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Riding the BMW R18 B & BMW R18 Transcontinental, A Review

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The American dream is alive and well in Berlin right now, as BMW Motorrad has pushed itself into the American touring market with two heritage-based motorcycles for the 2022 model year: the BMW R18 B bagger and the BMW R18 Transcontinental dresser.

Built around an air-cooled boxer-twin platform, these two machines are built for one purpose: to take some marketshare off of Harley-Davidson – the company that defines the category.

Many brands have attempted this exact feat, and few (if any) can lay claim to success, which makes the entire R18 lineup a bold move from the Bavarians, and one that has our focused attention.

Ready to see if the Germans can learn to speak American, we headed to Denver, Colorado to ride both the R18 B and the R18 Transcontinental on the open roads of The Rockies.

After a long day in the saddle, and with nearly 200 miles on the trip computer, the result? A mixed report card. Come read our review, and let me explain.

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Reviews

Gone Riding: BMW R18 B & BMW R18 Transcontinental

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Hello from a mile-up, as Asphalt & Rubber is in sunny Denver, Colorado to ride two bikes from the BMW Motorrad lineup: the BMW R18 B bagger and the BMW R18 Transcontinental dresser.

Two birds of the same feather, both bikes are built off the BMW R18 platform, which means that they have a mammoth 244-pound air-cooled boxer-twin engine at their core.

Built to tackle the American v-twin touring scene, the BMW R18 bikes have Harley-Davidson squarely in their sights.

Can the Germans take on one of America’s most iconic brands? That is what we are here to find out, with a day’s ride through The Centennial State.

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Bikes

BMW R18 B – The “B” Stands for Bagger

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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.

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Rumors

BMW All But Confirms That an R18 Bagger Is Coming Soon

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That BMW Motorrad is working on a bagger version of its R18 cruiser is perhaps not new information. The bike has been spied in a variety of ways by the eager eyes of the two-wheeled press.

Today though is our first teasing of its existence from the German brand though, as the company let slip in its yearly report that BMW Motorrad would soon be showing this new “touring” model to the world.

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Bikes

“Spirit of Passion” BMW R18 Custom by Kingston Custom

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BMW Motorrad has had no shortage of factory-backed custom motorcycle builds involving the BMW R18.

The giant air-cooled cruiser may have debuted with a retro vibe, but the Germans have been busy trying to build the platform’s street cred as a robust platform for customization.

Enter here the “Spirit of Passion” BMW R18 by Kingston Custom, which takes things full loop with a distinct vintage feel that included a dustbin front fairing that brings an art deco feel to the motorcycle.

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Rumors

BMW R18 Tourer Model Spotted in Patent Images

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We knew when the BMW R18 cruiser was first being teased that behemoth air-cooled motor from the Germans would be a platform for multiple motorcycles.

Now with the second BMW R18 model debuting for the 2020 model year, we get word of a third model – this time a bat-faired touring motorcycle.

We have seen spy shots of the bagger before, so today’s patent images, found by the talented Ben Purvis of BikeSocial, come as no surprise to our eyes.

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Bikes

Brap Talk Podcast #41 – A Loose Relationship with the Truth

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Episode 41 of the Brap Talk motorcycle podcast is back with another weekly episode, for your two-wheeled listening pleasure. In this show, we sit down and talk about a few bikes in particular.

We start out with the BMW R18, which has been sitting in the garage at A&R HQ these past few weeks. Accordingly, we give some initial thoughts on riding this unique cruiser, and what it means for the German brand.

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Bikes

BMW R18 Dragster Custom by Roland Sands…With NOS

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One of the motorcycle launches that was swallowed by the coronavirus outbreak was the debut of the BMW R18 – the german company’s giant air-cooled cruiser model.

There is a bit of irony in that fact, considering how long the German brand teased the bike in its near final form, only to see it production debut overshadowed by a global pandemic, but that’s the tough reality.

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