POISE, NO NOISE
Popular Mechanics South Africa|Popular Mechanics January/February 2021 issue
BMW’s R18 cruiser seems absurdly late to market, and does a 1800 cc, 345 kg leviathan make any sense in this day and age? PM took a closer look.
PETER FROST
POISE, NO NOISE
BMW MOTORRAD’S raison d’être has always been touring, touring, touring, either on- or off-road. Exceptions aside (the nutty S 1000 RR springs to mind), Markus Schramm’s team has served up clinical, superbly engineered continent flatteners for close on 50 years, epitomised by the ReiseTourer boxer road bikes (RT) and the Gelände/Straße off-road stalwarts (GS).

THE REASONING

Why, then, introduce a giant, lowriding cruiser, more Milwaukee than Berlin? The answer, in a phrase, is new markets. BMW’s recent retro obsession boils down to a desire to capture a younger, hipster market. Faced with a saturated touring market (of mostly older, white men), the marketing gurus suggested a fusing of BMW history and the current vogue for all things retro. First were the so-called naked bikes, the R nineT range – emotive machines conjuring up the marque’s own halcyon days of the R27 back in 1967, recalling the Fonda/Dean years of no limits, no responsibilities and boundless freedom. Add the inherent style of the 1960s, mix in a dollop of German technology, and Bob’s your Bavarian uncle – a new market and a jump in sales.

Next, is this – the affluent urban-weekender market, dominated by cruisers rather than café racers, mostly Harley-Davidsons – mobile middle fingers from a tribe of surrendered baby boomers who are weighed down by responsibility, spreadsheets and entitled teenage children.

Into this demanding ring steps Roland Sands’ leviathan R18: layers of cutting-edge technology clothed in a suit of BMW history, aiming to steal market share from Milwaukee’s Fat Boy.

THE BIKE

هذه القصة مأخوذة من طبعة Popular Mechanics January/February 2021 issue من Popular Mechanics South Africa.

ابدأ النسخة التجريبية المجانية من Magzter GOLD لمدة 7 أيام للوصول إلى آلاف القصص المتميزة المنسقة وأكثر من 9,000 مجلة وصحيفة.

هذه القصة مأخوذة من طبعة Popular Mechanics January/February 2021 issue من Popular Mechanics South Africa.

ابدأ النسخة التجريبية المجانية من Magzter GOLD لمدة 7 أيام للوصول إلى آلاف القصص المتميزة المنسقة وأكثر من 9,000 مجلة وصحيفة.

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