Therealr18
BMW’S new R18 retro cruiser has opened our eyes to the bikes that inspired it, like this 1928 R57…
If you fancy a BMW R18, but aren’t sold on the pseudo classic vibe and humongous weight of the thing, why not go for the genuine article? This gorgeous BMW R57 has just sold for £39,000, which, though clearly not inconsequential money, looks like solid value compared with the £19,000 R18. The 1928 overhead valve 493cc twin is eminently rideable – it’s under half the R18’s weight – and you could scoot round on it for a couple of years and almost certainly sell it for more than you paid out for it. Admittedly, the R57 – the predecessor of the 1936 R5 which inspired the new R18 – does lack a few modern conveniences. There’s no traction control, rider modes or rear suspension and the front drum brake doesn’t slow you down much (the rear brake is even worse). However, the R57 does come with electric lights – in true BMW fashion, these were previously an optional extra. Making 18bhp, power is somewhat down on the R18’s 89bhp, but it’s much lighter too, with the R57 weighing 150kg compared with the R18’s 345kg. BMW later fixed the power problem by attaching a supercharger – you might have seen Troy Corser thrashing the living daylights out of an R57 Kompressor to win at the Barry Sheene Memorial race at the 2018 Goodwood Revival.
This bike sold in the third annual Barber Museum sale in the United States and was part of the Gerhard Schnuerer Collection.
‘There’s no rider modes and the front drum brake doesn’t slow you down’