2023 BMW R18 Roctane Bagger Ride Review

Review Summary

• The R18 Roctane takes the base model R18’s classic looks and incredible engine and adds an unhealthy dose of badassery, luggage, a 21-inch front wheel and covers the whole thing in the blackest paint you’ve ever seen
• As with the entry level R18, it’s all about the engine here. Torque levels are insane and the boxer’s rock ‘n’ roll character just dominates the overall experience. Some family cars have smaller engines than this
• There’s no real deal breakers here. Yes it’s expensive and very heavy, but it’s also a bold design that is more than a little like the bike a bad guy would ride in a Hollywood action movie. With that said, the gear change can be a little tricky to get used to and the stock pipes are way too polite

It’s not often us reviewers get to ride the same bike twice. Usually it’s one and done; the bike is launched. We ride it. We write about it. Job done. Then we wait the allotted amount of time until either a new model is released or the manufacturer makes enough “mid-cycle” changes to the original for a new ride to be warranted. But that wasn’t the case with BMW’s 2023 “Roctane” R18. See, as a platform the R18 (like the R nineT before it) was designed from the get go to be super customisable. And not just superficially, either. Bars. Headlights. Wheels. Fenders. Indicators. Pipes. It’s all up for grabs. So when BMW asked us if we’d like to ride their “Roctane” bagger variant of the R18 a scant two months after we rode the pants of the R18 Classic Highline Cruiser, like the moto geeks we really are, we jumped at the chance. 

Apart from the lack of a screen and different luggage options, the Roctane might appear to a lay person to be quite similar to the Classic. Sure, they both have bags attached and that raked out front, but the Classic’s retro, studded leather saddlebags couldn’t be more different to the Roctane’s gloss black rocket pods. With all this new stuff, BMW have not only changed the aesthetics and intended uses for this new R18 family member, but by changing things like the front wheel diameter, bars and adding a very interesting reverse gear option, we weren’t really riding just another R18. Or were we? Was it just another cynical marketing idea to help shift more units? Happily. I think the answer here is a resounding “no,” but the devil is very much in the details.

Equal parts Batman, outlaw biker and ruthless mafia boss, the Roctane (despite its rather Spinal Tap nomenclature) is a comic book baddie to the Classic’s Route 66, California Highway Patrol and misty-eyed “olden days” looks. It also conjures up mental images of classic steam trains, Dreadnought battleships, classic European carrozzeria automobile designs of the 1930s and all that other art deco, “we’ve just discovered aerodynamics!” hype of way back when. It’s a black obsidian assassin’s blade to the Classic’s neatly cut slice of homemade apple pie and it’s all the better for it.

Whereas the Classic was excessive in the same way as an enormous meal in a 1950s American diner is, the Roctane is excessive like a fantastical piece of concept art for a retro-futurist sci-fi movie. Yes, I know all this sounds like very heart-on-sleeve stuff. It’s over the top, yes. But owning and riding a bike is a whole lot different to just liking its looks and the “vibe” of it, so let’s get on with it.

As a side note, it’d be no fun for me or for you to just rehash my previous R18 review when you can just read it for yourselves. What I’ll do instead is to focus a bit less on the nuts and bolts of the Roctane and instead look in detail at all the nice bits that make the Roctane unique and different from all its other siblings like the aforementioned Classic, the Transcontinental and the sadly unnamed base model, the plain old R18.

Of course, there’s also variations inside the Roctane range itself, as with all BMW’s models. But in Australia at least, it amounts to a few colour and accessory options that (with the notable exception of the reverse gear) won’t really affect your ride experience on a day-to-day basis.

Features of the 2023 BMW R18 Roctane Bagger

On top of the R18’s standard fair – or maybe instead of – the Roctane (please hold one hand above your head making the sign of the devil and bang your head back and forth as you say that) comes standard with a 21-inch front wheel made from cast aluminium and not the spokes of the base model. Of course, you get yourself two big new bags that are also lockable and, as the sales guy at my local dealer told me, “fit a six pack perfectly.” There’s also the ape-ish hangers, a dragster seat and the combo headlight and speedo. Naturally, the aluminium rims mean new rubber all round as well.

Engine

I covered the engine off in detail for my previous R18 review, and there’s no difference between the two as far as I can tell. But do note that the Roctane is roughly 30 kilos heavier than the base model thanks to the baggage, solid wheels and larger rear fender. The upshot here is that what you gain in convenience and bad-assery with the Roctane you will lose in straight line speed thanks to the extra weight.

Whatever the case, the engine is what makes the R18. The fact that a large, respectable German company would even consider making a boxer twin with enough capacity to swallow more than five cans of beer and then follow the idea through to a production model still floors me. Those crazy bastards. It’s a great piece of engineering.

Electronics

Shell out for the base model Roctane and you’ll get antilock brakes and BMW’s “Active Stability Control” which is corporate speak for traction control. You also have those three riding modes, also known as “Rock, Roll and Rain.” Fun names aside, the Rock is a full fat R18 experience. Roll makes the bike a bit more civilised – by what means I do not know – so that it doesn’t shake at idle. I may be imagining it, but when in Roll mode, I noticed the bike was harder to get going off the line, so I suspect it somehow reduces power or trades off throttle response for better economy. But that’s just a guess.

There’s also more standard stuff like a keyless fob, adjustable levers, LED lights and a 12 volt socket for accessories. Oh, and cruise control. Like you WOULDN’T want it on a bike like this. But should you succumb to the sales person’s hypnotic tones and also get the bike fitted with the “HL” pack, you’ll find your new wheels equipped with an adaptable headlight, a lockable fuel cap, hill start, heated grips, tyre pressure sensors, an alarm and a reverse gear. From my brief time with both a stock R18 and one without a reverse gear, trust me when I say you’ll want it. And the hill start brake is pretty damn handy as well.

Other Features

Should your hip pocket allow, there’s also the factory custom features. Despite BMW’s big talk about customising intentions, the list is surprisingly short. I guess this is because many of the options they offer on the standard vanilla bike have already been added here. But with that said, you can still get a lower profile seat, an old-school luggage rack and something called a “filler panel” which appears to be a piece of trim that fills the space between the Roctane’s rear fender and the luggage, giving the bike a more solid, contiguous look. And that’s just the official parts. Roland Sands and Wunderlich (to name just a few) also have a slew of R18 parts to allow you to go nuts.

Specs

The world-turning 1800cc engine is an air/oil cooled two-cylinder four-stroke boxer engine with two chain-driven camshafts. Compression is a fairly comfortable 9.6:1. Power is a decent 67 kW (91 hp) at 4750 rpm with a maximum torque figure of a truly epic 158 Nm (117 lb ft – as I noted for my previous review, that’s 6 more than the 2023 Suzuki Hayabusa and only 7 less than the supercharged Kawasaki HP2) at 3000 rpm. Damn. The R 18’s Top speed is just over 180 kmh (113 mph). The tank has a 16 ltr (4.2 gal) capacity with an included reserve of 4 ltrs.

Fully fueled and oiled, the bike weighs in at a very serious 374 kg (824 lbs) and the seat height is a correspondingly low 720 mm (28 in). My bike was shod with Metzler Marathon Ultra rubber, with a 120/70 B21 on the front and a 180/55 B168 at the rear.

Initial Impressions of the 2023 BMW R18 Roctane Bagger

As the dealer hands the bike over to me he takes the time to explain a few things. I’ve seen this before and it’s not just a coincidence. It’s what these guys do to maximise the chances of you getting on well with a new bike.

Bikes with a lot of tech get this treatment, as do big expensive, heavy bikes like the R18. He briefs me on the reverse gear, the gear change, the hard luggage. I note that the luggage isn’t easily removable, thanks in large part to the fact that they have brake lights wired into them. And reverse gear is engaged by flicking a lever down on the right side of the engine, which displays an “R” on the gear selection display. You then actually move backwards by pressing the bike’s starter switch. In other words, the starter motor is providing the power here.

Again the sales guy advises me that it “might surprise me,” but in practice it was fine and perfectly usable. It’s a great help, too. While the Classic R18 was 30 kgs lighter than the Roctane, I found myself more than once in parking situations where I had to perform 27-point turns to get out of a spot thanks to a slight slope or a rough surface.

Party Out Back

I then get a run down on the luggage. It’s beautifully designed and looks like a million bucks. The fact that they are covered in the same rich, deep black gloss metallic paint doesn’t hurt the cause. Their locking mechanism is better than I’ve seen on some cars; it’s also nicely designed to ensure you’d never ride off down the freeway with one or both of them open. No doubt you still could do it if you stupided hard enough, but even then I’d suggest that they wouldn’t pop open and spray your underpants all over the front of a big rig.

Thanks to all those wires and lights, the inside space is less than you might first think from their outside dimensions due to a “double walled” design that hides away the messy electrical stuff and the mounting equipment. The sales guy told me that they “fitted a six pack perfectly,” but looking at them, that’s a lot like damning them with faint praise. At one point I had to transport a piece of audio gear on the bike. It was 400mm x 68mm x 270mm (15-3/4” x 2-11/16” x 10-5/8”) and I ended up having to use a backpack as it didn’t fit into the Roctane’s luggage. So yes, the bags are useful but they are also smaller inside than they look.

The final hot tip from the sales guy was to tell me how the Roctane’s 21-inch front wheel “transformed the bike.” Note that the Classic not only had a smaller diameter front, but also fairly high profile rubber. Great for ride quality, but not so sharp in the corners or at low speeds. And here he was bang on the money.

While I never had any issues with the Classic’s steering or low speed manoeuvrability, I’d opt for the 21-inch front every day of the week. The front just felt a little more “accurate” to me and the bike tended to be less vague in those moments when you’re trying to keep the bike slowly moving at a set of red lights so you don’t have to put your feet down. The flipside to this is that on the freeway I’d suggest that the smaller, chubbier front on the Classic would soak up more bumps and ruts, making for a smoother ride and a less sore butt at the end of the day.

Black Celebration

Did I mention the paint? You bet I did. And here I go again. It was one of the nicest blacks I have seen in ages. “So deep, you could swim in it,” says the old cliché. But it was. The fact that the BMW designers really doubled down here and went to town by painting pretty much the entire bike just adds to the overall effect. It’s just impossibly shiny and impossibly dark.

Unsurprisingly, BMW’s brand colour is black so you might be able to hazard a guess that they’ve got plenty of experience with making it look good on their bikes. I liked it so much, I now look at the oh-so-fashionable matt metallics that make up the bike’s other two colour options and wonder what would possess you to choose one of them over the gloss black. There’s no accounting for taste, I guess.

Riding the 2023 BMW R18 Roctane Bagger

Riding in the City

With my driveway sloping down to the street at my house, the best time to test the reverse gear was the first time I properly rode the bike after returning from the dealership. With the Classic, I had managed to get the bike stuck between the downwards slope of the driveway and the reverse slope from the camber on the road that allows the rain to run off.

Five very sweaty minutes later and with two sore legs, I was underway but I had learned my lesson. A bike that weighs this much is not one you can just shuffle around willy-nilly. You have to plan things out – unless you have a reverse gear. And it just so happens that that’s exactly what the Roctane has.

Trying it for the first time was a little bit hit and miss, but I got there in the end. From what I found out the bike has to be running for the thing to work. And you also have to manually cancel it as opposed to just smashing the box into first and riding away. But it worked well and despite what the salesman said, I didn’t find it too jerky. Quite the opposite; once I had the hand of it, getting the bike out of a busy cafe car park space on a Sunday morning was impressively easy. And I’m sure that there were plenty of riders looking on and wondering just how I was getting this Gargantuan German to move backwards like some magic carpet ride.

On the road, there’s no mistaking the attractions of a bike like this. Screw this talk of less being more. More is more and the R18 proves it in spades. Like a ’50s Cadillac, being at the helm of something so substantial puts a big smile on your face while also being a massive boost to your ego. I know it’s egotistical, but it’s very hard to not enjoy it.

As a rider that cut his teeth on faster, lighter bikes that were as quick as they were uncomfortable, it’s quite the contrast to ride the R18. Also surprising is just how it handles once your speed is up. No, it’s not going to run through a set of orange cones faster than a S1000RR, but it’s much more nimble than its physical presence and stats might suggest. And with 158 Nm (117 lb ft) of torques on tap, it doesn’t hang about, either.

Then we come to the gears. I won’t beat around the bush here – changing gears on the bike takes some getting used to. This is partly my lack of road-time using a rocker-style gear lever, but it’s also thanks to the fact that in an attempt to make the R18 as comfortable as possible, the BMW designers have positioned the gear lever really far forward. The upshot here is that it’s positioned behind and under the engine’s left hand side cylinder head.

Riding the bike with big boots on – as many R18 riders will be doing – means that upshifts with your left toe just aren’t do-able, so stomping your heel on the back of the lever is a necessity. But when changing down, stomping down on the front lever is the only choice you have and with the proximity of the cylinder head and footboard, it can be a little awkward to get your foot in the right place 100% of the time. My notes were a bit less polite. “Like trying to stomp on a cockroach in the corner of a room with clown shoes on,” was how I put it.

More time in the saddle of the R18 would be the best remedy to this little frustration, I think. Muscle memory counts for so much when riding bikes, so it’s easy for guys like us who ride a different bike every two weeks to dis something when most real owners would just persist and get over it. But referring back to the dealership’s sales guy and his kind offer to adjust the gear levers “however I’d like them” made me think that they are very much aware the potential new owners might be phased by this.

Add it to the chatter about the R18 not being able to have a “real” foot-forward rising position thanks to the boxer engine’s cylinder heads and you get the impression it’s something they are consciously trying to overcome to improve sales.

Riding on the Freeway

Now I’m out of Sydney and heading north to Gosford, a kind of smaller, beach-front community about an hour and a half away. It’s freeway all the way and I hunker down for what is bound to be a thrill. The R18 doesn’t seem to know how to do things by halves, either. While its exhaust notes aren’t anything to write home about, the torque the engine packs makes high speed runs on big, open roads equal parts easy and thrilling.

Sit back and take in the beautiful weather, fresh breeze and water views or “get on it” just a little bit and make yourself smile knowing full well that all the corners between you and where you are going are big, wide and easy to take a speed. But push too hard and you’ll find the wind blast above 120 kmh (75 mph) gets a bit much. Sure, you can hunker down and withstand it for a while, but without the Classic’s windscreen the blast can get a little tiring.

And I get the distinct impression it’s not what the bike was designed for, anyway; it’s more of a scenic train ride than a trip on the concorde.

Approved by the Wind

Without mentioning any particular brand names, some bigger cruisers and baggers have had issues in the past with big fairings and hard luggage bolted to the bike causing weaving and other weird behaviours at freeway speeds. But not here. Not even a little bit.

I’d be guessing if I tried to give you an explanation as to why and to be honest it’s not like the issue is widespread. But you can see how it could happen with a bike that has two enormous pieces of luggage strapped to the back of it. One catches the wind and turns the bike a tiny bit. Then the opposite side does the same and like a flag flapping in the wind the oscillation grows and grows.

Undoubtedly BMW have spent many, many hours in their windtunnel trying to ensure it doesn’t happen, and from my brief freeways runs, it wasn’t an issue. Puts simply, it was super stable at speed and comfortable to ride all day.

Blinded by the Light

As with most Beemers, the bike’s useability had been perfected to within an inch of its life. The Germans have always been great with this sort of stuff. Hell, Apple has pretty much taken over the world with product designs that look remarkably like a whole bunch of German industrial designs from the ‘50s and ‘60s. But one thing they didn’t count on is that the flat, northern hemisphere light is very different to what you get on the south side of the globe. Light here is strong, sharp and the skies are blue and deep. None of this diffuse European light that fills shadows and makes everything seem grey and even.

So when you mount a speedo so it’s almost facing directly upward on the top of a bike’s headlight, you really shouldn’t be surprised when it reflects the sky and makes seeing the speedo and all the other information it displays really tricky. Maybe a pair of Polaroid sunglasses would help here, or some kind of anti-reflective coating on the speedo’s glass?

Some other quick observations. At 16 litres (4.2 gals) the tank isn’t huge. Add that to an engine that’s bigger than some power stations and you can see that the Roctane won’t be devouring continents whole before it needs a refill. As with most modern bikes, the ride quality was firmer than you’d probably expect, but the upshot here is that it also handles much better than you’d expect. I’m not sure about you, but that’s a trade off that I’d happily go with. Also, roads in the US and the EU tend to be much better than the ones Down Under, so there’s that too. Finally, I stopped for a coffee and got chatting with an owner of a very cool Torana GTR XU1. He loved the Roctane. Like he really loved it. Hey BMW – do I get any sales commissions?

Somehow I managed to ride the R18 for two weeks straight and I still ended up fluffing the rocker gear change every now and then. It’s amazing just how much effort it takes to overcome muscle memory. Distracted with Google maps, I managed to pull up to a location I’d never visited before and shift the bike from second gear to fifth as I absently-mindedly heeled down through the gears instead of toeing down. Then an hour or so later I was sitting in the middle lane at a three lane right turn waiting for the lights to change when a bunch of other bikes pulled up alongside. Caught off guard by the green light, I roared off into the hard right turn and managed to drift into the outside lane which was already occupied by another bike. The rider was clearly not happy.

Flustered again, I then stomped down on the front of the gear lever and wondered why the bike was still in first. Now flustered and distracted, I looked down to see what was going on and managed to miss the fact that the next set of red lights were only a short distance down the road. Looking back up, I see cars in the intersection and realise that I was about to run the red. By the time I’d pulled the R18 to a stop I was well and truly into the intersection and very much red-faced.

As quickly as the Roctane boosts your ego, it can also cut it down again. From the outside looking in, I’d run wide in a corner, screwed a gear change and then run a red. Not cool. The moral of the story is an important one; with great power comes great responsibility, something which I’m sure the other riders who witnessed my little shit show on how not to ride the R18 were sure I didn’t possess. Don’t be like me.

What Could Be Better on the 2023 BMW R18 Roctane Bagger

While I did struggle with the Roctane’s gears from time to time, I have no doubt that it’s something you’d get used to in time. The fact that the sales guy at the dealership I borrowed the bike from went out of his way to tell me that they could adjust the gear lever however I wanted it says to me that they know it’s not the most friendly of setups. Throw a big set of armoured riding boots into the mix and changing gears can sometimes end up as a bit of a “stomp and prey” exercise. But practice makes perfect, and I don’t see it as a long term issue.

The Aussie sun is famously harsh. The light here is just so different to Europe and the US. So what might seem like an entirely practical design for the Northern Hemisphere where you have the speedo pointing directly upwards translates Down Under into something akin to having a mirror on your bike where your speed should be displayed. No, it wasn’t absolutely unusable. But on sunny days or even partially cloudy ones, the information was harder to read than it should be.

And once again, pipes this polite and baffled on an engine like the R18’s should be illegal. Sure, there’s some proper meat to the bike’s stock exhaust note, but it only takes one Harley to pull up beside you before you realise just what a wallflower this Berlin bagger really is.

Final Thoughts on the 2023 BMW R18 Roctane Bagger

So why would you get a Roctane over a Classic? Budget considerations aside, they are almost yin and yang bikes. The Classic is very 1950s in its influences and even exudes a subtle police bike vibe if you go for the white and black paint. The Roctane is Sylvester Stalone in the movie Cobra; mirrored Ray Ban shades, a smoking Uzi and looking for trouble. The Classic is Elvis to the Roctane’s Metallica. The Classic is the Hudson Hornet to the Roctane’s Lightning McQueen.

And while the 21-inch front on the Ractane does make it more practical in many situations, the screen on the Classic along with its low profile front tyre probably means that long distances on the Classic would be more comfy, too.

Personally, I’d take the Roctane. And while I’m the least “Sylvester Stallone” guy you’d probably ever meet, I’m smart enough to get that the “standing on the shoulders of giants” experience that the Roctane offers is one that most honest riders should be able to appreciate. Like a 10-minute guitar solo, it’s not something you want or need or can ever really justify, but I’d be the first to march in the street if anyone ever tried to ban them.

Like those 1930s art deco cars and steam trains I mentioned at the start of this story, they are at their very core an exercise in pushing the boundaries and seeing what’s possible. Anyone who writes a bike off like this as being too big, too expensive or too impractical is missing the point. And that is because the Roctane isn’t about realities and sensibilities. It’s about stepping over the line and not giving a damn what anyone else thinks.

The Roctane is amazing in the fact that it exists at all. It’s amazing because it’s so batshit crazy but yet somehow it all works. BMW took a big risk here and in my mind that’s what makes them a great company. A great company is one willing to take risks and wear the consequences. To be a fly on the wall in the boardroom when the Bayern Munich bigwigs said, “Ja. Let’s do this.” All those grey-haired German executives who live in nice houses and drive sensible BMW cars committing to a project like this? That’s nuts. And crazy. And it needs to be applauded.

The fact that the bike is also a pleasure to ride and that despite all expectations, it does a whole bunch of things really well is almost too weird to take in. If a bagger appeals to you, why not embrace the sensible insanity and take a Roctane for a test spin?

The 2023 BMW R18 Roctane Bagger at a Glance

General Info Base price: $18,695 USD / $22,995 CDN CAD Key Features: ASC Stability Control Keyless Ride LED lighting Multiple riding modes

Main Specs Engine: 1,802 cc air/oil cooled two-cylinder four-stroke boxer Power: 91 horsepower Torque: 116 lb-ft Weight: 824 lbs (374 kgs) Seat Height: 28.3 inches (720 mm)

Competitors Harley Davidson Sport Glide Indian Springfield Dark Horse Kawasaki Vulcan 1700 Vaquero Honda Goldwing

See Also: 2023 BMW Model Lineup

2023 BMW R18 Roctane Bagger Photo Gallery