BMW Concept Path 22 – Custom R nineT Concept and Photos
During the Wheels & Waves Festival held at Biarritz on southwestern France’s Basque coast June 11-15, BMW Motorrad debuted a unique scrambler – the BMW Concept Path 22.
The fourth-annual Wheels & Waves Festival – a unique meeting for custom bikes, surfing and art – was the perfect location to present the BMW Concept Path 22, a motorcycle that BMW Motorrad says is the perfect expression of freedom.
The bike – based on the R nineT that Roland Sands helped design for BMW – was visualized and built after a collaboration of many artists and designers, including Vincent Prat and Mason Dyer.
And the name is just as artsy as its design; “Path 22” refers to one of the insider secrets among Europe’s surf spots. This particular stretch of beach is inaccessible to cars. Located on the Atlantic coast of southern France, it’s half an hour’s walk through one of Europe’s biggest pine forests. The path leading to this spot bears the number 22.
“A scrambler is the perfect match for Wheels & Waves. It’s the epitome of a motorcycle beyond established standards and conventions,” says Edgar Heinrich, Head of BMW Motorrad Design.
The BMW Concept Path 22 was designed by Vincent Prat of the motorcycle club Southsiders MC – which organizes Wheels & Waves – Ornamental Conifer, and surfboard shaper Mason Dyer of the Dyer Brand. Together, they conceptualized and ultimately built the Concept Path 22.
“Based on our scrambler interpretation, we wanted to create a kind of projection of the particular blend of people and cultures to be found at Wheels & Waves. And we found the perfect partners to do just this. The BMW Concept Path 22 captures everything that makes the Wheels & Waves people, festival and lifestyle so special,” Edgar Heinrich says.
“For this reason, the BMW scrambler interpretation is presented to Wheels & Waves Festival visitors in its own distinctive paint finish complete with BMW leather jackets designed especially by Ornamental Conifer and two surf boards created exclusively by Dyer Brand. All these various facets go together to reflect the creative scene that assembles every year at Wheels & Waves – a constantly growing community.”
The BMW Concept Path 22 – Motorcycle Details (courtesy of BMW Motorrad)
Head of BMW Motorrad Vehicle Design Ola Stenegard begins the discussion on the bike itself: “The BMW Concept Path 22 stands for freedom – freedom of thought and its expression. There are no boundaries. Whatever you like is allowed – as at the Wheels & Waves-Festival.
The Concept Path 22 is based on the BMW R nineT, which we see as the epitome of a custom bike. It is actually designed to be modified – customized according to individual preferences. The idea of a BMW scrambler is not new to us. Now seemed to be the right time to present our interpretation of this legendary vehicle concept.”
The BMW Concept Path 22 features the two-cylinder boxer engine with cardan drive, The single-sided swing arm makes the five-spoke rear wheel visible, again a familiar BMW feature. The remainder of the bike is equally genuine and down-to-earth. The classic circular headlamp, the fuel tank and a short seat ensure clear, agile proportions.
The body finishes visually above the rear hub, thereby promising versatile handling. Typical scrambler features such as studded tires, a large front wheel, slightly extended sprint travel and a raised exhaust mean the bike moves effortlessly over gravel and sand.
High performance parts by Öhlins and Gilles Tooling, clever solutions such as direction indicators integrated in the handlebar ends, the MotoGadget instrument panel and the contrastcut milled parts created by Roland Sands Design further emphasis the bike’s quality detail.
The milled aluminum wheels – likewise contrastcut – were produced exclusively by BMW Motorrad, rounding off the motorcycle’s minimalist appearance in top-class style. All parts of the concept bike are necessary essentials and offer the very best quality. In this way, the BMW Concept Path 22 perfects the art of reduction and harks back to the very essence that gives motorcycling its underlying appeal: the unity of man and machine.
The headlamp pan, fuel tank and mudguards of the BMW Concept Path 22 bear the artwork of Ornamental Conifer, alias Nico Sclater. He has been part of the Wheels & Waves movement for a long time and is co-founder of the scene’s graphic identity. Stylised lettering and graphic ornamentation are key to his work.
The mischievous style of his typography is typically combined with profound and pithy puns. In addition to his work on vehicles, signs and windows, Nico Sclater is especially famous for his graphic enhancement of leather jackets. He not only created the concept bike’s special paint finish but also painted a number of exclusive BMW leather jackets for the Concept Path 22 team- each one a unique specimen.
When not required it can be folded down to disappear into the bike’s silhouette or else simply dismounted. The boards to suit the holder were made by no less than leading shaper Mason Dyer himself of Dyer Brand in San Diego.
He is famous for his high-quality custom boards that draw their inspiration from the 1950s and 1960s. Dyer has made two custom boards exclusively for the BMW Concept Path 22: a longboard (9’4) reminiscent of the period when scramblers first emerged and a shortboard (6’8) which meets the needs of modern surfers.
The graphic design of the bike, jackets and surfboards express individual style and creativity. Each one a unique specimen, they also feature a matching color scheme. This gives every element its own distinctive character while highlighting the core of the Wheels & Waves philosophy once again: joining together to celebrate Surf, Art, Motorcycles and the Freedom to do it your way.
BMW Concept Path 22 Photo Gallery / Wallpaper
The basic design is nice. The paint, not so…must be someones bad joke. But if BMW makes this a 900cc to lower costs, it could position itself well along side other mid sized offerings.