• Welcome to the BMW R18 Forums. Member registration disables ads and allows you to post and share. Register Here.

2020/21 First Edition with few miles / known issues ?

  • <i class="fa--xf fal fa-check "><svg xmlns="http://www.w3.org/2000/svg" role="img" aria-hidden="true" ><use href="/data/local/icons/light.svg?v=1789222567#check"></use></svg></i> Discussion starter Discussion starter Matmat
  • Start date Start date
So, I have an R18 first edition. Within 100 miles of purchase the left piston starting blowing oil. Had an amazingly hard time with BMW on it. Clutch line leaked from the factory… took them a month to fix it. Overall, I was incredibly displeased with the manufacture QC on the R18. I’ve owned at least 10 BMW bikes and this is the only one that ever gave me trouble out of the box. It was a poor launch.

If you really want a first edition don’t pay more than $7500 for it. You may be able to even find a new one for that :-). The reason why you get them as loaners is they didn’t sell… at all. Now, of all the R18s the First Edition naked R18 is the only R18 I had any interest in. But I got it brand new, was the first kid on the block… and still got the bike cheap.

I just had an 18k service with valves/brake/bleed/recall fix and a service bulletin on the drive shaft. The drive shaft bothers me because they didn’t grease them at all at the spline. This is another production QC issue (greasing those splines is critical and wasn’t done on some bikes).

I wanted the retro bike. I do like my R18. But you can adjust that suspension all you want… it’s not going to start feeling OK until about 15000 miles :-). I am glad I have other bikes to ride over long distances. She is pretty, though and is a blast to ride.
 
Back
Top