So...... The new R1800

[Nik Rende]

I read Wes Flemming's article about it.  I've certainly been following 
it's development, first as a skeptic - why the HELL would BMW, purveyor 
of all things high tech take 70ish year old engine design and make a new 
version of it, and make it AIR COOLED at that?  I figured it was hype.  
But I was wrong and here it is. I've been seeing pictures of it in the 
back of a resto-mod pickup doing tours of events and shows and such and 
showing up everywhere on social media.  In reading Flemming's article, I 
find out that BMW went all millennial and produced a YouTube series with 
some dude from the left coast late last year to tease about the bike and 
give folks a sense of where the R1800 (I do with they'd have gone with 
just R18) came from.  Now that I've seen some episodes and gained some 
insight into how the R18 came to be (I'm just gonna call it that), I see 
what BMW is trying to do.  It's not your father's (or, yours I guess) 
R1200C for sure!  This bike is definitely more in the RnineT /2 homage 
vein - another recent BMW Motorrad offering that turns my dials.  The 
styling cues from the R5 are unmistakable.  The shape of the frame as it 
leaves the steering post and arches out slightly before rounding the 
bottom of the engine.  The top rail running down directly to the final 
drive where it wraps around, the only addition is a vertical brace half 
way likely owing to the larger overall size for rigidity. The shape and 
look of the tank with its black paint and white pinstripe.  The open, 
nickle plated drive shaft.  The inverted forks and the solo swing seat.  
The timing cover.  Even that hideous exhaust was available on the R5, 
albeit not quite as pronounced.

I get it.  All of it.  And the fact that I missed the whole social media 
event and blitz isn't surprising as it is clear where BMW is heading 
with this.  The series drips authenticity and heritage which are 
millennial watchwords.  It wasn't aimed at me and that's fine.  I like 
the bike.

The is no question that it's an airhead.  When the Airheads was founded 
in 1991 and the last airhead rolled off the line in 1995, we never would 
have envisioned another one.

But, is it an Airhead?