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As was expected from spy photos and internet rumors, a bagger version of the BMW R18 has finally official broken its cover.

We always knew that BMW Motorrad’s gigantic air-cooled boxer-twin engine would be a platform for multiple models, so it shouldn’t surprise us to see the BMW R18 B debuting for the 2022 model year.

The bagger model launches with marque’s dresser variant, the BMW R18 Transcontinental, also coming to market, with both bikes available in August 2021.

Alas, the long wait is over, as BMW Motorrad has finally shown us the production version of its much-hyped cruiser model, the BMW R18.

Featuring the largest boxer engine ever produced by the German brand, the BMW R18 boasts an 1,802cc displacement for its two horizontally opposed cylinders.

As was teased, peak power is a paltry 90hp (67 kW), but the real attention-getter is the torque curve: 116 lbs•ft (158 Nm).

That peak torque figure hits at just a mere 3,000 rpm, but the BMW R18 churns out at least 110 lbs•ft (150 Nm) all the way from 2,000 rpm to 4,000 rpm, making for a nice broad power band to play with on the open road.

Though few details we given at this year’s EICMA show, we were thankful that we get to look forward to another year of BMW Motorrad hyping its upcoming air-cooled lineup of cruiser-styled motorcycles, which are known as the BMW R18 family.

That is right, the fun isn’t over, and surely the German motorcycle brand will delight us at least one more time with another concept machine that shows off its 1,800cc air-cooled boxer engine, and all of its massive glory.

Until then though, BMW Motorrad has decided to tease out the engine’s very impressive technical specifications, in an effort to appease the countless number of fans who are eagerly awaiting this motorcycle.

BMW Motorrad is very quietly teasing a new motorcycle platform, one that is centered around an 1,800cc boxer design.

BMW teased this new engine in a unique way, having Yuichi Yoshizawa and Yoshikazu Ueda of Custom Works Zon build a show bike around the boxer-twin, which we are showing here in the story.

With its vintage style, it is easy to disregard the prototype engine from BMW as being something from the German company’s past, and perhaps that is the point. The engine uses a push-rod design, and its cooling fins tip-off its air/oil-cooling mechanism.

Specifics  beyond this are non-existent, however, with BMW Motorrad simply saying that “further details about the engine and its possible future use will be communicated at a later point in time.”

We have drooled over Walt Siegl’s work before. First, it was the forged carbon Bol d’Or made in collaboration with David Yurman, which was followed by the Leggero model.

Our love affair ramped up with Walt’s Dakar-inspired Hypermotard, which was then followed by an even more adventure-ready machine built off the same platform, aptly named L’Avventura.

These bikes have helped to solidify Walt Siegl as one of the great motorcycle builders in the United States, and today’s addition only further bolsters that notion. As such, we bring you the simply named SBK models from Walt Siegl Motorcycles.

It might be still be summer, but our eyes are looking ahead to the new bike season in the fall and winter, where the major motorcycle manufacturers will debut their new motorcycles for the future.

The big trade shows to watch are INTERMOT and EICMA, as these have traditionally been the venues of choice for new model unveils, prototype teasers, and concept debuts.

One brand that is certainly going to be showing us some new motorcycles is BMW Motorrad, with the German company saying that it plans to launch nine new models in 2018.

What those nine models will be is up for conjecture, though we have some good ideas, and some bad ideas, on what they could be. Let’s take a look.

When we first heard that Ducati was bringing back the Supersport line, we were excited. The original SuperSport wasn’t exactly the best selling model for the Italian brand, but Ducati created some loyal enthusiasts with the half-faired sport-touring machine.

The new Ducati Supersport does a good job of tapping into the ethos of the old model, but visually it draws too close to the Ducati 1299 Panigale Superbike, rather than the lines of yore.

Here, Oberdan Bezzi plays another one of his “what if” games, drawing an air-cooled Supersport model (based off the current Scrambler platform), complete with the more classic half-fairing design. 

The Tokyo Motorcycle Show wrapped up this weekend, but the Mugen Shinden Nana isn’t the only surprise that the Japanese brand has in store for us. Mugen also debuted this interesting engine concept.

Mugen is pretty tight on details, but word out of Tokyo is that this is a 1,400cc, four-valve, air-cooled, push-rod motor design that Mugen is considering putting into production as a crate engine for bike builders, with a delivery date somewhere in 2020. 

We already got a good look at the 2018 Ducati Scrambler 1100 ahead of this year’s EICMA show, but now we have all the details on Ducati’s new heritage motorcycle. Surprisingly, it’s not just one motorcycle, but in fact three flavors of the Ducati Scrambler 1100 have debuted.

As such, there is the new Ducati Scrambler 1100, the Ducati Scrambler 1100 Special, and the more premium Ducati Scrambler 1100 Sport for the 2018 model year.

All three machines are built around Ducati’s venerable air-cooled v-twin engine design, which comes in a 1,079cc format and makes 84hp and 65 lbs•ft of peak torque.

The top of the food chain model for the Scrambler Ducati family, the Scrambler 1100 models all come with Bosch’s cornering ABS as standard, dual 320mm brake discs up front, which are mated to Brembo 4.32 calipers and a hydraulic master cylinder.

Ducati has also added 10-level traction control to the new Scrambler 1100 model, as well as a ride-by-wire throttle and an LED headlight. With an 18″ wheel up front, and a 17″ wheel in the back, the Ducati Scrambler 1100 series continues to sport the Pirelli MT60 RS tires.