~ Auto Buzz ~: 2021 BMW R18 Cruiser and Bagger Designs Leak

While we continue to wait on the slow drip of official news on BMW‘s 1800cc cruisers, we’ve gotten our mitts on design filings for what appears to be the production models of the R18 in cruiser and bagger form.

Published this week by Brazil’s intellectual property office, the designs give us a good look at both versions of the R18 from multiple angles. Key elements such as turn signals, mirrors, fork-mounted reflectors and a giant license plate mount suggest that these are indeed intended for production and not just another concept. The designs also closely resemble the bikes spotted covered by tarps in spy photographs we published back in October.

The design filings give us our first good look at the bagger version, which we’ll call the R1800B for lack of a better name. While the two bikes obviously share the same 1802cc boxer engine, we were surprised at how much the bagger and the cruiser version (which we’ll call the R1800C) differ. Overlaying the right profile images of both bikes highlight these differences.

Apart from the obvious addition of a large fairing, front fender and saddlebags, we notice some changes to the chassis. It appears BMW is using a modular chassis design, as the headstock for the bagger is significantly different from the cruiser. Beyond supporting the added weight of the fairing, the chassis change also resulted in a different rake and trail, with the R1800B bagger’s front wheel brought in closer to the header pipes.

The R1800C also has an additional frame component below the seat for mounting passenger foot pegs. The bagger also has a noticeably larger fuel tank and a significantly thicker two-up seat.

The cruiser’s exhausts end in a rather bulbous pair of silencers with fin-shaped exhaust tips whereas the bagger has straighter pipes with a slash-cut tip, likely to make more room for the side cases. The R1800C also sports wire-spoke wheels instead of the bagger’s cast wheels, giving the cruiser a more classic styling.

The cruiser has one circular instrument nacelle while the bagger’s fairing incorporates four round dials above a rectangular panel. If this panel ends up being a TFT display, it looks like the bagger will have the largest screen we’ve seen on a motorcycle to date. We spy BMW’s multi-controller dial on the left handlebar grip (absent on the cruiser), further suggesting a digital display. Flanking the instrumentation are two side panels, though it’s hard to tell if these are speakers or additional storage boxes.

We already know the engine is an air-cooled 1802cc boxer with pushrods. BMW previously claimed an output of 89.8 hp at 4750 rpm and 116.5 lb-ft at 3000 rpm, with a 950 rpm idle and a 5750 rpm redline. The engine is Euro 5 compliant and is paired with a constant mesh six-speed transmission.

BMW is taking its sweet time in teasing its R18 platform, but these design filing suggest we’re finally getting closer to an official announcement for the production models. We’ll have the latest here on Motorcycle.com as it becomes available.