BMW Vision DC Roadster 2019 — Specifications

BMW constantly reinterprets the future, now focusing on its next cornerstone: electric power. The brand is preparing a major offensive for the coming years on this front. Surprises are on the horizon. For now, within its extensive range of 30 models, only one is powered by electrons. Electric mobility as seen by BMW today is the C-evolution scooter... and that's it.

The future is hinted at with this Vision DC Roadster concept bike. Less impressive than the Next 100, but more realistic, it symbolizes a spatiotemporal milestone. It’s a highly expressive sport roadster with optics that scrape every instant of the road. It’s not for tomorrow, but for the day after. This machine doesn’t shed a drop of oil to let go of almost a century of combustion engines. However, it doesn’t deny its lineage to the mother of all BMW flat-twins: the R32. And cultivates it discreetly. To echo the Boxer engine, two cooling elements are installed on either side of the battery. BMW identity transcends generations, not forgetting the surprising aspect in form and substance. These appendages open slightly outwards when the Vision DC Roadster is started.

Being a concept bike, the design team was free to experiment with materials and technology. The battery, the most bulky element of an electric motorcycle, is housed in a large milled aluminum frame. The engine, about which we know nothing at all, appears in the form of a cylinder attached below the battery. Due to this arrangement, it is in direct connection with the transmission shaft, superbly highlighted through the monobras swingarm. It’s almost more sensible regarding the front end. A Duolever fork here takes up a significant space, fiercely desired – impossible to see a link of kinship with the K 1600. And yet, the design principle is identical. The fuel tank having become unnecessary, the Vision DC Roadster installs a tubular framework in its place to support an upper structure containing the minimalist seat.

The rider interface, reduced to the essentials, allows monitoring of fundamental parameters as well as one of the 4 engaged riding modes. This screen takes us into the near future, while the very design-focused handlebar is already 20 years ahead. The use of LEDs has made it possible to design streamlined headlights marked by a dynamic and powerful style. As for the tires equipped with small fluorescent elements, don’t expect to find them at your dealer. Metzeler made them exclusively for this concept.

The BMW Vision DC Roadster gives us a glimpse of the trend in which the brand is orienting itself for its electric future. That said, it’s not immediately that we will put gasoline engines at the back of the barn. Reality is at the gas pump, while this concept shows us through the prism of time. The global offer of electric motorcycles, moreover credible, is at the level of the Alphapage; now look at what a Smartphone can do.

M.B - Manufacturer Media