About to pull the trigger, How bad is the vibration?

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erliban

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New to the forum, thanks in advance for your input!

I'm about to pull the trigger on a demo 2022 R18B. The bike is far away from me so I can't test ride it. I saw various reported vibration at speeds/RPM range. Can current owner chime in on your experience? Is your feet/hands going numb after long period of riding?

FYI I had a few harleys so I enjoy the rumble/vibration at idle, but those harleys do smooth out as speed/rpm pick up and I'm totally fine with them.
 
Yes there is vibration, if there wasn’t I would have bought it :-D. It’s all part of the bikes character. It will huff and puff at idle, shake a little bit, vibrate around 3K and scream at you if you rev it up too far. Learn to love it. After all that, you will want to take her back out and do it again.
 
erliban said:
New to the forum, thanks in advance for your input!

I'm about to pull the trigger on a demo 2022 R18B. The bike is far away from me so I can't test ride it. I saw various reported vibration at speeds/RPM range. Can current owner chime in on your experience? Is your feet/hands going numb after long period of riding?

FYI I had a few harleys so I enjoy the rumble/vibration at idle, but those harleys do smooth out as speed/rpm pick up and I'm totally fine with them.
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Nothing vibrated more than the 1955 Harley rigid frame that I chopped in 1970. I had another Harley Deuce in 2000 and loved it. After retirement, I wanted a Harley Breakout until I saw a picture of BMW R18. I bought my R18 w/o seeing one in real life at a dealer over 900 miles away. I had Haulbikes.com transport it for me. I wouldn’t ride anything else now. Pull the trigger. It will make you happy!!
 
erliban said:
New to the forum, thanks in advance for your input!

I'm about to pull the trigger on a demo 2022 R18B. The bike is far away from me so I can't test ride it. I saw various reported vibration at speeds/RPM range. Can current owner chime in on your experience? Is your feet/hands going numb after long period of riding?

FYI I had a few harleys so I enjoy the rumble/vibration at idle, but those harleys do smooth out as speed/rpm pick up and I'm totally fine with them.
Click to expand...
The R18 is a very comfortable ride in this way:
At 50 mph in 4th gear you will think you are in a boat. Very smooth ride.
At 60 mph in 5rd gear, again very smooth ride.
At 70 mph in 6th gear, same story, very smooth.
When you ride over 78 mph there is a slight vibe introduced.

This bike is not designed for high rpms. If you ride past 3k rpm the ride is a bit different.
You won't find a more beautiful touring bike out there. The TC has the best wind deflection scheme.
 
I went through the exact process when I was considering buying the R18 B vs a HD Street Glide or Road Glide; there is so much BS on the internet - it's amazing folks give it a grain of salt when making such decisions...

Hands down, pound for pound... You get a great bike for an amazing price when compared to the alternatives; I love riding the R18, it's smooth, there's plenty of floorboard space, the cylinder heads don't interfere with my legs, etc... There's tons of tech on the bike, the sound system sounds great.. adaptive cruise control is my new best friend..

Take advantage of the BMW financing and specialized promotions targeting the 2022 year bikes..
 
erliban said:
New to the forum, thanks in advance for your input!

I'm about to pull the trigger on a demo 2022 R18B. The bike is far away from me so I can't test ride it. I saw various reported vibration at speeds/RPM range. Can current owner chime in on your experience? Is your feet/hands going numb after long period of riding?

FYI I had a few harleys so I enjoy the rumble/vibration at idle, but those harleys do smooth out as speed/rpm pick up and I'm totally fine with them.
Click to expand...
Vibrator effect starts at around 88-90 mph when on ROCK mode. Speedo will read out to 115mph. After 90mph my HD Ultra Classics were smoother. I was informed if in ROLL mode vibrator effect less/disappears. I haven't ridden post suggestion but I will soon. I have not ridden the BMW Bagger. I have a 2021 R18 FE. I've had 27 bikes with 6 being HDs. My two HD Heritages weren't too dissimilar in vibration to my FE. If you want to tour stick with baggers. I admit the HD baggers I have owned were true "road sofas". I got very bored feeling disconnected from the road. My FE makes me feel connected again. My 10 hour ride days are in my rear view mirror. I'm a 2-4 hour guy now. I would buy my R18 again.
 
It's a motorcycle. It's going to be uncomfortable every now and then. Rain, sunburn, noise, cold, heat, wind, vibration, etc. That's part of the appeal. That said, some motorcycles vibrate more than others and large twin cylinder motors vibrate more than most but I haven't found the vibration on my R18C to be bothersome. It's a big motor and you definitely notice how it sounds and feels but it's exactly what I expected and I enjoy the whole experience.

I've owned dozens of motorcycles from most of the major manufacturers including H-D, Victory, and Kawasaki cruisers. I will state flat out that my R18C is the best cruiser of the bunch with the Victory a close second, the Kawasaki comfortably in third and Harley securely in last place. To be fair I haven't owned a H-D built in this century but I have ridden a few of my friends late model bikes and I found them to be just okay. I'm basing my opinion of them on that very limited time spent in the saddle. YMMV.
 
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Scott Semone said:
I went through the exact process when I was considering buying the R18 B vs a HD Street Glide or Road Glide; there is so much BS on the internet - it's amazing folks give it a grain of salt when making such decisions...

Hands down, pound for pound... You get a great bike for an amazing price when compared to the alternatives; I love riding the R18, it's smooth, there's plenty of floorboard space, the cylinder heads don't interfere with my legs, etc... There's tons of tech on the bike, the sound system sounds great.. adaptive cruise control is my new best friend..

Take advantage of the BMW financing and specialized promotions targeting the 2022 year bikes..
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Thanks for the feedback, the good deals on 2022 is indeed what's drawing me to this. Sounds like the vibration is not a big issue and I'm probably over thinking this lol.
 
I was concerned with the same thing before buying my TC. I did find a closer dealer that had the Bagger and TC available for test rides. The sad part, when I test rode both bikes, I never rode on the highway at 75-80 mph to test the vibes. I bought my TC from the Charlotte BMW dealer on Saturday. I rode it home (2.5 hours) all highway cruising at 75-80. I never experienced any bad vibes. The bike is smooth. I loved the adaptive cruise control function and the suspension felt very good to me. I did test ride a HD prior to buying my TC. Very nice and a different vibe altogether. I have been riding a BMW Boxer engine since 2003. So I am used to the odd pull to one side at idle when you blip the throttle. Definitely give the Bagger or any other R18s a shot.
 
erliban said:
New to the forum, thanks in advance for your input!

I'm about to pull the trigger on a demo 2022 R18B. The bike is far away from me so I can't test ride it. I saw various reported vibration at speeds/RPM range. Can current owner chime in on your experience? Is your feet/hands going numb after long period of riding?

FYI I had a few harleys so I enjoy the rumble/vibration at idle, but those harleys do smooth out as speed/rpm pick up and I'm totally fine with them.
Click to expand...
I have a 22 Bagger. Vibration is not an issue as long as you keep it within the normal RPM range, which for me is about 2-3K. Accelerating through the gears you don't feel vibration, but if you have it at like 3700 rpms at a steady throttle it's not that smooth. The motor has a ton of torque, but it doesn't rev very high (by design). I wouldn't buy the bike for going accoss the country at 85-90 mph (not that I've done that...through Nevada), but it would be great to do it at 75 or lower. It will go 100, and get there quickly, but it's a cruiser. Here in California on the 45 and 55 mph speed limit roads it's like driving a motorcycle version of a Bentley or a 7 series BMW or S class Benz...
 
erliban, RPM control really helps with vibration. My Classic has cruise control which also very much helps me to be able to relax my grip. I had never owned or ridden a moto with vibration such as this, and I think unconsciously I was gripping the handlebars in an attempt to dampen the vibration, causing numbness on certain rides. (Duh). In situations where traffic permits, with the cruise control on, I remove my hands completely from the handlebar, let my arms hang down, flex my fingers briefly and then get my hands up where they should be. Over longer duration rides this totally works for me. I love the character of the bike. I believe that BMW has the engineering prowess to have made this engine silky smooth, it is my belief they deliberately engineered this jugger to vibrate a moderate amount to create very direct sensation that one is sitting astride a large and powerful internal combustion engine and this, to me, is essential to the character of the R 18.
 
On my daily commute I don't notice vibration until I get to 3.5-4ish thousand rpm. At that point, its not realistic conditions and the vibes are a buzzing feel in the seat. The idle vibes are fun but other than that, not much to worry about. For clarification I have the base model with pegs.
 
Also keep in mind the riding mode builds in some roughness as well. Rock mode will be the most character with a distinctive idle shake. Roll is much smoother. If I find myself stuck on the highway at steady speeds, I switch it to roll & the bike is smoother. But if I’m riding fun backroads, I keep in in Rock as the character makes it so much more fun. 2500-3500 is the torque sweet spot on the motor too, it has a biplane like character to sound and vibes and a great sensation of acceleration that I very much enjoy. If you keep the revs under 2500 you stay below the power band & don’t hit the fun vibes, but it is also smoother for long slogs on a highway especially in Roll.
 
OK just came back from test riding a 2023 R18B, as most members here mentioned, it is RPM dependent. I did notice that it was smooth until I get to 3k. That's ~80mph on freeway.

At 3k the handlebar starts to vibrate a little and if I keep pushing higher then the floorboards will have some vibration too. 75mph (~2.75k) is very smooth.

I'm telling myself this may be ok for me because I don't take long rides often and I probably shouldn't be riding at 80+MPH for long anyway :)
 
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