Custom BMW R 18 Dragster by Roland Sands

Roland Sands of Roland Sands Design had his hands in many BMW Motorcycles Concepts, but this might just be the most impressive yet. What you see here is the a custom BMW R 18 in drag bike guise, the BMW R 18 Dragster.

Custom BMW R 18 Dragster by Roland Sands

Sands and his team stripped down a BMW R 18 to create a straight line dragster that seemingly built around the star feature: the 2-cylinder Big Boxer. It is that massive piece of engineering beauty that prompted Roland to take on the dragster route.

The big block reminds Sands of muscle cars, and with a family that always been into going fast and his father, a drag car racer, it makes perfect sense to create something that go fast on a straight track.

  • Custom BMW R 18 Dragster by Roland Sands
  • Custom BMW R 18 Dragster by Roland Sands

Here are a list of the custom details:

  1. The frame has been modified completely removing the rear suspension for drag racing.
  2. Front and rear fenders have been slightly modified utilizing the stock sheet metal parts in order to keep the classic R 18 silhouette.
  3. The headlight has been taken from the original R 18 and is highlighted with the headlight bezel from the design collection of milled aluminum parts.
  4. The standard exhaust has been replaced with a hand fabricated Stainless Steel twin megaphone system utilizing the exhaust tips from the milled aluminum parts.
  5. The hydraulic front brake and clutch master cylinders are from Roland Sands Design.
  6. The tank has been taken over from the original R 18.
  7. The paint finish is a two tone metallic blue with classic white BMW pin-stripes by Roland’s long time painter Chris Wood.
  8. The fork has been taken from the BMW R nineT.
  9. The front braking system has been taken from the BMW S 1000 RR superbike.
  10. The seat has been built from scratch and is a RSD custom seat by Saddlemen. 
Custom BMW R 18 Dragster by Roland Sands

Roland Sands Design’s BMW R 18 Dragster further boasts milled parts design collection known as. “2-Tone Black” to customize the levers, wheels, valve covers, breast plate, headlight and gauges. And then there’s a front end borrowed from the BMW R nineT, and custom scratch built seat and exhaust.

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The result pretty much speaks for itself. It looks absolutely stunning.

Images: BMW Motorrad.