RIDING IMPRESSION
R1200C
(Left) Could this be the
look of a new breed of
cruisers? BMW took a
completely different
approach in designing its
first cruiser, the R1200c.
(Below) Tuned for torque:
Overall horsepower was
sacrificed for more
cruiser-friendly torque out
of the f1at·twin Boxer
motor, which features
increased displacement.
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By Kit Palmer
32
ne thing is for sure: You can never
accuse BMW of being copycats. A
quick glance at the truly bizarrelooking, one-of-a-kind R1200C
confirms tha t.
However, some might say that BMW
is following the crowd by jumping onto
the cruiser bandwagon - but, after all,
BMW is in the business of making
money, and right now cruiser bikes are
doing just that for their makers. Understandably, BMW wants a piece of this
action, and produced a cruiser bike of its
own; but this is about as far as it goes
when it comes to implicating BMW of
copying anybody.
'The R1200c is BMW's first entry into
the cruiser-bike market - certainly a
milestone for the company ~ and, when
you think about it, it's also one of the
first (if not the only) honest-ta-goodness
cruisers to be produced in significant
numbers outside the United States and
Japan. From its headquarters in Munich,
Germany, BMW has watched the worldwide trend in motorcycling - predominantly in the United States - turn to
cruising, a trend that has now been
around long enough to thoroughly convince BMW that cruising is not just a
passing fad. Additionally, according to
BMW researchers, 33 percent of all new
motorcycles registered in 1996 were
cruisers, so if BMW had any doubts
about catching the cruiser wave, they
were completely erased by this figure. It
was time to start paddling.
Having made the decision to go
cruising, many other questions would
soon follow: What would this new bike
look like? What will power it? How
much will it cost?
