BMW R1200C Motorcycle

The BMW R1200C was BMW Motorcycles' first entry into the Cruiser market. Total production was 40,218, produced from 1997 to 2004. A smaller engined version, the R850C, was manufactured from 1997 to 2000.

At the time of its introduction, the Cruiser configuration represented more than half the US motorcycle market. The R1200C represented BMW's attempt to tap into this market — and was a significant departure from their previous endeavors. The R1200C was designed by BMW head designer David Robb, featuring a Cruiser riding posture and evocative styling that falls between classic Choppers and Cruiser. From its inception, the R1200C featured a passenger seat that could fold up to become a driver backrest with three different angles, adjustable while riding.

BMW first released the R1200C with an advance promotional placement of the motorcycle in the James Bond film Tomorrow Never Dies.

When BMW ended production of the R1200C motorbike lineup, Dr. Herbert Diess, (then) President BMW Motorrad cited a prime reason for the bike's discontinuance as the apparent unsuitability of the 1170 cc, 61 hp (45 kW) engine to then current market tastes and the unavailability of a suitable available engine for further development, but did not rule out BMW pursuing a reinterpretation of the cruiser idea at a later date. The final model of the R1200C to be produced was the commemorative Montauk model, of which 350 examples were built.

In the 1997 James Bond film Tomorrow Never Dies, Michelle Yeoh, in her role as Chinese spy Wai Lin, rode the R1200C in the scene where she and 007 run from Elliot Carver's henchmen, who are chasing them in a helicopter. The R1200C is the second BMW vehicle to be used in the film, after the 750iL sedan.

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