Perhaps slightly jealous of Harley-Davidson’s habit of cranking out “anniversary” models at the drop of a beanie helmet, BMW has declared its intention to produce a new anniversary model of its own. Speaking at the EICMA international motorcycle show in Milan, BMW Motorrad President Stephan Schaller said his company will offer a new model with an air-cooled boxer engine in 2013 to honor “90 years of BMW Motorrad.” The new bike “will express the genes of 90 years of BMW Motorrad combined with emotional styling and innovative technology to create a new, multifaceted vehicle concept”––which could mean just about anything, although motorcycle-industry pundits, insiders, and crystal-ball gazers speculate it will be retro-styled with visual cues from significant eras of BMW history.
(We’re hoping for something with a supercharger and wheel fairings.) The exact model designation, and its price, are still to be announced, but it's fair to assume we'll see something similar to the various concepts BMW showed off in 2008. Those, based on a then-current R1200 rolling chassis, were various forms of naked/cafe-racer/roadster with a passing nod to BMW's classic styling cues.
That BMW is being awfully coy about the exact for seems to suggest something totally unexpected, or, perhaps, something we've kinda seen before. Soon we'll see.
