There is an atmosphere of novelty and relaxation in Bavaria. The new boss of BMW, Markus Flasch, is challenging fans through his Instagram profile: on April 9, he posted a somewhat “daring” photo peeking under a tarp at a new motorcycle on the way. His comment is simply “something big is coming”.
The photo was reportedly taken in the BMW Motorrad prototype workshop in Munich. What we can see under the tarp is just a very wide rear wheel and a seemingly new aluminum swingarm, but with some similarities to the R 18, starting with the visible driveshaft. The wheel detail shows us a low and sporty tire, and the use of the hashtag #Dreambike by BMW’s number one allows us to imagine that it is, at least for now, a prototype. It may be the same prototype that Flasch recently announced in an interview with his German Motorrad colleagues. In the same interview, he commented on the sales results of the R 18 and the very bold decision to carry out a project like this, revealing a desire to strengthen it, emphasizing precisely its strengths. The large 1,800 cc boxer engine will be used, he said, in a more typically BMW motorcycle and, on the same occasion, he let slip that the planned date would be the Concorso d’Eleganza at Villa d’Este, on Lake Como. Therefore, it is not a new R 18 or a model to replace what already exists in the range, but it seems to be another new experience with the same technical base.
A few hours after Flasch’s social media post, a press release from BMW specifically about the Concorso d’Eleganza 2024 emerged. Cars are obviously mentioned, but at one point the world premiere of “Rock’n’Roll on two wheels” is also mentioned. The hypothesis is, therefore, that this is a dream bike, or rather, an exhibition bike, a conceptual study that combines the classic style of the large R 18 boxer with something more aggressive, probably a roadster.
It is also worth remembering that in 2020, when the first R 18 was presented, BMW used the slogan “Rock’n’Roll” and that on the bike’s screen are precisely the modes “Rock” and “Roll.” We can therefore expect something closer, at least in style, to the R nineT family. Of course, we are talking about a two-cylinder 1,802 cubic centimeter boxer engine with 158 Nm at 3,000 rpm and 91 hp (67 kW) at 4,750 rpm. The Big Boxer is already approved for Euro 5 and could be adopted for the new model with little technical or formal effort. The work could simply be done to increase the power to the round number of 100 hp, but mechanically we do not expect any changes.
In any case, we won’t have to wait long to find out more, because the Concours d’Elegance is scheduled for May 24th and it is guaranteed that the bike BMW will bring will be the one Flasch presented to us.
