In the same way the unfortunate Sabidius struck Roman epigrammatist Martial, the BMW R18 series has always struck me. Martial’s famous epigram is most directly translated as “I do not like you, Sabidius, and yet I can’t say why, this only I can say: I do not like you.” It’s all very well to look to Edgar Allan Poe instead, with his comment that “There is no exquisite beauty… without some strangeness in the proportion.” For me, the R18 series, at least partly due to the “strangeness” of the  disproportionate engine, lies with Sabidius.

All the more reason to celebrate the appearance at Concorso d’Eleganza Villa d’Este of the R20 Concept. This is the motorcycle that engine was created for. The bike simply looks right. It is a shoo-in for the rarefied world of perfectly designed machines, occupied by the likes of the C47, the Volkswagen and the Kalashnikov. It is the motorcycle the engine deserves. In an interview with Motorrad magazine, the new Head of BMW Motorrad Design, Alexander Buckan, called it a “Gentlemen’s Roadster”. A big one: “For the BMW R20 Concept, we have scaled up the well-known concept of the R nineT, by around 10 per cent.

The design makes the most of the sculptural qualities of the engine.

“We already [had] this engine, the Big Boxer, this beautiful sculpture,” he said. “And we thought about what else we could do with it, beyond the R18 models. There is only one sensible option: a roadster, a classic naked bike, in which this engine can also work well and come into its own. A roadster is even ideal for showcasing the engine as the centrepiece, reduced to a minimum, hardly any body parts, no panelling, no plastic… we have reduced everything that is superfluous, including the second seat. It’s a big engine on two wheels, and the driver has to sit somewhere. For a production version, however, a bench seat with two seats is still conceivable.”

The Head of Motorcycle Design seems to like his work.

Ah yes, a production version. The Concept is “not a promise that a production version of the BMW R20 will follow,” said Buckan, And it is important to remember that this Concept is, indeed, a concept. As it stands it would never get approval to roam the roads. Neither the open aluminum intakes nor the fat exhaust pipes could ever grace a street-legal production model. Those fat megaphones offer no muffling whatever. Also missing are fussy bits like mirrors and a registration plate. The taillights might make it into production, integrated into the solo saddle.

Motorrad magazine speculates that at the Concorso d’Eleganza and afterwards, the reactions to the R20 Concept will be closely monitored and then a decision will be made as to whether and, if so, how this development will continue. It does not seem unlikely, because the driving force behind the R20 is and remains the boss himself: Markus Flasch, Head of BMW Motorrad since November 2023. Still, production of a BMW R20 in whatever form hardly seems feasible before 2026. It would probably cost well over 20,000 euros.

No matter the angle, the R20m is all about that engine. Oh, and the pink tank.

“I have great respect for the decision that was made long before me and Markus Schramm to launch such a large air-cooled boxer again,” said Flasch. “That was a very courageous step. What was made of it was a motorcycle to capture customers of another brand… But we are not dissatisfied with the sales figures of the R18, it is a good motorcycle and looks sharp.”

Really? No, not really (in my opinion). Certainly not like the R20 Concept. And what about the bike itself? For now, what you get is pretty much what you see at the moment. We do know that the big boxer is even bigger, with a displacement of 2000 rather than “just” 1800cc. Assuming the stroke remains unchanged at 100mm, the bores and pistons would have to grow from 107.1 to around 113mm, speculates Motorrad. As well, the magazine thinks that given the maximum 158Nm and 91hp of the R 18 cruiser engines, the Concept should produce well over 100hp, especially since the 1200cc boxer engine of the BMW R 12 nineT, which is also air/oil cooled, puts out 109hp.

The dual-sided swingarm is a variation on an established design.

The new twin swingarm of the Concept consists of thick chrome-molybdenum steel tubes at the bottom and aluminum struts at the top, connected to the rear axle mounts according to the proven paralever principle. As with the R18 range, the nickel-plated drive shaft lies open to view. The double-loop frame of the Concept is made of chrome-molybdenum steel tubes with an upside-down telescopic fork from the fully adjustable Öhlins Blackline series with a relatively flat 62.5 degree steering head angle.

Brakes are from ISR with radially bolted brake calipers, each with 6 pistons on the twin discs at the front and 4 pistons on the single rear disc. The wheelbase at just over a metre and a half connects 200 rear and 120 front tires on 17 inch wheels. But does the Concept sport an aluminium wheel at the rear but a wire-spoke wheel at the front?

“That was a conscious decision,” said Alexander Buckan. “The whole thing is a mixture of classic and modern elements, and the wheels are also supposed to symbolize that – at least in the Concept. Other wheels are of course possible in principle.”

On the gravel at the Villa d’Este, a new direction for BMW.

In summary, this motorcycle may not actually look beautiful, although the hot pink tank is just great. But more importantly, the BMW R20 Concept looks right. We can but wait for the production version to find if it lives up to its visual impact.

(Photos from BMW Motorrad. My thanks to Martial, Edgar Allan Poe and Motorrad Magazine on whose coverage much of this article is based.)