If you're on the fence, now is the time to buy one

adamchandler said:
I also think that if you want a more simple motorcycle that will be relevant, easy to maintain and outlast all of us, a base R18 is it. It has dumb suspension, no fancy tech gizmos, is lighter, no need to remove parts for tire changes and the most expensive failure point after the motor will be the LED headlight. Forgoing cruise control, bags, fairing, electronic suspension and more will mak for a true classic in 30 years. The R18B/TC will work in 30 years but most of the tech stuff will have failed or will need replacing or will no longer receive software updates.

I don't keep bikes more than 5 years so I'm not concerned about the next owner but if I kept bikes for 10-20, the base R18 is the purest form and the simplest overall and easier to modify.

I've honestly had no issue personally convincing BMW fans to spend $11K on a demo R18FE. "that's it?" is their response. It's cheaper than the F750GS.
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Yes, 11K for these R18FE Bikes is a steal everyday including Sunday. Hell if I just have to ride it on smooth roads and curve to avoid potholes it’s worth it. Just saw a post of a guy listing a baby blue color R18 base for sale. I am a black N white stripe color guy but darn that blue was kick ass.
 
An HD Street glide CVO is 42,000 msrp. The base and st street glides are in the 25k range sure. No sound system, ACC, adaptive headlight, etc. So therefor the HD CVO is the direct comparison for the r18b loaded. At almost double the price. BMW needs to come up with a sales tactic to make this argument. I think this is more of a marketing failure issue on BMW’s part than price issues as HD CVO’S aren’t in stock for more than 5 minutes. There are zero in stock on cycle trader that aren’t already spoken for. 4 year old used CVO’s are going for more than brand new R18’s. That’s a huge problem. I was seconds away from pulling the trigger on a brand new HD street glide before I found the R18B. I had no idea about it. They need to break into these HD scenes and get the bike known because the value to price ratio is off the charts. They should be selling like hotcakes like the HD road/street glides are. It’s a better bike for less money.
 
Wow, that does seem to make the R18B a a sweet deal. I do though seem to recall a bike mag liking the harley better over all vs the bmw and maybe the indian. Seems Harley has perfected, in their eyes, the secret sauce for that touring mount (don’t keep up with the names any more…maybe it is the Street Glide (the one with the batwing fairing and back a few years ago the M8 engine).
 
You are right on all accounts motoring. The street glide is a bitchin bike. But at 15/18k less you should be able to move these R18B’s. I’ve ridden all 3 and the street glide is about 5% better than the r18b and that’s soley due to the engine being a little more rev friendly. These bikes would sell FAST if people in that scene knew about them. Every time I take mine to Harley biker bars, I kid you not every time I get multiple people that say “beautiful street glide” when I respond “It’s a bmw” they about lose their mind and can’t stop checking it out. People just don’t know about these things.
 
I have had a LOT of HD owners drool over the bagger And each of them has a jaw-drop moment when I tell them I paid $20K for mine With .9% interest.

They just don’t know that they can get a fully loaded bike with 2x the size TFT, shaft drive, radar cruise for $10K less than what their HD dealer is moving. So I agree, it’s a marketing issue with BMW.

I‘m not in charge at BMW but if I was, 5 years of the R18 would be spent selling these things at cost and undercutting Harley and putting up ads literally putting both bikes side - by - side with the prices side by side as well. Put it in their faces at Americade and every bike week / Strugis that these bikes are better and cheaper.

If BMW doesn’t start moving 1000 R18s every month, this model family will die and it’ll e their fault. This is better than Indian, Yamaha and Harley and not enough people know.
 
Kawasakidj said:
You are right on all accounts motoring. The street glide is a bitchin bike. But at 15/18k less you should be able to move these R18B’s. I’ve ridden all 3 and the street glide is about 5% better than the r18b and that’s soley due to the engine being a little more rev friendly. These bikes would sell FAST if people in that scene knew about them. Every time I take mine to Harley biker bars, I kid you not every time I get multiple people that say “beautiful street glide” when I respond “It’s a bmw” they about lose their mind and can’t stop checking it out. People just don’t know about these things.
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Strong the drinks they be and eye sight not. Well than again, those bmw logos are not massive from a distance :)
 
adamchandler said:
I have had a LOT of HD owners drool over the bagger And each of them has a jaw-drop moment when I tell them I paid $20K for mine With .9% interest.

They just don’t know that they can get a fully loaded bike with 2x the size TFT, shaft drive, radar cruise for $10K less than what their HD dealer is moving. So I agree, it’s a marketing issue with BMW.

I‘m not in charge at BMW but if I was, 5 years of the R18 would be spent selling these things at cost and undercutting Harley and putting up ads literally putting both bikes side - by - side with the prices side by side as well. Put it in their faces at Americade and every bike week / Strugis that these bikes are better and cheaper.

If BMW doesn’t start moving 1000 R18s every month, this model family will die and it’ll e their fault. This is better than Indian, Yamaha and Harley and not enough people know.
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Could not agree more. If the R line dies it’s squarely BMW’s fault. They are better and cheaper bikes. That usually is a recipe for success.
 
If there is one thing I would change on the R18B and TC it be longer floorboards.
I removed the stock boards and replaced them with 4” by 10” custom boards.
There is room galore to move feet forward 4 inches. Much more comfortable sit.
 
R12C-R18TC said:
I just went for another pleasure cruise this evening. 70 mph……smooth as silk.

If you want the Bagger with lots of extras, grab a Transcontinental and take the top box off.
As 1 example out of many, the running lights available on the TC really light up the lateral area in front of the bike at night.
Big plus.
One reviewer on YouTube claimed the running lights do nothing but vibrate. Mine don’t vibrate at all. Instead they flood the width of road in front of me.
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How hard is it to take off the trunk?
 
Not hard. 4 bolts plus unplug the wire.
May need a another hand so topbox doesn’t topple over onto floor.
To remove the frame, there are two bolts on each side. Will need to briefly unbolt the saddle bags to make room.
 
quduoheng said:
Was the screen map able to stay connected with the phone the whole time of riding?
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I've seen some comments regarding the TFT navigation map screen dropping out; I noted that this happens to me on a specific highway, at a very specific and exact spot in both directions of travel. Without heading back to that same area with a spectrum analyzer; I'd have to say that there is most likely a strong interfering or co-channel Wi-Fi signal, which is presenting a stronger signal than the wireless Wi-Fi link between my phone and the TFT / radio unit.

Perhaps this is what is being experienced by others, in other parts of the country.... There's a ton of IT folks out there, that think they are RF Radio Engineers because they setup a wireless Wi-Fi in their Home-Office... You be shocked by the things we find that jam critical Police Radio, that some hack-hobbyist installed. Just a thought...
 
R12C-R18TC said:
The Harleys are over priced a bit. A base street glide and a base road glide road start at $24k
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I looked at the BMW R18 B FE, R18 TC FE, HD Street Glide ST and the Road Glide ST, while looking at getting a new bike; Harley basically told me that I was lucky to be offered $2k above the sticker price, where the $2k was for Prep-&-Shipping. Both the Street Glide and Road Glide ST would have been $36k out the door, when the sticker was closer to $32.6k.

The 0.9% financing, plus the -$2k and additional dealer negotiated price made the R18 B & TC worth taking a closer look. There were things that I like between the TC and B model i.e. I love the TC auxiliary lights, winglets and leg protection.. however, I didn't like the gray color dash board, gray color engine cover, oversize windscreen, oversize seat and didn't really need the rear luggage as my wife doesn't ride enough to justify.

I chose the Model B FE; where I committed to adding the auxiliary lights as a project (still waiting on parts...) and a future project of adding the leg wind protection, as well as perhaps swapping out the round chrome mirrors for the Machined Roland Sands mirrors.
 
motoring said:
It could come to that if the R18 models fail to get enough buyers. Not a clue what there sales numbers are world wide…USA and Europe don’t know if there are other markets
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Still early days and of course the Pandemic has messed everything up these last two years but I tend to agree. If the numbers don’t stack up for each variant FE, B and TC then they will probably get the chop, and quite quickly, just like the R9T Racer as one example. I don’t know how BMW dealers operate but I have been told (very reliably) that Honda for example push bikes onto dealers even if they don’t want them and know they don’t have the market share or catchment area to sell them which causes all sorts of problems down the line. When the R18 leftover‘s are finally sold off things might settle down a bit. I copied and pasted this table below from a UK website that shows new registrations. Don’t take it as gospel but it’s probably pretty accurate. The trend is +ve for each but no 2022 figures yet to get a fuller picture.

4 results
Vehicles licensed every year 2022-2012. Click model names for more stats.
20222021202020192018201720162015201420132012
BMWR 1821218381
BMWR 18 B2112
BMWR 18 CLASSIC9082
BMWR 18 TRANSCONTINENTAL227
 
R12C-R18TC said:
Not hard. 4 bolts plus unplug the wire.
May need a another hand so topbox doesn’t topple over onto floor.
To remove the frame, there are two bolts on each side. Will need to briefly unbolt the saddle bags to make room.
Click to expand...
So, does that leave some ugly holes on the back of the bike with trunk removed?
 
Rufus said:
Still early days and of course the Pandemic has messed everything up these last two years but I tend to agree. If the numbers don’t stack up for each variant FE, B and TC then they will probably get the chop, and quite quickly, just like the R9T Racer as one example. I don’t know how BMW dealers operate but I have been told (very reliably) that Honda for example push bikes onto dealers even if they don’t want them and know they don’t have the market share or catchment area to sell them which causes all sorts of problems down the line. When the R18 leftover‘s are finally sold off things might settle down a bit. I copied and pasted this table below from a UK website that shows new registrations. Don’t take it as gospel but it’s probably pretty accurate. The trend is +ve for each but no 2022 figures yet to get a fuller picture.

4 results
Vehicles licensed every year 2022-2012. Click model names for more stats.
20222021202020192018201720162015201420132012
BMWR 1821218381
BMWR 18 B2112
BMWR 18 CLASSIC9082
BMWR 18 TRANSCONTINENTAL227
Click to expand...
Interesting, though I don't know what incentives are over that side of the 'pond' (if I said that right) :)
Sort of makes sense the base model would sell the most, maybe more so with the offers from BMW. Then the Classic as it is the next least expensive model. Though darn, not many B models sold which I thought buyers might want. And TC...that just seems really a bad buying rate number there.

Being a boxer fan, it was my first ride, I have to say I am digging those R12 model layouts on that page link. Yes I know, it is not an R18...etc etc.

What they are though is using a cruiser frame with a nice engine. Though why they would not drop a R1250 engine in it is a mystery to me (thinking those photos showed NineT engines). Water assisted cooling is the way forward on any engine put in a bike now days I feel (exception allowing for the throw back look/purpose on the R18 one figures).

Just use the R1250 engine then BMW can release a R1300 engine that adds extra hp etc to the R1250, problem solved. Thinking it would sell better that that race track NineT bike they tried to sell and very few could live with the egos of it.
 
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