Official BMW sketches show Lo-Rider's customisation potential

BMW is choosing from twelve designs for the Lo-Rider concept, official sketches reveal, and the concept is designed to make personalising your bike easier than ever.

BMW gave MCN access to the twelve different sketches following the bike’s public unveiling at the Milan show two weeks ago, where the bike met to mostly positive reception from the biking public.

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Some BMW owners were slightly confused by the Lo-Rider’s form over function attitude, but BMW’s chief designer David Robb shed some light on the thinking behind the bike.

“The GS has changed the shape of motorcycles around the world. If you are looking for a bike to take you around the world we have all these fantastic machines. With this we wanted to do something we are not doing at the moment, to share some of the ideas that we have. We wanted to strip everything away and give you just a motorcycle.”

Robb also revealed that the bike is intended for owners to make it their own through simple but effective changing of parts – the chassis and layout is designed to allow various looks.

“This bike gives you the opportunity to do something different. You can change it to the way you want it – you can have the exhausts going up or down, you can have one seat or two, you can go from having something very cruisy to something very racy.

“We have the opportunity to make this bike the way you want. I love my job, it is a great job; my team and I have a lot of fun. This was a great opportunity to come up with new ideas and a new theme and make them take shape.”

The Lo-Rider shown at Milan is loosely based around a cruiser look, but with rearward footpegs and straighter handlebars than more stretched out, more traditional machinery. But Robb’s team have given the bike scope for a flat track or café racer look as well, and the combination of seats, exhausts, headlights and other styling details are endless.

MCN spoke to BMW Motorrad’s General Director at the show about the Lo-Rider. He told MCN:

“We are gauging customer and media feedback, and from the visitors to the show before we decide in a few weeks if we will build it. A lot of components are used in our other bikes, the boxer engine and some of the frame for example, which saves time and cost.

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“I am positive and optimistic about it. Usually it takes 36 months to develop a bike, but this could take less because we already have some of the components.”