To the Nines
TO THE NINES
CW THE ART OF COOL
DESIGNING THE R nineT WAS EASY. IT WAS CONVINCING BMW TO BUILD IT THAT WAS HARD.
Brian Catterson
Changing a brand's image isn't easy. And it's especially difficult when you're talking about a 90-year-old motorcycle manufacturer that's known for being conservative.
For decades, BMW motorcycles carried a stigma. Politely, they were gentlemen’s sport-tourers. Less so, they were status symbols for middle-aged men having midlife crises. Same with the firm’s cars: Cue the old joke about the difference between a BMW and a porcupine...
That began to change in 2008 when, with Hendrik von Kuenheim appointed general director, BMW Motorrad began to penetrate new markets. A dirt bike, a superbike, a six-cylinder über-tourer, gas and electric scooters... Suddenly, BMW was a player in every market with models that could hold their own in terms of performance. And now comes the R nineT, which may represent the biggest departure to date.
According to BMW Motorrad’s Head of Vehicle Design Ola Stenegärd, the R nineT project began three years ago as a sort of back-door effort. “We could see that there was a movement happening with all of these café racers and customs, but we couldn’t prove it to our bosses because it wasn’t reflected in new-bike sales. We were saying, ‘Look, they’re coming through the back door.’ And they’d say, ‘Yeah, but you live in scene. It’s just a small thing.’ And we’d say, ‘No, it’s not. It’s getting big!’ Finally I found an article about a record number of tires being sold and was able to use that to convince them.”
The R nineT has its roots in the Concept 90, a half-faired homage to the R90S on which Reg Pridmore won the inaugural AMA Superbike Championship in 1976. That showbike was a collaboration between BMW and Southern California racer-turneddesigner Roland Sands, and was unveiled at Italy’s Concours d’Eleganza Villa d’Este in May 2013.
IN A WORD, THE R nineT’s STYLING IS ELEGANT,
WITH MANY BEAUTIFUL FORCED, CLASSBLASTED, AND CLEARANODIZED ALUMINUM PIECES, SUCH AS THE FRONT FENDER MOUNTS, TRIPLE TREES, SEAT STAYS, AND RICHT-SIDE AIR SCOOP. EVEN THE CAS TANK IS ALUMINUM, BRUSHED AT THE KNEES, PAINTED BLACK OVERTHE REST, AND CLEAR-COATED. THERE ARE NO PLASTIC COVERS.
“Roland and I have known each other for quite a while,” Stenegärd explains. “We kept saying, ‘We’ve got to do something together,’ but the opportunity never came around until the 90th anniversary. The plan was to unveil the bike at a gathering of carrozzeria in Italy. We said, ‘In motorcycling we don’t have that, but we have custom builders, so let’s team up with Roland.’ The R90S was basically born in the USA anyway.” Many of the Concept 90’s design elements ultimately were incorporated in the R nineT.
As the production bike neared completion, Stenegärd and Sands met with three European custom builders (including David Borras of El Solitario, see page 46) in the Spanish countryside to gauge their reaction. They were accompanied by a filmmaker who produced a movie called Soul Fuel (watch it on BMW’s website). Each of these three builders, along with Sands, was then given a bike to customize however they wanted (see sidebar). The results debuted individually at a series of custom shows all around the world and then were displayed together at BMW Motorrad Days in Garmisch, Germany.
Originally a chopper builder from Sweden, Stenegärd envisioned the R nineT not so much as a retro café racer or naked bike but as a blank canvas for customization. Thus the rear frame that supports the passenger seat and footpegs comes off with just eight bolts, while the portion holding the taillight and license-plate bracket comes off with another four screws. The latter transforms the bike into something of a bobber, which entails the owner adding his own taillight and licenseplate bracket—the swingarm from the R1200GS was chosen so that the mounting points for the rear mud guard could be used to attach a side-mounted setup. The rear end is wide enough to accommodate a 6-inch rim. Up front, the headlight mounts with a single 3/4-inch bolt to allow the use of a wide variety of aftermarket lamps. Separate wiring harnesses are employed for the vehicle and engine to ease modification.
The R nineT is powered by the latest air-cooled version of the venerable opposed-twin boxer engine, which, in dohc form, produced 96.5 hp and 75.9 pound-feet of torque on the CW dyno. While the rear suspension utilizes BMW’s proven Paralever shaft-drive system, up front is a traditional inverted telescopic fork; Telelever would have looked wrong on this model, though it could be argued that in polished form that was the nicest part of the old R1200C cruiser. Shock spring preload is hydraulically adjustable via an easy-toreach knob, and there’s also a stepless rebound-damping screw; the fork is nonadjustable. The two-piece seat comes off using a second “key” with an integral Torx bit to reveal a spartan tool kit; gone are the days of BMW’s comprehensive tool kits replete with tire plugs and CO2 cartridges. Do yourself a favor and remove the passenger seat with a proper Torx wrench the first time, and retighten it with the provided key because the key doesn’t afford enough leverage to bust it loose the first time.
In a word, the R nineT’s styling is elegant, with many beautiful forged, glass-blasted, and clear-anodized aluminum pieces, such as the front fender mounts, triple trees, seat stays, and right-side air scoop. Even the gas tank is aluminum, brushed at the knees, painted black over the rest, and clear-coated.
There are no plastic covers. Continuing the theme are the gold-anodized fork legs, the white seat stitching with blue logo, and the old-school riveted historical denomination plate on the headstock.
The wire-spoke 17-inch wheels run Continental RoadAttack 2C tires and, unlike a GS with its outboard nipples, are fitted with tubes.
The only unsightly parts are the charcoal canister, the cables running to the exhaust power valve, and the wires running to the fuel-injector bodies. Strangely, the bike comes standard with antilock brakes, but heated handgrips are not available; in fact, the one and only option is an anti-theft alarm. There is, of course, a wide range of accessories but no windscreen, though Stenegärd does not rule out the possibility of a café racer-style fly screen in the future.
As for the model name, R nineT pays homage to BMW’s 90 years in the motorcycle business, not to any one specific model. “No child looks exactly like his parents, but all have their DNA,” Stenegärd explains.
The question with any custom motorcycle, be it one-off or massproduced, is, “How does it work?” Although form often trumps function, I’m happy to say after spending two days on the bike at the Southern California press introduction, that’s not the case here. While the frame is all new—and admittedly crafted to have the right “stance” rather than the right numbers— the R nineT handles quite well. I can’t remember the last time I rode a boxer with a telescopic fork (Telelever debuted circa 1993), so the front end diving under braking is an unfamiliar sensation. I can’t pinpoint whether it was due to the softly sprung fork, the conservative chassis geometry, or the shape of the front tire, but the bike did tend to stand up a bit while trail-braking into corners. And it felt subtly different in leftand right-hand bends due to inertia from the longitudinal crank. Some testers thought the Brembo radial brakes felt mushy (in spite of having steel-braided lines); while I wouldn’t go that far, I suspect the initial bite was dulled to reduce the likelihood of fork bottoming under braking. As an owner, I would try raising the oil level before popping for stiffer springs.
NO BMW HAS EVER SOUNDED SO LUSTFUL-AND THERE’S MORE WHERE THAT CAME FROM AS THE BAFFLES ARE SCREWED IN (NOTWELDED) AND THUS EASILY REMOVABLE.
SPECS
BMW R nineT
PRICE: $14,900
ENGINE: air-/oil-cooled dohc opposed-twin
DISPLACEMENT: 1170cc
SEAT HEIGHT: 31.8 in.
FUEL CAPACITY: 4.8 gal.
DRY WEIGHT: 461 lb.
The only change to the existing boxer drivetrain is a slightly lower (higher numerically) final drive from the policemodel RT. This lets the R nineT accelerate quicker than a standard GS/R/RT, but it also makes the bike buzzier at freeway speeds. Although not debilitating, vibration is omnipresent, varying from a thrum to a tingle depending upon rpm. But the six-speed gearbox shifts better than any boxer I recall, and the sound from the standard double-barrel Akrapovic exhaust is intoxicating. Truly, no BMW has ever sounded so lustful— and there’s more where that came from as the baffles are screwed in (not welded) and thus easily removable.
Given its torquey twin-cylinder engine and sporty seating position, the R nineT is reminiscent of a Ducati Monster. Whether that was by design or by happenstance, it’s not a bad thing. Ducati has sold many tens of thousands of Monsters over the years, and the R nineT looks to be following suit. Although availability will be productionlimited until after the 2015 selling season, it’s already BMW’s fourth bestselling model.
The R nineT represents a significant departure for BMW because what it has more than any of its predecessors is attitude. And not the kind that comes from pinning a roundel to your lapel.
BMW’s image is changing, and nowhere was that more apparent than in the gift each journalist received: a bikerstyle chain wallet embossed with the BMW logo.
Old man’s bike, my ass!
