taking pre-orders for a year already by then , what the industry got instead was a second ' official ' factory pre-production concept , the R 18 / 2 ( or " Slash Two " as BMW pimped it - " one engine , two characters " was the sales pitch ). Both the concepts were then subsequently seen in a rare factory foray into the custom bike show scene at the December 2019 Custombike Show at Bad Salzuflen , Germany . That was followed by a press blitz for the " Biggest , Baddest Boxer " engine ( 1,802 cc , 91 bhp , 116.5 ft lb torque , 107.1 mm bore , 100 mm stroke ), with March of 2020 seeing the release of patent filing design drawings . Finally , after 18 months of tease , BMW announced a live streaming unveil for the production cruiser on April 3rd , 2020 , with Heinrich up front and center in the launch video . The launch was accompanied by a ready-to-go accessory program thanks to partnerships with the likes of Roland Sands , Mustang Seats and Vance & Hines among others . That first model had an initial base model MRSP set at $ 17,495.00 and the reaction was mostly positive on both sides of the Atlantic - though in the United States there did appear to be some confusion by then about exactly what BMW was up to , confusion which
R 18 B
was to deepen by what came next . A first custom special edition in BMW ' s ' Soul Fuel ' series followed later that summer - a factory- backed Roland Sands ' Dragster ' iteration , along with another R 18 custom bike interpretation - Bernhard Naumann ' s ' Blechmann R 18 ' two weeks later . The scope of the program ' s ambition and the long run that BMW was coming in on started to become fully apparent when , in October 2020 , BMW added a second model to start the process of turning the R 18 platform into a " range ." The addition of the new R 18 Classic as a " nostalgic touring bike that echoes the beginnings of the great touring cruiser models " ( large windscreen , passenger seat , saddlebags , additional LED headlights and 16-inch front wheel ) was , in turn , followed in January this year by the second factory backed custom in the " Soul Fuel " series - Dirk Oehlerking ' s outstanding Kingston Customs Art Deco inspired ' Spirit of Passion ' ( see AMD August ). Are you still with me ? The story to that point ? Simply put , from first design work in 2015 to the start of this year , we had two official pre-production concepts , five factory or semi / quasi factory backed customs ( at least ) and two production models .
58 AFTERMARKET MOTO DESIGN - OCTOBER 2021 www . AMDchampionship . com