BMW Demo Dayz

[Nik Rende]

Greetings folks!

This past weekend my wife and I went to Portsmouth to visit her brother 
for the weekend.  He's self employed and has been working from home 
since "the troubles" began so we felt comfortable paying him a visit, as 
was he.  He rides an 18 R1250R.  The other motive for the visit was the 
new NH liquor store on the rotary!  :)  OK. It was the BMW demo truck at 
MAX, the liquor store was just a side benefit.

I was interested in giving the R18 a go.  I wasn't disappointed. In 
person it's quite imposing and quite beautiful.  Yes, a large bike, the 
jugs contain 900ish CC's of displacement each!  But the styling cues of 
the R5 are there and BMW didn't forget too many details.  It's a simple 
bike.  No handlebar wheel controlling 6000 features of the riding 
experience.  A simple single speedo with a small LED screen with a few 
options.

The seat was very un-BMW-like comfortable.  The seating position for me 
was great.  I was flat foot on a BMW for the first time, I'm 5'6".  My 
brother-in-law also rode one, he's 6'1" and found it tight, he 
occasionally struggled to get his feet properly positioned for the brake 
or shifter.  I found only two surprises with the R18.  It's a heavy 
bike.  Getting it off the side stand was the first.  But once centered, 
it felt fine.  We pulled out of the dealership and less than a mile down 
the road we hit a light. We were making a right.  As I approached the 
turn and started the lean, the bike's weight showed up again.  I 
negotiated that turn, now with more knowledge that made the rest of them 
a non-issue.

The R18 engine lives up to the reports.  In 6th gear at 1100 rpm, a 
roll-on unleashed gobs of torque.  The ride leader suggested that 
shifting take place in the 2700-3000 rpm range as the engine tends to 
get vibratey.  He was right.  But it wasn't an issue for me.

Overall I enjoyed the ride.  No, it's not an R5.  It's not a tossable 
curve carving machine.  It wasn't designed to be.  But for what it IS 
designed to be, it excels.  The engine sound was very BMW-like.  No fake 
lumpy idle a la the 1200 C.  The exhaust note was pleasingly BMW, I dare 
say that the Luftmeisters on my R100 are louder and more throaty.  I 
never felt like I was on a Harley.  In the picture above, you catch a 
glimpse of the R18 my brother-in-law road to my left.  It was one 
outfitted with some custom bits that BMW has commissioned.  A set of 
Vance and Hines pipes did give it more of an audible presence but it was 
STILL not Harley-offensive.  If I had a space $20k, I could be 
interested in having one.  The one MAX got alloted?  Already sold.

For the record, BMW and MAX handled this event well all things 
considered.  The BMW team was all masked up, they sanitized the bikes 
when the returned in preparation for the next group and almost everyone 
in attendance (MAX staff included) was masked up.

Nik
Maine A/M


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