BAGGER TRICKS
A year ago BMW Motorrad did something it had spent the previous 16 years studiously avoiding. It launched the first model in a new family of cruisers, the first such machine since its R 1200 C Custom which ceased production in 2004. With cruisers dominating sales charts in the USA, BMW Motorrad CEO Markus Schramm felt the sector could no longer be avoided in BMW’s quest to topple Harley-Davidson from its global leadership in the premium motorcycle sector.
“But we must try doing this our own BMW way,” he insisted. “We never copy anyone, and that applies for this segment as well. It must be an authentic BMW.”
Hence the BMW R 18 B and its windshield and saddlebag-equipped R 18 Classic spinoff, both of which entered production a year ago, and have since sold well, with over 4000 examples delivered globally, especially in the USA, China and Germany. But now comes the heavy brigade – in more ways than one, –with the R 18 B (for bagger) and its R 18 Transcontinental full-dresser sister bike, both of them faired variants of BMW’s Cruiser platform with the exact same engine as the original R 18.
The chance to ride the R 18 B – a Transcontinental wan’t available – on a scenic, switchback 255km route through the hills and valleys of the Taunus Mountains north of Frankfurt, revealed how BMW is attacking the bagger segment, the largest individual sub-sector of the cruiser market. And not only because it declined to join the cruiser crowd by building a V-twin motor, but instead remained true to its roots by developing the R 18 Big Boxer, the
