston Custom