BMW

BMW beat its K 1600 tourbike platform mercilessly with the buffhammer for the ’22 model year, and the result is a marked improvement over the previous generation for its bagger-tastic “B” variant. Updated electronics and out-of-this-world graphics join a souped-up engine and specialized LED lighting to make this a significant upgrade worthy of the “new” tag. This model is clearly aimed at the U.S. market, or at least at riders interested in a proper Boulevard Bruiser with strong, American-style touring capabilities.

Car vs. Bike drag races are great, right? I mean, they have to be because the bike always wins. Well, they do until the car guys start cheating.

Often, when a new model comes out and custom builders get their hands on it, the results can be spectacular. So, why have the custom builders made such a pig’s ear out of the BMW R18?

BMW refreshes its attack on the super-touring bike market with a whole range of upgrades to its large but surprisingly light on its feet six-cylinder models.

The trouble with a production bike, even a limited-number production bike, is that you’re always in danger of seeing another one exactly the same. But how about if you take that production bike and do something completely different with it?

ABS is now as much a part of the motorcycling landscape as chain final drive and has contributed enormously to motorcycle safety. BMW was the first manufacturer to fit it to a production motorcycle but, in fact, it was initially developed by the young aircraft industry.

Until the advent of the G310, BMW was sorely lacking in beginner-enticing models and even that model hasn’t quite hit the spot with young buyers. Now BMW has revealed the CE02 Concept, which is an electric bike aimed squarely at the youth market. It even comes with a built-in skateboard!

The BMW G310R is a much better bike than its Indian origins suggest. It is very definitely a BMW, even though it plays in a segment where BMW have not played in before. For 2021, it has been updated, although you have to look closely to see the updates. It’s now Euro5 compliant, without losing any power or torque and there are detail differences here and there. BMW has chosen to leave pretty much well alone to keep the cost down while not detracting from the riding pleasure.

What started out as an ordinary BMW R1250RS has been turned into something incredible by a team in Germany. Built for the Sultans of Sprint event in Europe, you’d be hard pressed to recognise anything other than the engine as BMW.

There are custom bikes and there are Custom bikes. This is one of the latter. Created by Renard Speed Shop in Estonia, it started life as a BMW R1250R roadster, not that you’d know it by looking at it. The attention to detail and craftsmanship is unbelievable, not to mention the artistic vision that caused it to be created in the first place.

It was more a question of “when” rather than “if” BMW was going to branch out with its retro-styled R 18 family tree, and it seems the factory opted for sooner rather than later with the release of the new-for-2022 Bagger “B” and Transcontinental. The classically-designed platform carries touring-minded bodywork up front along with 27-liter hard bags out back, and together cover the touring market as well as the boulevard bruiser segment. Power comes from the most powerful Boxer Twin to ever come from Beemer, and they carry an electronics suite that is frankly surprising, even from a marque so well known for its technological prowess..

Vintage and historic racing is massively popular and nowhere more so than at the Goodwood Revival in the UK. The bike races attract some of the top names in racing - John McGuinness, Dani Pedrosa, Steve Parrish and Barry Sheene (when he was alive), to name but a few. Most of the bikes are Manx Nortons or Matchless G50s but it was an 89-year-old BMW R5SS, piloted by ex-World Superbike champion Troy Corser, that stole the show in the 2018 Barry Sheene Memorial Trophy race, with an incredible display of riding on a bike with no suspension and a hand gear change.

The BMW G/S was born out of success in the Paris-Dakar rally of the early 1980s. It has since gone on to be the best-selling adventure bike around the world. When the RnineT was launched in 2014, it was seen as a blank canvas for custom builders around the world and many have been turned into replicas of those early Paris-Dakar racers. None quite so well as this one, however.