Adding a BMW R18 First Edition to the Stable

Hi all and welcome back

It’s 2024 (February) and late last year I added a new bike to the stable, a BMW R18 First Edition.

Can’t wait to ride it and in fact get back on the bike(s) and start the season.

Thanks for watching as always

Nick

Below are various links to kit I use or items referenced in this video.

These are amazon.co.uk (United Kingdom) links and clicking through and purchasing does earn me a small commission and costs you nothing extra.

I’d be really grateful if you are buying any of these if you used the links and help support the channel.

Thank you
Nick

Accessories on (or used for) My BMW R1250GS Adventure

Horn
Denali Soundbomb Horn – https://amzn.to/3fnTd0B

Lights
Denali D4 (single unit – Ideal if fitting CanSmart Unit) – https://amzn.to/2TQJKra
Denali D4 KIT (pair of lights with loom – Ideal if fitting with EzyCan or normal cabling) – https://amzn.to/2WKYQQ5

Battery Charger (Dual Standard Connect and Canbus – Fits Din Socket to charge)
Optimate 4 – BMW Canbus Edition – https://amzn.to/3rORg2r

Protection
ACF50 Rust Protector (with buddy bottle, aerosols are poor) – https://amzn.to/2NKL5tJ

Compressor
Airman Comapct Compressor – https://amzn.to/3fm3WZj

Clothing I wear

Waterproof Jacket (Over Rukka Textile)
Tucano Urbano Nano Rain Jackket – https://amzn.to/3jhxPLP

Waterproof Trousers (Over Rukka Textile)
Tucano Urbano Nano Rain Trousers – https://amzn.to/3C6k8b3

Equipment I use to film videos

Main Helmet Camera
Go Pro Hero 8 Black – https://amzn.to/3C6k8b3

Mirror Mounted (rear-facing) Camera
GoPro Hero 7 Black – https://amzn.to/2Vcuw0h

Fixed Front and Rear Cameras (supplementary footage)
Innovv K3 Dual Camera Kit – https://amzn.to/3folILM

Adapter needed to add supplimentary mics to GoPro Hero 5/6/7/8
GoPro Microphone Adapter – https://amzn.to/378aSU8

GoPro Media Mod – Now used on main camera
https://amzn.to/2Vicbie

Case for mounting GoPro and Mic Adapter
Ulanzi Multi-purpose GoPro Case – https://amzn.to/32JIkgA

BOTH MICS below have leads for Mobile Phone (to use GoPro Adapter with these you need a TRS to TRRS Adapter)

Rode Phone Accessory (TRS to TRRS Adapter) – https://amzn.to/2CHKJh1
Helmet Microphone (needs GoPro Adapter) and Tie-pin mic Indoors
Aufgeld Lavalier Microphone – https://amzn.to/375WVpX
Indoor Microphone (GoPro and Phone Cameras)
Rode Micro Compact – https://amzn.to/2KlXUZn

Well a very good afternoon and a warm welcome back to the channel it’s mid-February 2024 and those of us in the northern hemisphere that are warm dry motorcycle riders um as opposed to cold and wet motorcycle riders will’ll be preparing our motorcycles for the upcoming motorcycling season so um I just wanted

To update you now for those of you that don’t follow me on Instagram that I have added to the BMW stable um I guess this makes me a little bit of a BMW Fanboy um but I still have the k600 I still love the k600 I’ve loved my Adventures um my

GS adventure and my gs’s I should say and uh actually the k600 which is now 18 months old um I did the 65,000 mile month round trip to the top of Norway so nordc cap at the top of Norway round through Finland um and back down through

Europe with sha on his 1250 RT so the two of us took a month out last June to do that I am preparing the uh video uh and I hope to have that out in a month or two it might even be five or six episodes unfortunately if you can

Actually stand it but I’ll do a little bit of a summary video after that as well of some of the things to look out for if you want to do that and obviously release the roots that we did as well uh which may or may not be handy to those

That also want to try it um we also went for 9 days around the P hosta Europa and Pyrenees uh in September and I also went away in I think it was probably uh August 2022 on the k600 in fact the first trip

I did um and that was on my own to a relatives uh wedding for a week in the dooro in France so that motorcycle 18 months old has actually done somewhere in the region now of 12 and half th000 miles so I’ve certainly used that a bit anyway back to today’s conversation and

That is that uh during 2020 and the lockdowns for covid BMW started to hint at this uh motorcycle that they were building from their hundred years of Heritage the largest uh boxer engine they’d ever built at 1800 cc’s the exposed Chrome plated drive shaft the black coloring the um the the single speed

Um all very much rang in my ears As A Soulful motorcycle now we can argue to will blew in the face about the GS or the GS Adventure or the RT or the k1600 or almost any other motorcycle um certainly BMW motorcycle and they can hardly really be described as Soulful

And I know that’s in people’s heads um but being a motorcyclist that started motorcycling in 1970 um sometimes you cry out for that vibration through the saddle the the’ 70s 60s ’70s ‘ 80s ’90s uh type of motorcycle a little bit more bare motorcycle what I guess people might say

True motorcycling was about as they teased these uh adverts through during 2020 it sort of pricked me interest and I started to watch them to the point where I asked the dealer to let me know when they were released anyway this became the BMW r18 Cruiser 1800cc horizontally opposed

Boxer engine push rods um as I say exposed drive shaft all of those things and it really really appealed to me until they launched it and it turned out this motorcycle was 21,000 quid um so that put the mockers on it because it was never for me really

Going to be a replacement motorcycle I wanted it to be a warm Sunday to the coast or the coffee shop or uh to the motorcycle meet um where you can have a little bit of a conversation about a motorcycle rather than you know going with whatever you can say A you know a

Clinici clinically made GS or or RT or or k600 so a little bit more of a conversation piece if you like or A Soulful type of type of motorcycle um so anyway when I heard the price it was like uh no um I I’m not a very rich

Person and I certainly couldn’t afford 21,000 quid on a second motorcycle I did however say to my mates that I didn’t feel it was really going to be a bike that was going to hold its value greatly um and it might be one of those bikes that people buy and then just keep

Forever so it could go one of either ways as it happens and to my benefit I’d say the price is tanked um they’ve got several models they keep blowing out new models I think it maybe is doing relatively well against Harley and Indian maybe it’s doing okay in the US

But certainly in this country um they are really tanking in price my limit was 10 grand and I told everybody around me when they come down to 10 grand I’ll look to get one so we were coming back from the motorcycle live show in November and I thought I’ll go on auto

Trader I was a passenger in the car so went on to auto trader Max 10 grand r1800 private sellers only reason I did private sellers nothing against dealers but a dealer is going to want to take probably 1,000 quid or 1500 quid out of a sale and therefore I thought that it

Probably would be better to look for private Sellers and there was one motorcycle 995 now that motorcycle became destined to be in my shed it was 15 miles away it had it was registered September 2020 it had had two owners which was the dealer he had it as

A demonstrator and then the person who I bought it off and they bought it 6 months from new um with I think 380 or 410 10 mil on the clock it had when I purchased it 700 mil on the clock um anyway it was destined to be mine sea and I went over

And took a look at it um the battery had had a little bit of fatigue on it because the motorcycle itself has um a Tracker and an alarm so they’re on 24/7 and anyone who owns motorcycles with trackers and alarms I all my motorcycles have had you’ll know that you must keep

Them on a battery tender 247365 um I keep mine on a optimate 4 canbas edition that’s what my k600 is on and that’s the same ones that my GS and my GS Adventures have been on um this one did have a battery tender but they had only started to use it in latter

Days when they realized the battery was flat so that was the BMW motorad canbas auto charger which I think is about a couple of hundred quid um but that was sat there and it was saying that the bike was only registering 80% of its full capacity um and anybody who has got

One of these big boxer engines will realize that it needs all of its battery cranking power to be able to get that you know to work anyway the motorcycle started but it very much was a one click over and fortunately it kicked in and started I wouldn’t have expected a

Motorcycle despite being three years old uh with only 700 miles on the clock to have anything wrong with it and truly it didn’t um you’ll be able to see when I show you some of the footage of this and some of the pictures of it that it is

Absolutely Immaculate anyway um me being me and rather not Tire kick I offered them 9,750 if they threw in the battery charger and they accepted that also came with it’s it’s a it’s an technically an r18 first edition um and that also came with this big box um and the box

Contains uh uh a hat a leather big buckled belt um it contains Chrome and replacement copper um tank Badges and the badge for the front of the engine cover and also this massive um really heavy uh coffee table book on BMWs and if you look on eBay you’ll see that

These are being sold separately for about 250 quid so it came with absolutely everything that the motorcy cycle was was shipped out with effectively I’ve now put a brand new XI battery on it which has a slightly upgraded 440 amps of cold cranking amps um against 400 so slightly upgraded but

You really can’t get away with a dodgy battery on this bike they threw in the BMW charger so the bike is now in my shed both of them have Auto Chargers running through the canbas system um and I’m just really looking forward to taking this out with me um I think

Realistically it’s a motorcycle I’ll probably never sell um it’s not that I’m rolling in wealth but um I knew I was happy to pay under 10 grand I’ve now got a motorcycle that if in 2 years time it’s worth 7 and a half it’s worth 7 and

A half eventually it gets to a point where it’s worth more to me than it is in secondhand value um I’ll refer you as well to M mate sha who has a I think a 2011 Triumph Rocket 3 which is the 2.3 l 3 cylinder um Triumph he’s got that as a

Second motorcycle because I think a dealer offered him six grand for it or four grand for it truly it’s worth more than that to him um he’s had it he’s had it since new so um that’s the motorcycle that I’ve now got it’s not a replacement

Um I will carry on riding the k1600 the k1600 will likely be sold for my next allround touring motorcycle um and we’ll get get you into the channel when as and when that gets sold um I’ve only had it 18 months now so it can certainly wait a

Little while longer um but hopefully now we’ll be doing a little things on the r18 I’m not sure what I’m going to do I’m not looking necessarily to start to add lots of accessories to it because part of the attraction for me is that it’s Soulful it’s a little bit Back to

Basics um it has all of the options that you would probably want on the motorcycle and if you bought it today it would still be 21,000 quid it’s got you know heated grips adaptive headlight reverse gear um the white hand painted um strip around the tank it’s got the

Tracker it’s got the alarm so it is a 21,000 motorcycle if you went to buy it today I’ve managed to get one that’s 3 years old with only 700 mil on the clock for I think a pretty steel at 9,750 so I’m just delighted to add that

To the um bikes that I’ve got you may find it cropping up in some of these videos into the future but it really is for me uh an occasional motorcycle to ride um when I’m only looking to do a day or or a morning or an afternoon or

Maybe a maybe a weekend but but at a push just on nice sunny days to cruise around with the Open Face helmet the leather jacket and the uh and the sunglasses on anyway that’s a little bit of an update with me hopefully we’ll be doing some more stuff on the channel

This year again you know that I don’t blast these out weekly or even monthly or anything else it’s just occasional stuff but if you’ve liked the video give it a thumbs up that would be really great if you want to subscribe to the channel just hit the Subscribe and the

And the Little Bell because I’m that in frequent that it’s just nice to know I guess when I do Post these thanks for those of you that have left comments I always love comments and I always try and answer all of them and also those that have just said are you still about

Nick um there is always this um time between probably November and February where most things go quiet with me because you know I don’t use my motorcycle like some of the other influencers have to 24/7 I keep them clean I keep them tidy I keep them in my

Shed for all but the necessary trips and the nice sunny days anyway that’s about it for now few little still videos just to roll this one off for a minute or two otherwise ride safe stay safe and we’ll see you next time thanks a lot for watching A