If you like cruising on two motorized wheels, your biggest, holiest week is coming up, the monumental annual motorcycle rally that takes over the environs of Sturgis, South Dakota. By any objective measure, it’s a world-class party, augmented by the music and good times of the Sturgis Buffalo Chip, where you can listen to acts ranging from Keith Urban to Snoop Dogg to George Thorogood and the Destroyers, and drink in all things motorcycling. While Sturgis is usually associated with Harley-Davidson and its loyal riders, the Buffalo Chip is where BMW has chosen to publicly display its Birdcage concept motorcycle, a take on an ultra-minimalist flat-twin motorcycle for chasing the two-wheeled land speed record.
In a culture and a happening that celebrates full-up touring motorcycles, the Birdcage is as bare as they get. Created by Revival Cycles of Austin, Texas, the Birdcage is built around a titanium frame welded up from 134 separate lengths of featherweight tubing. As the BMW photo demonstrates, it’s still a classic BMW Motorrad, with its horizontally opposed twin and shaft drive. Note the angled front coilover suspension and sheathed rear wheel, reminiscent of board-track racers from the very early 20th century. This is big-time trick, folks. BMW will have a selection of less radical and more attainable bikes to see at the Buffalo Chip, too; the manufacturer plans to show off its new Motorrad Concept R18, a large touring cycle, and the 2020 S 100 RR.
Jim Donnelly On Wheels 