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Roland Sands built a BMW R 18 Dragster

Only Roland Sands would have the skills, creativity, and cojones to turn the very elegant BMW R 18 into a dragstrip-eating machine. That’s right, you’re looking at the world’s first (and probably the only) BMW R 18 Dragster, brought to you exclusively by none other than Roland Sands.

According to Sands himself, “With an engine that’s so visibly the centre piece, I immediately thought of muscle cars. My family has always been into going fast and my dad was a drag racer, so I thought it made sense to strip the bike down to the essentials and shape it to go fast on a straight track.”

The beginnings of the BMW R 18 Dragster were made simple thanks to highly customisable nature of BMW Motorrad’s latest heritage bike. What Roland Sands did was basically remove the R 18’s rear end and transformed it into a machine that can and will go fast in a straight line.

This was not his first time customising the R 18 as he was also commissioned by BMW Motorrad to built two unique R 18s called “Machined” and “2-Tone-Black” for the bike’s official launch. In essence, the R 18 Dragster carried a lot of custom parts inspired when Roland Sands built the “2-Tone-Black” custom bike.

Here’s the breakdown of every detail spent to make the BMW R 18 Dragster.

  • Modified rear end by removing rear suspension
  • Modified front & rear fenders
  • Milled aluminium headlight bezel
  • Hand-fabricated stainless-steel twin-megaphone exhaust
  • Roland Sands Design hydraulic front brake & clutch master cylinders
  • Two-tone metallic blue paintwork
  • BMW R nineT front end
  • Dunlop drag tyres
  • BMW S 1000 RR front brake
  • RSD custom seat + many more

While most would disagree with turning a classic bike into a dragster, we can honestly say that RSD did an amazing job in retaining all the design essence of the R 18 into this beautiful dragster. Our favourite part? That paint job. Simply amazing!

A passionate individual when it comes to anything related to two wheels (or sometimes more), he enjoys the chaotic and magical world of motorsports as much as riding leisurely to the shops on his beloved Vespa. With an education-based background, he is always eager to learn and share about the poetic arts of motorcycling.

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