Motorcycle Cruiser

BMW to Discontinue Cruiser Motorcycles After 2005

Recognizing that its motorcycles' 1200-class engines are too small for the cruiser mianstream, BMW will stop building cruisers after making more than 40,000 examples.

February 12, 2009

When the last 2005 R1200C model rolls of BMW production lines, BMW will discontinue production of cruiser motorcycles, apparently for the foreseable future. The man in charge of BMW's motorcycle division, Dr. Herbert Diess, President BMW Motorrad, says told audiences at the Intermot Show in Munic that BMW simply doesn't have an engine that suits current cruiser buyers' tastes. The 2005 Montauk will be in limited numbers as a sort of commemorative model.

A BMW release quotes Diess: "There will be no direct successor to the Cruiser in our next model generation. This is due to technical considerations: The new engine you know from the GS is designed consistently for low weight and thereforequite intentionallyoffers only a small margin for an increase in engine displacement. And since the trend in the cruiser segment has now been pointing far beyond 1400 cc for quite some time, a Cruiser in its former, classic style with a smaller engine would no longer fit into our concept for the future. But this does not mean that we are turning away from the cruising philosophy with BMW motorcycles once and for all. On the contrary, it would be quite conceivable for us to re-interpret this theme quite differently some time or another.

"This means that the R 1200 C and CL the way we know them today are now entering their last model year. In the 7 years since we launched the Cruiser in 1997 to this day we have delivered more than 40,000 units (memo: 40,218) of the Cruiser to customers. And in this successful process we have won over many new customers. Here at the Intermot Show we have a special, limited edition model of the purist R 1200 C Montauk in attractive twin-tone paintwork, with a special chrome package, and a wide range of standard features. Being built just 350 times, this model is to be admired as of today on our stand and will be entering the market in autumn.

"Having built a supply of R 1200 C models for 2005, we have already provided for next year's demand and will use the production capacity thus available in order to meet the great demand for other Boxer models more quickly and efficiently."

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BMW is putting its cruiser model motorcycles out to pasture after the 2005 model run.