BMW Motorrad presents the R 18 B HEAVY DUTY!

Thomas Wachsmuth March 14, 2023 BMW, Motorcycle / Scooter News & Tuning

Reading time 6 Min.

Whoever talks about the US customizing scene mentions Fred Kodlin almost in the same breath. For more than 40 years he has dedicated himself to the customizing of motorcycles and creates radically modified creations up to sophisticated new designs. He has been successful with his custom bikes since the 1990s and has regularly won the most important competitions at the Daytona Bike Week. Not for nothing was he the first non-US citizen to be inducted into the Sturgis Hall of Fame. Fred Kodlin and his son Len have now set about customizing a BMW for the first time – the BMW R 18 B. “The R 18 B HEAVY DUTY was a real father-son project. There was a lot of creative input from Len and that also shows that the next generation at Kodlin Bikes is already getting ready“, says the boss of Kodlin Bikes in Borken.

Massive interventions in the chassis technology of the R 18 B. Modified frame and air suspension.

BMW Motorrad presents the R 18 B HEAVY DUTY!

The biggest challenge in customizing this year's crowd puller at Daytona Bike Week in Florida was undoubtedly the frame. “We completely redesigned the upper tubes to lower the flyline and thus the seat height of the R 18 B. We also redesigned the steering head and the fork bridges so that the trail fits despite the changed steering angle and the bike rides correspondingly well,” explains Fred Kodlin.

The result was a bike with the typical Kodlin lines in the form of the R 18 B HEAVY DUTY. Viewed from the side, the Fly-Line drops sharply backwards from the chopped windshield from the Original BMW Motorrad Accessories range and finally runs harmoniously into the side cases made by Kodlin himself from glass-fibre-reinforced plastic and the low rear. On the other hand, when viewed from above, the R 18 B HEAVY DUTY impresses with its pronounced waisting in the seat area and a flowing connection to the side cases.

The technical highlight on the chassis side is an air suspension at the front and rear, supported by a compressor that is barely visible behind the left side case. This allows the R 18 B HEAVY DUTY to be lowered and raised in fractions of a second. The function is as useful as it is spectacular: to park, you lower the chassis, place it on hidden support points and let the bike crouch waiting just a few centimeters above the asphalt.

Comprehensive body modifications up to winglets.

The Kodlin team delved no less deeply into the subject of body construction for a good three months. A completely new sheet metal tank was created - longer than the original, with a flowing shape and with lateral indentations. The connection between the tank and the rear frame has also been modified for this purpose. On the other hand, the original charging compartment for the mobile phone was taken over from the R 18 B.

A front spoiler with 3-colored underfloor lighting was also made of sheet metal - a feature that is also very common in Daytona - as well as a front wheel fender that nestles tightly around the 21-inch front wheel. From two assembled R 18 B rear wheel fenders, Kodlin finally created a corresponding counterpart for the rear wheel, in which the rear and direction indicators are integrated in a very discreet way. The two side covers made of sheet metal, which represent a smooth transition to the side cases, are completely self-made. Speaking of side cases: R 18 B loudspeakers from Marshall and an amplifier have been fitted into it. Kodlin's attention to detail is also evident in the case's milled aluminum hinge panels in the style of the original R 18 B components.

Another design element are the so-called winglets above the cylinders. They are also made of metal, but they do not fulfill any function in the strict sense. Rather, they underline the design of the R 18 B HEAVY DUTY in this area as well and make it appear unmistakable, especially when viewed from the front. The formal conclusion of the customizing work is formed by a bench made by Kodlin and an instrument hood with Alcantara and artificial leather covers, as well as a specially made handlebar and a self-designed exhaust system.

Elaborate paintwork by tattoo artist Marcel Sinnwell with a connection to 100 years of BMW motorcycles.

Marcel Sinnwell has painted other Kodlin show bikes in the past, but only rarely uses the paint gun and only for very special jobs. For example, if he has yachts or an R 18 B HEAVY DUTY painted. In this project, the color gradients were completely airbrushed with translucent paint. The inspiration here was the mixing of color pigments in the paint and thus the way in which different pigments in the milky base paint mix in the form of streaks when stirred for the first time. The result fits in perfectly with the Daytona Bike Week, where elaborate and colorful paintwork is considered good form.

Set additional accents with the R 18 B HEAVY DUTY hand-lined pinstripes and an airbrush pattern on the rear fender that connects Kodlin and “100 Years of BMW Motorrad”. The brake calipers, shift and foot brake levers and footrests are BMW Motorrad series components that have been colour-matched.

BMW R 18 B: the perfect customizing basis.

However, Fred Kodlin did not put his hands on all the assemblies and parts. A particularly positive surprise for him: “The screws. They are all made of stainless steel with a nice torx head. We don't know that from other bikes. In general, the basic bike and especially the motor are very, very cleanly finished. All electrical cables are already nicely hidden, so we didn't have to do anything else on the engine," he explains.

For this reason, numerous R 18 B components were deliberately not replaced, but at most modified. For example the shortened hand levers and handlebar end weights. The engine also remained technically completely standard. Only the cylinder head covers, belt cover and intake snorkel were painted in metallic black. However, the cruise control with distance control, reverse gear and eCall have remained unchanged - absolutely unique selling points of the BMW R 18 B in the cruising world, where these functions are not otherwise offered by any manufacturer.

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