Check that tire pressure and click into gear! LEGO have taken Technic engineering to the next circuit with the release of the LEGO Technic BMW M 100 RR 42130 and the Light My Bricks team are revved up and ready to go! Let's take a closer look at what will no doubt be a Sportbike enthusiast’s must-have set.
While there are plenty of Supercars lining the LMB shelves, there’s only one lonely motorbike thus far (though we love our Harley Fatboy!). So you can bet that we were thrilled beyond belief when LEGO announced the upcoming release of the massive 1:5 scale BMW road bike. We picked it up as soon as it became available and wouldn’t you know, it showed up on our doorstep almost immediately! Must be that 3-speed gearbox!
Now, while the bike was fast to arrive, it was not necessarily fast to assemble! As the team began building the set, they were quickly reminded of the time and attention required with these ‘super’ Technic sets. So much labour and care has gone into authentically designing the working parts that make the motorcycle hum - and this fact becomes instantly apparent from page one of the very thick instruction manual. The LEGO Technic design team partnered up with BMW to make sure this set was as absolutely accurate as possible - the result is the largest and most detailed LEGO motorcycle ever!
Once the concentration heavy build was complete, the lighting designers took off laying cables and positioning Bit Lights from zero to one hundred. While the headlights were the obvious starting position in terms of what to light, the team really had to think about which exact components to use. The headlights in the LEGO set are trans-clear, which is perfect for our Bit Lights, but, enter challenge number one - they had stickers over the top! The team briefly (very briefly!) considered taking the stickers off entirely, but thankfully our Cool White Large Bit Lights pack enough firepower to shine through the stickers and also keep the detail. The result is the best of both worlds.
The taillights however… were much more difficult! Try as the might, the team couldn't find clear images online, of taillights being apparent on this model of the bike. So an executive decision was made to add them, as the road version does in fact have taillights. A LEGO loophole if you will! However as with most things, easier said than done… the team still had to actually construct something to house the lights! There wasn't much room for any extra LEGO elements in the rear of the bike, so the team went back to the creative drawing board to use a very select number of additional LEGO elements to solve the conundrum once and for all. The result takes the kit to the next level!
With the stars of the lighting show taken care of, the design team turned its attention to a most important feature of a kit like this - display! Our trusty Spotlights are always favoured for this topic and with the incredible presence the finished model has when seated on the LEGO mount provided, it was decided that not only we add a pair of Spotlights, but that both a red and blue Bit Light should be housed in each to really pay homage to the BMW signage provided. After all, this is the first LEGO model designed in tandem with the German auto-engineering powerhouse!
Finally, while the Spotlights provided good ambient coverage for most of the bike from the ground up, the top end of the bike was still lacking slightly in terms of overall illumination. After trying lots of different positions for an additional Spotlight to be, the team ingeniously settled on attaching it to the end of the handlebar which points perfectly at the "M" logo and lights up the rest of the bike. Making the Spotlights in this kit a trio.
And that's time to wave the checkered flag on this blog entry! What really drove the overall design of this kit, was capturing the excitement and scale of LEGOs largest ever motorbike model. As ever, economy of component was important - to get the absolute most out of the smallest number of Bit Lights, but at the same time making sure the the display of this incredible build was taken ever higher with the addition of lights.