The new BMW R18 has cruised into SA as a bike with purist, no-frills technology and a thumping big engine.

This German alternative to Harley-Davidson is a retro-styled cruiser that harks back to BMW bike design of the 1930s, most notably the R5 with its teardrop-shaped petrol tank, exposed driveshaft and low-slung seating position. Like that World War 2 era Beemer, the new R18 has an air-cooled twin-cylinder horizontally opposed (boxer) engine but at 1,802cc it dwarfs the 500cc original...