BAVARIAN BATTLE CRUISER

BMW’s biggest motor ever. ’Nuff said

- Alan Cathcart

Better late than never? After several years of studiously avoiding re-entering the cruiser market, BMW has finally picked up the glove and is going after Harley-Davidson and Indian in their core Big Twin segment with the R18 flat-twin now appearing in dealerships around the world. Game on! And here’s why.

In 2019, BMW Motorrad sold 175,162 motorcycles worldwide, a 5.8 per cent increase on the previous year, to mark a ninth successive record year for Europe’s number one in terms of €€€ volume (KTM sells more units annually, but each predominantly at much lower cost). However, the R1250GS/Adventure models accounted for around a third of all motorcycles BMW sold in 2019, with 59,000 units leaving dealerships around the world.

Okay, the German company’s motorcycle division isn’t exactly a one-trick pony — but it is heavily dependent on the GS for its profits, and in 2019 its USA and Canada dealers managed just 15,116 combined sales, while in the USA alone just 13,000 bikes were sold in 2018, a mere 8 per cent of BMW’s total production in the Western world’s number one market. That was the only disappointing note for the company’s performance, the reason for which BMW Motorrad CEO Dr. Markus Schramm was only too well aware of.