BMW Celebrates 90 Years of Motorcycles With a Customizer's Dream

BMW has been building bikes for 90 years, and it’s made something special to celebrate. It’s called the R nineT, and it’s one of the few bikes that’s been designed from the onset to specifically cater to customizers.

Like nearly every modern BMW — including the brand’s first bike, the 1923 R 32 — the heart of the R nineT is a twin boxer engine that keeps weight down low. The 1170cc flat twin puts out 110 horsepower and a gut-kicking 88 pound-feet of torque, while acting as a stressed member of the tubular steel space frame.

Power is sent to the rear wheel through a shaft drive — another BMW staple — with a single-sided swing arm holding things down out back, and an inverted front fork up front pilfered from BMW’s S 1000 R super bike.

The hand-painted 4.8-gallon fuel tank fits the R nineT’s beefy presence and hunkered-down stance to perfection, and the blacked-out, wire-spoke aluminum wheels add to the oversized cafe racer style. With forged aluminum and anodized parts abound, the R nineT looks like something that rolled out of a custom shop in L.A. — not a grey corporate complex in Munich.

And that’s the point.

“During each stage of the roadster’s development, focus was placed on enabling riders to tailor it to their personal preferences in a variety of ways,” BMW says in its release. A removable pillion out back can be swapped out with a seat to ride two-up, while the twin exhausts running along the left side can be mounted higher or lower to tweak the appearance.

But the real customization options come from the modular frame, a four-piece tubular steel setup that incorporates the front main frame, rear main frame, end-piece, and pillion frame. It just takes a few bolts to go from roadster to racer to bobber. Even the rear end has three mounting points to change the taillight, license plate location, and fender, and the onboard electronics that handle the engine and chassis have been separated so riders can install aftermarket or BMW-approved headlights, indicators, or other electrical bits.

BMW hasn’t announced pricing or availability yet, but sale should begin early next year, with BMW offering a list of customization parts as long as your arm.

Photos and video: BMW

Source: http://feeds.wired.com/c/35185/f/661370/s/328b6b60/sc/18/l/0L0Swired0N0Cautopia0C20A130C10A0Cbmw0Er0Eninet0C/story01.htm
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