THE CONCEPT WAS SIMPLE…
Take professional snapper, Nick Edards, a pair of righteous BMWs, and two mates in case terrible things happened, and spend a weekend blasting some great roads.
The result would be epic images of magnificence and glory.
BMW Motorrad liked the concept, but probably because I did not tell anyone there about the likelihood of terrible things happening, and promptly sent me a pair of 2023 R18s.
One was the R18 Classic – which I immediately allocated to Nick because it had saddlebags where he could carry his cameras, and a screen to assist in him being less wind-blasted.
I took the other one – the Highline, dubbed so for a few reasons, and not just because it had a bigger front wheel. It also came with a lockable fuel cap, hill start control, and Headlight Pro (which includes Adaptive Headlight and Daytime Riding Light), as well heated grips, reverse gear, cruise control, an anti-theft alarm system, a high passenger kit (710mm), and footboards. And to sweeten it even further, mine had the option 719 wheels.
Obviously, BMW lets you deck your base R18 out with all sorts of goodies, and not just the ones mine and Nick had fitted – so make sure you spend some quality time with the catalogue when you set out to buy one.
I love me some bling. And having ridden all the R18 iterations over many miles, I knew this larger-diameter wheel would make an appreciable difference in corners. And it was also decked out in this killer matte gray-green paint scheme (called Manhattan Metallic, no less), boasted burnished alloy rather than the chrome on Nick’s Classic, and fielded a pair of Akrapovic mufflers with clever little end-caps designed to look like the BMW propellor logo. But of all the things it had, it also had nowhere to strap a bag on.
Obviously, Nick’s camera gear took priority over a change of clothes, wet-weather gear, a healing bottle of whiskey, and all the usual things a man needs with him when he goes motorcycle-riding for two days. So, I put what I could fit into astupid, and dangerous in an accident. I can’t quite put my finger on when they became a thing, but they are now quite popular, presumably because people are too dim to grasp the wisdom of the ocky strap, and bike manufacturers don’t always provide a model with anchor points for luggage.
