BMW Motorrad has been working on a cruiser motorbike for some time. It has been spotted testing on German roads and this could be the brand’s first big cruiser.
The bike appears to have a large fairing and a full-size windscreen like the ones on Harley and Indian. And the powerplant, the most important bit appears to be a big boxer engine. There is no news about the specifications of the engine but it is being rumoured to be around an 1800cc big block.
The closest bike to a cruiser that BMW sells today is the BMW R 1250 which is powered by an air/liquid-cooled, boxer Twin engine with DOHC and variable engine timing system BMW ShiftCam. Its maximum displacement is 1254cc and produces 136 HP of power @ 7750 RPM and 143 Nm of torque @ 6250 RPM. Fuel delivery is with an electronic fuel-injection controlled by a ride by wire throttle system. It has a 6-speed constant mesh gearbox.
BMW also offers another option the K 1600, it makes us of a 6-cylinder inline, DOHC engine with a maximum displacement of 1649 cc producing 160 HP of power @ 7750 RPM and 175 Nm of torque @ 5250 RPM coupled to 6-speed constant mesh gearbox. The frame of this bike is a bridge type frame with load bearing engine and a BMW duo-lever with central spring strut front suspension and a BMW paralever rear suspension. The wheelbase of the K 1600 is 1618mm. For stopping power the front has dual 320 mm floating disc with fixed 4-piston calipers and a 320 mm single disc with dual piston caliper equipped with BMW Motorrad Integral ABS.
The standard features on the K 1600 are:-
The new cruiser looks quite ready in the spy shots and chances are BMW will launch the bike very soon. When launched the new cruiser will compete with Harley Davidson CVO and the Indian range of cruisers. Also, one can cross shop between this new German big bike and the Honda GoldWing.
We expect BMW Motorrad to showcase this new cruiser model at INTERMOT 2019 in October.