True American iron

With that heritage in mind the Indian Roadmaster was a logical next step. To stay in tune with the inspiration of the Bavarian bikes dating back to the 1930’s, it was nice to be presented by Indian Motorcycle with their ‘Heritage Edition’.

All inclusive
Everything you can dream about is probably fitted to this machine! Starting with the very impressive ‘Thunderstroke’ heart which is no less than 116 cubic inches (1800 cc), also to be found in the Chief, the Chieftain and in the Springfield, the list of mouth-watering goodies just goes on forever.

According to Indian Motorcycle the Roadmaster was built for the riders looking for the ‘Gold Standard’ in comfort and ride. This Roadmaster is adorned with chrome finishes, Ride Command with Apple CarPlay® integration, rear cylinder deactivation and a variety of ride modes.

Standard amenities include multi-setting heated seats and grips, remote-locking saddlebags and trunk, adjustable passenger floorboards, ABS, cruise control, keyless ignition, automatic tyre pressure monitoring, full LED lighting, and lower fairings with adjustable airflow vents.

“Can we get you anything else sir?”
Well, how about: Metzeler Cruisetec® tyres, and a push-button adjustable windshield? Standard amenities across the entire Roadmaster lineup include remote-locking saddlebags and trunk with over 140 litres of combined storage, adjustable passenger floorboards, ABS, cruise control, keyless ignition, tyre pressure monitoring and full LED lighting.

Furthermore, the power buttons on the Roadmaster, just like on the above mentioned models, have been relocated to the switch cube on the handlebars to accommodate a new 12-volt charge port on the dash. The charge port conveniently provides riders with an opportunity to plug in and connect to a wider range of electronics.

Phew! And I though my Christmas wish list was long.

On the road
After taking this all in it was time to hit the road. Having just given back the BMW R18 Transcontinental it was quite a change to get on the Roadmaster. Whereas it took a full day to get really comfortable with the huge BMW, the Roadmaster, which is equally gigantic, felt easy to handle right from the start.

Of course it is a bulky machine not necessarily built for Dutch country roads. Its natural habitat is more the American highway, but still there was no instant at all that it felt uncomfortable or out of place.

It is also nice to experience the reactions of other road users when they see the impressive front fairing of the Roadmaster appear in their rear-view mirrors. Cars automatically move to the side of the road to make room and you see many heads turned towards the machine to admire the beautiful finishes.

Broad power band
Did I already cite the smooth power delivery and loads of torque available at crazy low revs? Being the hooligan that I am, I could not resist throttling the engine at times, just to experience the full power of its roaring heart.

The Roadmaster comes with a dual-disc front and a single-disc rear brake arrangement (with ABS). There is sufficient stopping power available, although it feels a bit less direct compared to the BMW. With its low and wide handlebars, large seat and spacious floorboards, all Roadmaster models should fit the vast majority of European riders comfortably. And thanks to the adjustable windshield, wind protection is easily customizable. I played around with the electronics to raise and lower the shield while riding. In urban environments I found it better to ride with the shield down as the upper edge was exactly in view when sitting up straight.

Autumn comes with crisp weather and the heated grips and seats (even for passengers) did definitely make the long miles go by far more comfortably as well on shorter and even colder rides.

Coffee and cake the American way
On a chilly Saturday morning I decided to ride to a friend who lives in the south of the country. He is not very well unfortunately and this was a great excuse to cover over 400 kilometres on one day, just for coffee, cake, good old riding memories and a laugh.

What a magnificent experience it was! The Indian challenges the pilot to just keep on riding and riding until there is no horizon in sight anymore. It was a Royal Ride that day and I felt like a King riding this high powered motorcycle all week.

Choices
Life is all about selecting the paths to go on and following your passions to lead the way in life.
Choosing the right bike for the right moment is one of them.

Don’t forget to ‘work less and ride more’. Life is too short not to.

Photo credits: Ron Betist

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BMW R18 – 1800cc cruiser

Until you start reading the spec sheet, and realize that there is something quite provocative about the R18. To begin with, there’s that massive engine. 1800cc boxer twin engine to be precise, still air-cooled, but with a little bit of help from an external oil-cooler. The 90hp of peak power at a lowish 4750 rpm isn’t too bad considering the displacement, but the 158Nm of torque at a ridiculous 3000 rpm is what gets our hearts pump faster; this we gotta try!

And try we did. BMW Motorrad in the Netherlands invited us to try out their new, dressed-down version of the R18, called ‘First Edition’, and the full-fat version of the R18 known as the ‘Trans Continental’. This review is about the R18 ‘First Edition’. The review on the R18 ‘Trans Continental’ will follow next.

First impression of the R18 ‘First Edition’
Wow, this thing is massive! That was the first thing that came to mind when I saw R18. It’s that engine that blows your mind. 900cc on each side, the barrels are huge compared to what we’re used to. The black color with white pinstriping is simple and elegant at the same time. It looks timeless on the R18. Then there are the beautiful chrome polished fishtail exhaust pipes; they look incredibly beautiful; we wish more manufacturers would put them on cruiser! What BMW did really well with the R18, is hide the ugly catalytic converters underneath the engine, between the exhaust headers, out of eye-sight. Wire-spoked wheel, with stainless steel spokes and black rims add to that distinguished look and feel. But the ‘piece-de-resistance’ has to be that exposed shaft drive. It’s so incredibly old-school, we fell head over heels for it. That’s how you build a retro bike!

Second impression
When you swing your leg over the seat, you feel you are seated on something special. There is one minimalistic speedo, but make no mistake, it has an LCD display that allows you to access information most companies would be jealous of! The R18 is brought to life in a similar way like most modern cars and motorcycles. You keep the key in your pocket, and simply press the power button on the right controls. There are 3 ride modes from which you can choose: Rock, Roll, and Rain. We had to guess and search up what Rock and Roll did, but there was very little doubt about the Rain-mode. This impacts the throttle response and traction control in a pleasant and non-intrusive matter. Rock would be similar to ‘Sport’ mode on most bike, and Roll is the equivalent to ‘Normal’ or ‘Touring’. We kept the R18 on Rock, because it allowed for a very useable throttle response.

Third impression
Picking the bike from it’s side stand immediately gives away the elephant on the room; 345 kilograms of wet weight. Maneuvering the R18 at stand still is difficult to say the least. Getting the bike rolling will help, so you hit the start button. First thought: This bike rocks! Quite literally! The slightest opening of the throttle results in a massive swing to the right, caused by the inertia exerted by the flywheel, which must be huge. That’s also when the first lesson was learned: you keep both feet firmly on the ground when you pull up in first gear. If you forget that, you risk tipping the bike over to the left by the sheer force of the flywheels’ movement. But, as predicted, once the mass is in motion, the R18 hides its weight pretty well. A neat feature the R18 has was the ‘reverse’ gear, which needs to be operated manually. This helps with moving the bike backwards without looking like you’re hitting the gym, if needed.

King of the road
The sound the exhaust produces when you open up the throttle is magnificent. It reminds me of the sound a turbo-charged V8 diesel engine makes; deep, short, throaty. With a similar powerband too! A small twist of the right wrist results in incredible acceleration. It feels as if the road is moving underneath your tires, and not the other way around! The R18 invites for some serious mile-munching. The handlebars aren’t too far of a reach, the seat is very comfortable, but the seating position leaves much to desire. If you have a larger shoe size than 43 (Size 10), you’ll struggle with keeping your feet from hitting the cylinders and air-intake. You want to sit with your feet a bit further to the front, but you can’t. Instead, it looks like you’re sitting a on a small camping chair. Too bad, because it could have made a massive improvement on the ride quality. The same goes for the suspension. The front Showa fork works well under most circumstances, but the rear ZF shock with its limited travel of 90mm only (!) can be a bit too harsh on anything that isn’t silky smooth tarmac. The brakes are good for such a massive bike, but they’re not nearly as good as the radial Brembo brakes that can be found on Moto Guzzi’s 1400 California. The 16-liter fuel tank provided a sufficient range for comfortable riding without getting range anxiety, we averages around 16 km/l or 38 US MPG under mixed riding conditions. Rides of up to 2 hours or done effortlessly, especially with nice comforts like cruise-control and heated grips, which worked flawlessly.

Verdict
Overall, the BMW R18 ‘First Edition’ was a very pleasant surprise, to the point where we are foreseeing a renaissance of the custom cruisers. We’ve seen revivals of retro style motorcycle before, such as café racers and scramblers. Could the cruiser be the next big thing? If so, then BMW has set the standard pretty high as far as we’re concerned. Just like with any other new BMW, there is an accessories catalogue that seems to be endless with exclusive and high-quality special equipment, were a potential buyer can opt for features such as cruise control, special paint, special wheels, heated comfort seat and so on. With a starting price of just below 28,000 Euro in the Netherlands, prices can go up to nearly 40,000 euro. That’s a lot of money, question is if the R18 is worth it. We’ll let the market decide, but we sure would love to see these beasts more often on the road.

Photographs:
Gijs Paradijs
BikeBrewers – Adnane

BMW Motorrad Nederland
MotoShare

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Long runner
The Harley-Davidson Motorcycle company is one of the world’s oldest motorcycle manufacturers. One of the company’s most successful models has got to be the Sportster, which has been produced continuously since 1957. There have been countless different Sportster models, however, all of them had a 45-degree air-cooled V-twin engine and a softail. The long production run makes the Sportster one of the most popular motorcycles out there that are being modified by owners. And why not? Aftermarket parts are sold in abundance and in a wide variety of prices. People that own a Harley Sportster really love their bike. For a very long time, it was also the most affordable Harley-Davidsons on the price list. It is the VW Beetle of motorcycles.

Minimalistic
Daniel Nyland is an Arizona based engineer that loves to work on motorcycles in his spare time. He grew up riding dirt bikes and ATVs, and this particular Harley-Davidson was his first street motorcycle. The 1991 Sportster was sourced fairly cheap, which was great because that meant money could be spent on modifying it. Daniel feels that people often talk a lot of smack about Sportster, which is a load of nonsense because they are a blast to ride. We wholeheartedly agree with him on that point.

Inspiration for this build cannot be pinpointed to one specific moment or event, but rather a combination of various ideas. Daniel likes café racers and bobbers, so some influence was drawn from those. Many hours were spent on the internet looking at bikes and trying to figure out what would look badass. Going minimalistic was on the table, and it didn’t take long before all non-essential parts were removed, and the bike was stripped down to its bare bones. The engine had to be the centerpiece and everything else had to flow from there on.

Flow
Daniel believes that there are three major aspects to a well build motorcycle: the engine, the frame, and the bodywork. Each has to flow well with itself, but they all have to work with each other as well.  The look of bare metal and seeing the grains and imperfections that are normally covered up by a traditional paint job, are what make Daniel’s heart pump faster. So, he wanted all the tins to be bare and add some hand drawn sketches to break it up as well as add some unique character to the bike. He knew he wanted the engine-case to be a semi-gloss black, with the covers and starter being raw metal grey, accompanied by a bitchin’ stainless steel 2-2 exhaust.

As with most builds, there were some challenges during the process. Assembling and disassembling the bike multiple times, making sure that everything was the way Daniel wanted it was one of those pains. All to make sure that in the end, he would realize that he should have done it differently. “When you look at the gorgeous creations from the pro builders you don’t understand the amount of foresight that goes into building a quality bike until you’re doing it yourself.”

Serious upgrades
Some of the work was done by a local shop called “Bloody Knuckle”. They helped out with some of the welding on the frame as well as creating the rear fender. Hammer Performance supplied the motor kit as well as reworking a set of 2007 heads. Everything else was done by Daniel himself.

What modifications are made and what parts were used?

• Bare Knuckle Choppers hardtail kit
• Black powder coat spoked wheels
• Custom speedo mount
• Vertical oil tank
• Blackbird fuel tank w/ integrated fuel sight
• Custom rear fender
• V-rod style headlight cowl
• Chainsikle rearsets
• 1275 kit from Hammer Perf w/ reworked 2007 heads
• HP560 cams
• CV40 performance upgrades
• RXC velocity stack
• EMD primary cover
• Custom SS exhaust w/ internal ceramic coat
• Dyna 2ki ignition w/ Dyna coils
• Trimmed cam cover
• Cognito Moto GPS Speedo
• Custom coil mount
• Antigravity battery
• Tokico front caliper conversion
• Progressive Suspension lowering springs
• Custom electrical box hidden underneath battery tray

Results
It is incredible to see that everything flows perfectly together, especially the subtle brass accents that help tie everything together.  The Sportster rides like a beast, with the Hammer Performance kit hitting hard and pulling long. It’s loud, low, and without a doubt terrorizes the quiet suburban street of Arizona. If there is one thing that Daniel learned from this experience, it is that anyone can do this. Building a motorcycle is an amazing experience and everyone’s motorcycle should be an extension of themselves. Hear, hear!

Builder details:
Daniel Nyland
Instagram

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Abundance in everything
Just recently, I had the opportunity to test ride the 2020 Indian Springfield, a classic old-school bagger. This bike is a true powerhouse with Indian’s largest production engine prior to 2020. Its thumping heart is an 1800cc V-twin engine, well endowed with lots of torque. The machine is adorned with lots of chrome and other frilly stuff.

But before talking about this custom cruiser, let’s review the heritage of this iconic American motorcycle brand. Did you know that the Indian Motorcycle Company was responsible for some of the earliest advancements in motorcycle technology and some impressive early motorcycle speed records?

In 1901, Hendee hired Oscar Hedstrom to create a gas-powered bike that could pace bicycle races. Following the success and excitement around this first machine, the company opened a factory in Massachusetts and began mass-producing motorcycles. In their first year on the market, a rider on an Indian motorcycle won a race from Boston to New York. In 1903, the Indian Motorcycle Company was on its way to becoming the largest and most important motorcycle manufacturer in the world. That same year, a couple of young men in Milwaukee built the very first Harley-Davidson motorcycle, creating what would become Indian’s biggest rival.

Win on Sunday, sell on Monday
In 1906, a pair of riders used an Indian motorcycle to ride from San Francisco to New York in a record-setting 31.5 days. In the 1910’s Indian Motorcycles were re-engineered with a modern suspension system, the first electric starter on a motorcycle and a whopping 1000cc engine. All of these upgrades helped Indian motorcycles break even more both speed records and endurance records. In 1911, Indian dominated the world of racing, winning the most prestigious race of them all, the Isle of Man Senior Trophy. By the end of that year, Indian motorcycles had set no less than 121 recognized racing records.

Throughout the first part of the 1900s, Indian produced high performance models (the first Indian Scout in 1920, the Indian Chief in ‘22 and the Big Chief in 1923) and was always ahead of its time improving the engine and frames. Indian managed to solidify itself in the history of motorcycling through road racing, dirt racing and land speed attempts on the world-famous Bonneville Salt Flats throughout the 20th Century. Indian also established itself in the world of flat track, leading it to become rivals with Harley-Davidson.

Rising from the ashes
However, in 1953, due to a lack of sales and the effect of the WWII, Indian Motorcycles ceased operations. The brand name and rights changed hands a few times from 1953 until 1977. It was only in 2011 that Indian made a strong come-back when Polaris Industries purchased the brand. 2013 marked the big unveiling of the rejuvenated Indian Motorcycle. The awesome Thunder Stroke 111 V-Twin engine was introduced and a new generation of bikes was unveiled. The Indian Motorcycle has been reinvented with new models released over the last 7 years including the Indian Roadmaster, all-new Indian Scout, the flat tracker inspired FTR, the Indian Chief Dark Horse and the Springfield.

Springfield
The Indian Springfield hit the market in 2016 and its design has been carried over into the 2020 model year due to its success.
With a combination of power from the powerful ‘Thunderstroke’ 111 V-twin (119Lb-Ft @ 3,000RPM), world-class engineering and premium touring features, the Indian Springfield is built for the long haul. The valenced fender, introduced in 1940 and used through 1942, leads the way with a chrome brow and iconic, lighted war-bonnet crest. Chrome beer-can fork skirts beef up the stems, as does the headlight nacelle and whisker bar, and the latter supports a pair of passing lamps along with the front turn signals to wrap up the forward lighting. A true American icon! Much like the early American tour bikes, the Springfield pushes a large, quick-release windshield that leaves you with the similar level of protection as a true fairing but with much greater visibility forward and down. In my case, because of my height, it generated turbulence around the helmet. From what I know, a higher screen is available.

A chrome instrument panel rides on the 20.8L fuel tank with the on/off button, a round fuel gauge and large analog gauge for the speedometer. A host of indicator lights are set in the face of the speedo, and there’s a small LED screen to handle the remaining metrics and act as an interface for the Ride Modes feature. Standard features are 3 ride modes and rear cylinder deactivation. The Indian Springfield maintains rider-favourite features such as the genuine leather seats, remote-locking saddlebags and adjustable passenger floorboards. ABS, cruise control, key-less ignition and tire pressure monitoring also come standard.

Regarding the frame, a cast-aluminum skeleton holds it all together, and while that undoubtedly removes some weight, it still tips the scales at 376kg wet. It’s not at all what you’d call a ‘lightweight’ bike and not ideal for urban riding and zigzagging through rush hour traffic. It’s heavy and the deactivation / activation of the cylinder is quirky when you take off at a green light.
One area that I could see some improvement is the rear ABS. A slam on the rear brake pedal will still result in a tire lock and that is not good when you are riding in the city on a winter day. Trust me, I know what I am talking about.

Open road, here we come!
But once you set it free on open roads, you will discover an incredibly smooth and stable ride. The Springfield has stump-pulling torque way down low delivered to the back wheels by a belt drive and six-speed transmission. The seat is very comfortable and the riding position is perfectly upright. If lower speeds are all you need, the Springfield might just be the bike for you. If, like me, you like the cruiser style but also enjoy bombing through some twisties, the Springfield will do both of these quite well, better than the equivalent Harley Davidson Street Glide, in my personal opinion.

The 2020 Indian Springfield is a touring cruiser that is designed to both be modern in comfort and technology, but classic in terms of looks and feel.

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