BMW R18 is out.

[beemerboy]

3 hours ago, roadscholar said:

They (BMWNA) probably aren’t lurking here for feedback on this one but if so maybe they read my previous post (either one). They don’t give a flying fartimus what people on this forum think, it ain’t about us. How many times do I need to say it, maybe all caps would help : )

And you know this how? Regardless, never speak in absolute terms unless you are absolutelty certain. In your case I'm not too sure. 

[roadscholar]

4 hours ago, beemerboy said:

And you know this how? Regardless, never speak in absolute terms unless you are absolutelty certain. In your case I'm not too sure. 

 

Hell I don't know anything for sure it's just my opinion. The point is this forum of RT, GS, RS, and GT riders is a blip on the radar compared to how many H-D riders there are in the US. It's a huge segment BMW is trying to tap into with the bike, it's not about performance, handling, technology, engineering, or comfort, all the reasons we like BMW's. It's a mindset about a lifestyle, a look, a sound, a badass image.

 

I've been going to Bike Week pretty regularly for the past 50 years or so and have a little insight how it's morphed into what it is today and why. In it's heyday Daytona's population nearly tripled to 4 or 500k, 95% of the bikes were one brand. They weren't BMW's and year after year it's always been the same. Hundreds of thousands of them parading around in a 60 square mile area, it makes an MOA rally look like a family picnic.

 

I was a Yamaha dealer for several years in the 80's too so gained a little insight how the motorcycle biz works. It's when Virago's and Maxim's (cruisers) came out, we sold them 5 to 1 over any other model, you couldn't give away a Euro style bike then. We were putting straight pipes on Virago 750's and 920's (V-twins) and they were flying out the door, you couldn't get enough of them. 

 

Then one day in 1980 a guy traded in a brown R65 on a Seca 750, it was the last bike outside at closing time so I said WTH I'll ride that old turd home. Within a few miles it dawned on me I was riding a two wheel 356 (vintage 4cyl Porsche) and fell in love with it, so a few dozen Beemers later I'm here and you'll just have to put up with the BS : ) but in the end the proof is in the pudding, time will tell, and it ain’t over till the fat lady sings.

[fourteenfour]

7 hours ago, Miguel! said:

Honestly, I like it. I liked the concept much better than the basic bike, especially the pipes. Jeff, you did a pretty nice configuration job on it, especially the pipes. I like it much better than the base model. I suspect that eventually there will be people making custom parts for the bike, addressing both performance and aesthetics,  just like Harley. I look forward to riding one but probably wouldn't buy one till there was a faired version available because its just too cold along the central California coast. 

 

 HD sells about 28K bikes a year in the US and Indian a growing fraction of that (I couldn't find sales number for Indian). By comparison, BMW sells about 13K bikes  in the US. If they can take even 5% of the market from HD/Indian, they will grow their North American revenue by ~10%. So it's not surprising the BMW entered this market, even if the cruiser market is slowing. 

 

I'm not disagreeing with any of you nor criticizing anyone's comments. I'm just looking at it from the BMW corporate perspective. And it's just my opinion.

 

Cheers...

Miguel!

 

While I agree Mike did a good job with his configuration job I really am not keen on having to spend so much to fix some of the issues the base model has. If they allowed some custom configuration from the factory so you are no left with parts laying around I would like the idea much more but that is not the case.

 

As for your sales numbers, Harley Davidson sold over two hundred thousand motorcycles world wide and sixty percent of those were in the US. BMW US and Canada sales were around fifteen thousand in 2019.

 

Now I am still waiting on the bagger version of the R18, both  Heritage/Road King style and their StreetGlide version. I really like the idea of that large engine but the base "Icon" model is not anything I will touch

 

As for competing with Harley, BMW needs more than one "Icon" model to start customization from. The real trick with Harley isn't that they give you the option to customize your bike it is that give you so many bases from which to start that customization. BMW however is basically giving one high priced entry point making your final goal much further off. It won't work. Look at their R9T line, they had to expand it to give people more choices.

[roadscholar]

58 minutes ago, fourteenfour said:

Now I am still waiting on the bagger version of the R18, both  Heritage/Road King style and their StreetGlide version. I really like the idea of that large engine but the base "Icon" model is not anything I will touch

 

As for competing with Harley, BMW needs more than one "Icon" model to start customization from. The real trick with Harley isn't that they give you the option to customize your bike it is that give you so many bases from which to start that customization. BMW however is basically giving one high priced entry point making your final goal much further off. It won't work. Look at their R9T line, they had to expand it to give people more choices.

 

Give it time man, Harley’s had 75 years to perfect that bit of market strategy. Bmw’s been at it a few months with the R18, heck it’s not in showrooms yet I don’t think.

[TEWKS]

13 minutes ago, roadscholar said:

 

Give it time man, 

 

So true, I just hope I don't end up buying one. I have a history of owning bikes that I thought were hidious at first sight. Jeff's configured bike was like "hey not bad" Ingrid!  

[AZgman]

I finally found where the mufflers come from...

[MontanaMark]

Judging from some of the posts, I'm reminded of the furor BMW encountered with the introduction of the K bike.  SACRILEGE!  

 

Cheers,

Mark

[Rinkydink]

I believe if it gets more people in the dealership door that is a good thing. Let them ride one. If 4-5 out of 100 people buy it so be it. I agree they need different versions (read—drag pipes and more useless chrome) to entice also. I’m sure hope that is coming down the pike. Not my cup o tea but go go BMW. 

[roadscholar]

2 hours ago, MontanaMark said:

Judging from some of the posts, I'm reminded of the furor BMW encountered with the introduction of the K bike.  SACRILEGE!  

 

Cheers,

Mark

 

Yep not much different than when the Boxster came along, the Porsche faithful bitched and moaned but everyone else bought one and rescued them from dismal times..

[AZgman]

 

[Ponch]

On 4/6/2020 at 3:18 PM, Jeff in VA said:

It looks much better without that bulbous muffler. I took a shot at configuring one and came up with this. 

 

The  bags are useless as is the windscreen.

[Ponch]

It's not made for tall folks, not much rear suspension, small gas tank, where to stow gear? Bar hopper I suppose. 

[AviP]

I like the looks with the optional "machined" parts. But I probably will not buy it.

[RTinNC]

On 4/6/2020 at 6:18 PM, Jeff in VA said:

It looks much better without that bulbous muffler. I took a shot at configuring one and came up with this. 

 

Nice job!  That is pretty much how I would build it.  And those pipes not only look better but have a much better sound based on the walk-around video above. 

[roadscholar]

I really like the 1800cc air cooled motor and can envision a number of other applications including a scrambler model and maybe an even bigger ADV bike. Which brings up other not so far fetched ideas including experimental aircraft and smallish vintage air-cooled cars. Back in the day it wasn't that uncommon for power junkies to shoehorn a VDub motor into a /2 frame. I could see someone going the other way with this big guy and stuffing it into an old Beetle, dunebuggy, or even a (driver) 356 with the way their component values are going. 

 

/2 superbike, just plan your stops well ahead : )

 

 

https://www.roadracingworld.com/news/bmw-introduces-new-2021-model-r-18-cruiser/

Drive

The most powerful BMW boxer engine of all time with historical roots and abundant torque.

The new BMW R 18 is all about motorcycling in its purest form: instinct over mind, technology not for its own sake but as a way of creating powerful emotion. The BMW Motorrad Concept R 18 already made its debut with this message at the Concorso d’Eleganza Villa d’Este in May 2019: now the R 18 series production version enriches the BMW Motorrad Heritage World of Experience as a highly expressive return to the core of the BMW Motorrad brand – the boxer engine.

The centerpiece of the new BMW R 18 is a completely newly developed 2-cylinder boxer engine – the “Big Boxer”. Not only in terms of its impressive outward appearance but also from a technical point of view, the new “Big Boxer” ties in with the traditional boxer engines that were synonymous with motorcycles from Munich and Berlin-Spandau for around 70 years, from the beginning of BMW Motorrad production in 1923 through to the appearance of the air/oilcooled successor: these were engines with a clear-cut design, created for optimum reliability and ease of maintenance, and featuring logically arranged, yet high-performance, technology.

With its OHV valve drive along with a separate engine and transmission housing, the new “Big Boxer” has the same structural features that distinguished the very first BMW Motorrad boxer engine, which at that time had laterally controlled valves. The highest-capacity twin-cylinder boxer engine ever to be used in motorcycle series production is an 1802 cc engine, resulting from a 107.1 mm bore and 100.0 mm stroke. The engine output is 67 kW (91 hp) at 4,750 rpm. The maximum torque of 158 Nm (116 lbs-ft) is already available at 3,000 rpm, with more than 150 Nm (110 lbs-ft) available at any time from 2,000 to 4,000 rpm.

This ensures strong acceleration and – in conjunction with a generously sized flywheel mass – running smoothness as well. These are the crucial benefits of this level of power and torque during riding. The maximum engine speed is 5,750 rpm, while the idle speed is 950 rpm.

Air/oil cooling, vertically split engine housing and triple plain bearing crankcase.

The new “Big Boxer” is air/oil cooled, has large ribbed cylinders and cylinder heads and weighs 110.8 kg (244 lbs), including gearbox and intake system. It has a vertically split aluminum engine housing.

Unlike the classic air-cooled 2-valve boxer engines made by BMW Motorrad, the Big Boxer’s crankshaft, forged from hardened and tempered steel, has an additional main bearing at its center. This was necessary due to the large cylinder volume in order to prevent undesirable bending vibrations of the crankshaft.

Like the crankshaft, the two connecting rods with I-shaft are mounted on plain bearings and are also forged from hardened and tempered steel. They accommodate cast aluminum pistons with two compression rings and an oil wiper ring. The running surface of the light metal cylinders is coated with NiCaSil.

Lubricating and cooling oil is supplied by a wet sump lubrication system with a two-stage oil pump via sleeve-type chain driven by the crankshaft.

Classic OHV valve drive with two camshafts as in the legendary R 5 and R 51 and also R 51/2 combined with modern 4-valve technology and dual ignition.

Although the new “Big Boxer” has four valves, dual ignition, a modern combustion chamber design, intake manifold injection and the BMS-O engine management system for the best possible torque as well as optimum fuel consumption and emissions, it uses the classic OHV configuration for its valve drive – as was the practice pursued by BMW Motorrad over a period of some 70 years.

When developing the valve drive for the “Big Boxer” and in keeping with the Heritage concept, BMW Motorrad engineers were inspired by a very special engine design in the history of BMW Motorrad: the 2-cylinder boxer engine of the R 5 and R 51 (1936 – 1941) and R 51/2 (1950 – 1951). In contrast to other OHV designs by BMW Motorrad, this engine – highly valued by connoisseurs – has two camshafts driven by the crankshaft via a sleeve-type chain.

As in the historical role model, the two camshafts are also positioned to the left and right above the crankshaft in the “Big Boxer”. The advantage of this “twin camshaft boxer” is the shorter pushrods. This arrangement reduces the moving masses, decreases deflection and minimizes the linear expansion of the push rods. A generally stiffer valve drive with improved control precision and higher speed stability is the result of this construction.

Fork rocker arm and manually adjustable valve clearance compensation via adjusting screws as in the traditional BMW boxer model.

In the traditional BMW Motorrad boxer design, the two pushrods actuate one pushrod per cylinder side for the intake and one for the exhaust side, guided in a sealed pushrod tube on the top of the cylinders. The two intake and exhaust valves in the cylinder head are actuated in pairs via fork rocker arms.

Here, valve clearance compensation is not affected by means of hydraulic elements – as was the case in most classic air-cooled BMW 2-valve boxers for decades – but via one adjusting screw with a lock nut for each valve. As was formerly the case in the classic 2-valve boxers, valve clearance adjustment (0.2 – 0.3 mm) in the R18 “Big Boxer” is also achieved very easily. The valves are made of steel, with a disc diameter of 41.2 mm on the inlet side and 35 mm on the outlet side. The valve angle is 21 degrees on the inlet side and 24 degrees on the outlet side.

Constant mesh 6-speed transmission and self-reinforcing single-plate dry clutch with antihopping function.

As in most BMW Motorrad boxer engines for decades (with the exception of vertical-flow, air/water-cooled boxers produced since 2012), a single-disc dry clutch transmits the torque generated by the engine to the transmission. For the first time it is designed as a self-reinforcing anti-hopping clutch, thereby eliminating unwanted rear wheel hop caused by engine breaking in the event of hard downshifting.

The constant mesh 6-speed transmission is located in a dual-section aluminum housing and is designed as a 4-shaft transmission with helical gear pairs. The gearbox input shaft with lug dampers drives the two gearbox shafts with the gear wheel pairs via a countershaft. A reverse gear is available as an option. This is driven by an intermediate gear and an electric motor and can be shifted manually.

Exposed driveshaft based on the classic role model.

As in all BMW motorcycles with boxer engines, torque is transmitted from the gearbox to the rear wheel in the R 18 via a driveshaft with universal joint, shaft and rear-axle drive with bevel and ring gear. The driveshaft and universal joint are examples of fascinating classic motorcycle technology and are nickel-plated and open, as was commonly the case in BMW Motorrad models up to and including model year 1955. A so-called tripoid joint (constant velocity joint) is applied on the gearbox side for the purpose of length compensation.