Welcome to the BIG league
There are bikes that you instantly love or hate, and there are those that require a bit longer for you to form a balanced opinion. Given that the new BMW R18 B is a laid-back, easy-riding bagger, it’s natural that it falls in the latter category.
The B is not the type of bike that I often ride, so the first 50 miles I was just getting used to the Harleyesque feel and recalibrating my brain to not worry if the revs didn’t go north of 2k very often. The next 50 miles I felt like I got the bike – as the miles increased, so did my appreciation of the bike. And as we negotiated some twisty country roads in the final 50 miles, I had made up my mind: this is a great bike, but it’s not for everyone.
So, what is it?
The R18 B is the third bike in BMW’s R18 ‘Big Boxer’ series – and when BMW says big, they really mean BIG: these bikes are powered by 1802cc boxer twins.
Following the success of the R18 and the R18 Classic (4000 units sold worldwide, not bad during a pandemic),
