Tag Archives: r18+

Absolutely stunning steampunk BMW R 18 custom motorcycle was machined and finished entirely by hand

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Inspired by the BMW bikes of the 30s and 40s, Andrea Radaelli of Radikal Chopper got to work on this beauty the old-fashioned way. His idea first started out as a paper sketch and then progressed to prototyping entirely by hand. This BMW R 18 custom build is made entirely from hand-machined and finished aluminum, with a handmade wooden seat to match… and that aesthetic? That 1930s art-deco steampunk-ish vibe isn’t an accident – Radaelli toon inspiration from the BMW R37, giving an ornate Ghostrider-meets-Mad-Max spin to his design, before promptly (and rather aptly) naming it the Magnifica.

Designer: Andrea Radaelli (Radikal Chopper)

Radaelli’s Magnifica is truly a celebration of human imagination. With no CAD or render as a starting point, Radaelli was forced to quickly pen his vision down in sketch form, creating a series of 2D reference points that would then be translated directly to the prototype. Nothing on the R 18 Magnifica is bought, everything (or almost everything) has been thought out and built by hand… with the exception of the bike’s rims, which were made with numerically controlled machines working on a design that Radaelli himself had developed. “Even the innovative brake discs and calipers were specially created”, BMW observes in their press release.

Beneath the retro aesthetics lies a technologically modern motorbike, lightened by around 100 kg: the weight of the BMW R 18 Magnifica is in fact around 250-260 kg, compared with 345 kg for the original model.

“The bike has to be my own creation,”, Radaelli said. “I don’t feel like dredging up or modifying a concept already set up and done very well by others.” The inspiration for the design of the BMW R 18 Magnifica pays a hat tip to the vintage motorbikes of the 1920s, 30s, and 40s, given that they “have an incredible charm that even today many modern motorbikes cannot replicate”.

The task at hand for Radaelli was no easy feat. As old school as the bike was, so was its design process. Radaelli started off by sketching on paper, before directly building out his vision on a naked R 18, using materials like aluminum, brass, and mahogany wood with a few stainless steel accents here and there. The entire motorcycle’s aesthetic is unforgettable at best, with complex details and parts that come together to magically make the entire motorcycle. The motorbike boasts of an almost entirely redesigned outer body, with a custom fuel tank, boxer engine clad, and even dashboard. The forks have the same slope as the original ones but a look reminiscent of those on vintage motorbikes, inside, however, they are completely modern, built from billet parts. The electrical system has not been modified; everything is fully functional. The dimensions, rims, and tires have remained true to the original: the bike is perfectly serviceable.

The post Absolutely stunning steampunk BMW R 18 custom motorcycle was machined and finished entirely by hand first appeared on Yanko Design.

BMW Motorrad’s “Spirit of Passion” custom motorcycle is an Art-Deco masterpiece!

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Looking at this customized BMW Motorrad R18, the one word that comes to mind is ‘Chariot’. That massive fairing, courtesy Kingston Custom is instantly visible, recognizable, and authoritative… sort of something you’d expect Batman to ride in the 1930s.

Dubbed the “Spirit of Passion”, BMW Motorrad recently collaborated with Kingston Custom for the second custom edition of BMW R18 in the ‘SoulFuel’ series. However, unlike the standard practice with most custom bikes, Dirk Oehlerking of Kingston Customs didn’t pull apart the entire thing to build a new chassis and body from scratch. “The BMW R 18 is so perfect that I left the technology as it is. The frame is 100% original and so sophisticated that nothing should be changed here”, said Oehlerking. Instead, he built on the existing design, creating what one can only describe as ‘difficult to miss’. The front of the Spirit of Passion is massive, yet elegant. Styled from head to toe in an art-deco inspired aesthetic, the bike is hand-finished to perfection, complete with that elongated kidney-grille on the front mudguard, which extends all the way from the dashboard, over the headlight, and near the twin-engine setup. Similarly, the rear mudguard of the motorcycle is an exquisitely designed piece that almost extends all the way to the ground, and integrates the taillight into itself rather beautifully.

The BMW R 18 exhaust has been modified in the Kingston Roadster style, while the saddle is taken from a range of universal accessories. For the most part, the custom bike maintains the same paintjob as the original R18, with the linework on the black body. Although if you ask me, it’s a stellar combination of BMW’s engineering and brand DNA with Kingston Custom’s eccentric ‘Bruce Wayne meets Great Gatsby’ style!

Designers: BMW Motorrad in collaboration with Kingston Custom

The custom-made BMW R9T looks like a post-apocalyptic steampunk beauty!

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It’s 2030, we’ve survived the pandemic, but at a cost. Society has collapsed, and we’ve gone from fighting over toilet paper to fighting over more valuable resources like food and water (sort of like Mad Max: Fury Road, but without any copyright infringements). Now imagine a fierce warrior speeding through modern-day ghost-town Los Angeles. He’s on an equally fierce-looking bike that’s some sort of salt-flats racer/Tron-bike hybrid. You look a little closer and you see the familiar white-blue circular logo with the letters BMW around it.

Now snap out of that apocalyptic dreamland I built and marvel the bike I’m talking about. Meet the BMW R9T, a one-off customized version of BMW’s new R18 cruiser, by the guys at Moscow-based Zillers Garage. It retains the R18’s internal build but comes with a redesigned outer body, made entirely from fabricated aluminum parts. The bike comes with a relatively closed design that integrates all its elements, from the headlight, all the way till the tail-light into a single unified mass with a naked metal finish that gives it its raw, post-apocalyptic appeal. It comes with a menacing HID lamp at the front, and a taillight mounted on a sliding rear that you can open to access the bike’s electricals. The bike’s dashboard gets integrated right into its fuel-tank, into displays that lie recessed into the bodywork in a way that’s clearly visible to the rider.

Move a little lower and you’ve got the original R18’s incredibly wide boxer engine that literally protrudes right out of the modified bike’s body-work. I’ll admit the engine’s width makes me worried about burning my shins, but it seems like something BMW would have already thought of. The bodywork by Zillers Garage gives volume to the bike, making the boxer engines look almost like the bike grew a pair of biceps. The R9T also doesn’t provide much in terms of ground clearance, but this bike’s more of a collector’s showpiece in my opinion, and an incredibly sexy one at that! Besides, post-apocalyptic Los Angeles seems a little far off anyway.

Designers: Zillers Garage, Mikhail Smolyanov & John Reed

Less banhammer, more gaming fun down under as Australia OKs R18+ game rating

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Less banhammer, more gaming fun down under as Australia OKs R18 game rating

Looks like folks from the land down under will be able to enjoy more of those upcoming titles featured recently at E3 2012. Australian gamers can now yell a collective "Get over here!" at more mature video gaming fare after the country's Parliament passed a new law to create an "adults-only" R18+ rating. The new classification puts video games on equal footing with films and other media that already allow mature content to be accessible in Australia via a similar rating. Prior to the creation of the new category, games deemed too mature for an MA15+ rating -- previously the strongest video game classification in Australia -- either had to be reclassified or banned from sale. One high-profile casualty that received a fatality from the old ratings system, for example, was the Mortal Kombat reboot. Lawmakers, however, agreed to pass the new rating law following years of consultation and strong public support for the change. One can only hope the legal tussle occurring in Australia between Apple and Samsung would reach an equally satisfactory resolution.

[Image Credit: Associated Press]

Less banhammer, more gaming fun down under as Australia OKs R18+ game rating originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 19 Jun 2012 03:47:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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