On the Fence... New/used BMW R18 first edition

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Lahti35

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I looked at a 2021 R18 first edition today with the box of goodies and some Roland Sands accessories.

So it's basically new with 25 months of warranty left but has been sitting around with miniscule use. Price was just over 13K.

In my area I'm seeing basic R18's with no accessories on Facebook marketplace and the dealers from 14-15K with 300-2000 miles on the clock.

I'm wondering what this could do to an engine to run these few miles and then spend most of it's time sitting... Do these need to be broken in over a short period? I know the first service is at 600mi.

I found the R18 to be a nice bike, it truly is large! I'm used to smaller vintage bikes and my current 2015 Indian scout. The peg scraping I've seen in review videos is concerning, am I going to scrap making a 90 degree turn out of my driveway onto the street? I welcome comments and discussion!
 
I just bought a R18 first edition.... what some call a pure. It was "new".... some 50 miles in the clock.... 21 model from a dealer. I got them to do the 1st service before taking delivery.... inc brake fluid (they did this for free). I may still chose to do the oil a bit down the road..... but I won't be doing big milage. I have no concerns about it being "well rested".

I do worry about it's emotional state.... having been born to a world and apparently not wanted.... it gets delivered to me next week and I might need to organise some counselling for it......

I'm not worried about peg scraping... adjust the rear shock appropiately as a first step.... and when fanging it.... move your weight into the turn to allow the bike to lean less..... I've come to the conclusion that lots of people have opinions.... few have knowledge/fact based opinions.
 
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Morning. Only you can decide what’s best. What’s more appealing to your eye. The 13k FE with extras sounds like a great price. The market is slightly different (stronger-weaker) depending upon where you are in the World. Regarding cornering you just adjust to the bike, I don’t drag the pegs at all, don’t need to. Of course I could but it’s not unavoidable by any means. Just slow down a bit or adjust your line. It’s a great time to get into the R18, the race to the bottom on used prices may be coming to an end, hoo rah, at last.
 
I had the classic first edition. First problem right off the bat was the low ground clearance. I hauled a trailer to my dealership 4 hours away, and couldn't get the bike on the trailer because it dragged bottom on the transition between the gate and the trailer bed. Had to find a street with a sidewalk, park the trailer on the street and lower the gate onto the elevated sidewalk, to reduce the angle between the gate and the bed. I imagine this probably contributes to the peg scraping? Anyway, on top of that, the wife hated riding passenger on it due to wind buffeting. I sold it after a few months and bought the Transcontinental and all those problems went away. We love the TC
 
Lahti35 said:
I looked at a 2021 R18 first edition today with the box of goodies and some Roland Sands accessories.

So it's basically new with 25 months of warranty left but has been sitting around with miniscule use. Price was just over 13K.

In my area I'm seeing basic R18's with no accessories on Facebook marketplace and the dealers from 14-15K with 300-2000 miles on the clock.

I'm wondering what this could do to an engine to run these few miles and then spend most of it's time sitting... Do these need to be broken in over a short period? I know the first service is at 600mi.

I found the R18 to be a nice bike, it truly is large! I'm used to smaller vintage bikes and my current 2015 Indian scout. The peg scraping I've seen in review videos is concerning, am I going to scrap making a 90 degree turn out of my driveway onto the street? I welcome comments and discussion!
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The peg scraping is from people who didn’t set the preload & left it in the shipping position. If you leave it in the shipping position, it will be much easier to scrape as it is basically sitting as low as it can to reduce the crate size.

But, if you adjust the preload to your weight, it is one of the best handling cruisers out there. I regularly go 30-40MPH over the speed limit in twisties. I’ve scraped twice, both times really trying to. The first was in a roundabout where I kept going faster till I finally made it scrape. The second was a 90 degree turn on a twisty back road at about 50MPH and I had been trying to scrape that entire road.

It handles quite well and scraping will only happen at extra legal road speed if properly setup. It’s not as nimble as my S1000R, but it’s also nearly twice the weight and hard to compete with sport bike lean angles. Your Scout is pretty good in the curves, but the R18 has slightly more lean angle, so I don’t expect it would be an issue for you.
 
nielsm said:
The peg scraping is from people who didn’t set the preload & left it in the shipping position. If you leave it in the shipping position, it will be much easier to scrape as it is basically sitting as low as it can to reduce the crate size.

But, if you adjust the preload to your weight, it is one of the best handling cruisers out there. I regularly go 30-40MPH over the speed limit in twisties. I’ve scraped twice, both times really trying to. The first was in a roundabout where I kept going faster till I finally made it scrape. The second was a 90 degree turn on a twisty back road at about 50MPH and I had been trying to scrape that entire road.

It handles quite well and scraping will only happen at extra legal road speed if properly setup. It’s not as nimble as my S1000R, but it’s also nearly twice the weight and hard to compete with sport bike lean angles. Your Scout is pretty good in the curves, but the R18 has slightly more lean angle, so I don’t expect it would be an issue for you.
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I've read about this somewhat... I found the chart a member put together in a post with weights and such for adjusting the preload.

I actually felt the little feeler bolts under the pegs to see if they had scuffing but they did not.

That's great info on my scout, I have never scraped the pegs (now floorboards) on my scout, not even close. I feel more confident now about purchasing it knowing that. So many of the review video's on YouTube show the peg scraping it had me wondering if I could make a turn at a 4 way stop.
 
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