BERLIN-BUILT, AMERICAN SOUL

Why would BMW, with all of its technology and engineering and forward-thinking design, build a stripped-down, black-and-chrome, big-bore American-style cruiser? Despite declining sales, American cruisers remain the bestselling segment in the States. Nab a percentage of that market, and BMW should have a sales-floor winner. It tried in the late ’90s with the half-baked R 1200 C, and it was clear the Germans just didn’t get it.

Now, 16 years after it gave up on that first stab, BMW Motorrad has gone all-in with its R 18. It’s mammoth in every proportion, especially the boxer behemoth dominating the airspace forward of your shins. Two 107.1mm pistons punching left and right make for an intentionally lumpy idle. The bars shake and move with each power pulse. Objects in the mirror blur as you thunder through the gears. This is not an R 1200 C.

BMW teased the release of the R 18 for 18 months with a series of customs from builders around the world. And now the production version is here. It is truly a thing of beauty. Not often does a production bike outshine concepts and sketches. Yet from nearly every single angle, that is what the black-and-chrome First Edition R 18 does. From the long and beautifully proportioned black-with-white-pinstriped fuel tank,