Earlier this month, BMW announced that it will launch the R18 on 3 April 2020 at the Handbuilt Motorcycle Show in Austin, Texas. Just like many of you, we too were waiting for the new German cruiser to break cover ever since its concept was first revealed in 2019. However, it looks like we will have to wait some more for the BMW R18 to be out in the open.
Although there’s no official statement released by the company yet, BMW could postpone the launch of the R18 cruiser because of the global health crisis caused by the Covid-19 pandemic. Perhaps, BMW could use a digital platform, create a virtual show to launch the R18. Who knows?
BMW R18 features a mammoth 1800cc twin-cylinder boxer engine. It is the largest boxer engine BMW has ever built. In fact, BMW claims that this is the largest engine of its type and configuration to be put into a production motorcycle.
This engine produces 91 bhp at 4750 rpm and 158 Nm of torque at 3000 rpm. BMW says that out of all the Newton-metres, 150 of them is available from 2000 to 4000 revs. The maximum engine speed is 5750 rpm, while the idling speed is 950 rpm. It is mated to a 6-speed gearbox and it weighs around 111 kg.
When launched, the R18 will compete with the likes from the Harley-Davidson and Indian Motorcycle.
