BMW R18 B transformed into extreme one-off bagger at world-famous Daytona Bike Week

It may have started life as an £22,450 BMW R18 B but following extensive tweaking and twisting by legendary custom designer Fred Kodin, this striking boxer-engined cruiser has been reborn as the ‘Heavy Duty’ special edition.

It is the first time Kodlin has turned his creative eye to the BMW brand, and along with son Len, presented the finished design at this year’s Daytona Bike Week on the Florida coastline.

The very foundation of the bike was the biggest challenge as Fred explains: “We have completely remanufactured the upper tubes to lower the fly-line and thus the seat height of the R18 B. We also redid the steering head and the triple clamps so that the caster fits despite the changed steering angle and so that the bike rides well.”

The flowing lines of the Heavy Duty end in a pair of panniers made by Kodlin out of glass fibre-reinforced plastic, while the bike as a whole looks as if it is glued to the tarmac due to an air suspension system.

A compressor placed behind the left side case allows the R18 B to be lowered and raised in a fraction of a second. To park, the chassis is lowered to rest upon hidden support points, letting the bike crouch just a few centimetres above the ground.

The father and son team also took three months to redesign crucial body parts including a longer, sheet metal tank and a front mudguard that hugs the 21in wheel.

The rear mudguard is constructed from two R18 B mudguards joined together with indicator and rear lights integrated within.

To join the sleek tank to the reshaped rear, custom side panels were made that drag the eye from front to back. The Heavy Duty also boasts a Marshall amplifier and speaker set-up.  

The bike’s paint job was designed and applied by long-time Kodlin collaborator Marcel Sinnwell who now seldom picks up the airbrush but made an exception for the Heavy Duty lowrider.

The colourful finish was airbrushed with translucent paints with the inspiration coming from the colour streaks made while mixing them into the milky basecoat.

Additional design touches include hand-painted pinstripes and an airbrushed pattern on the rear mudguard that combines Kodlin and “100 years of BMW Motorrad.”

Large parts of the bike, however, remain standard, including the levers, brake calipers, gearshift, footrests, and the 89bhp, 1802cc twin-cylinder engine.

“The basic bike and especially the engine are very, very cleanly finished. All the electrical cables are already nicely hidden, so we didn’t have to do anything to the engine,” Kodlin explains, although the cylinder head covers were painted black.