Ready to Go Fast?
Put Roland Sands and BMW’s new R 18 cruiser into a room together for a while and you’re bound to get something cool. That’s exactly what’s happened. The designer and motorcycle customizer took the R 18 and transformed it into a drag machine. This is the R 18 Dragster and it is wicked awesome.Â
“With an engine that is so visibly the centerpiece, I immediately thought about muscle cars,” said Sands. With that as his guiding principle, he took the R 18 and crafted it into a machine that would go super-fast in a straight line. Sands started with a sketch and then he and his team worked to bring the sketch to life.Â
The geometry of the BMW R 18 stayed the same, but much of the rear of the bike was altered, and the chassis was modified to achieve the look and design Sands wanted. The bike features a front fork of a BMW R nine T and brakes of an S 1000 RR. There were many parts of the bike that needed to be created as fully customized parts. This included a handcrafted stainless steel exhaust and a hand-crafted seat.Â
Roland Sands has a line of custom parts for the R 18 cruiser. You didn’t think that BMW and Roland Sands would team up without putting together a list of parts and accessories, did you?
I gotta admit, I absolutely hate that every accessory says Roland Sands Design in clear view. Personally, I think it ruins the look. As much as I like some of the accessories, I will never buy them.