Motorcycle Views

• Ducati Recalls 2015-2016 Multistrada 1200 and 1200S Motorcycles for Sidestand Failure
  

• Kymco Recalls 2015 Super 8-50X and Super 8-150X Motor Scooters for Incorrectly Routed Front Hydraulic Brake Hose
  

Learn about BMW Motorcycle History and Take a BMW Quiz Too

The Beginnings of BMW

This article gives a BMW motorcycle history lesson and quiz about BMW motorcycles. It is part of a series of motorcycle history lessons and quizzes.

Some may think they already know a lot about BMW, its history and its machines. Perhaps you would like to take a quiz on BMW (Beemer) history and skip the rest of this article. That's OK. You may want to come back later for more information.

Here's your chance to take the BMW Motorcycle History Quiz now. (Currently, the quiz does not work on mobile devices.) However, I hope you will first want to read more about BMW motorcycle history before you take the BMW quiz.

The following is a short potpourri of the history of BMW motorcycles.

Use it to satisfy yourself that you know BMW history now or as a stepping stone to learning more BMW motorcycle history later on. There will be a quiz at the end.

New riders of motorcycles are familiar with the current models but may not be aware of the history of a given motorcycle manufacturer. Someone not familiar with motorcycles associates the name BMW with luxury cars. However, cars were to come later.

Gustav Otto's Flugzenmaschinenfabrik merged with Karl Rapp's Flugwerke Deutschland in 1916 to become the Bayerische Flugzeugwerke (BFW), initially specializing in the design and manufacture of airplane engines. In 1917, under the leadership of Karl Rapp and Max Friz, the Bayerische Flugzeugwerke was renamed the Bayerische MotorenWerke (Bavarian Motor Works) or BMW and continued building engines for German aircraft during World War I.

After that war, they found little demand for these engines and began producing engines for trucks and boats. They found little success in that endeavor also so they turned to building engines for motorcycle manufacturers.

In 1921-1922 they produced a 500cc flat-twin engine known as the M2 B15. The pistons worked in opposition to each other resembling a boxer, hence, the engine became known as the Boxer. The engine was placed with the cylinders in line with the frame of the motorcycle. This had some problems, notably an inability to uniformly cool each cylinder.

By 1923, BMW had decided to start building their own motorcycles and enlisted Max Friz to design a new integrated motorcycle. Friz in designing the first BMW, the R32, rotated the previous flat-twin engine 90 degrees to place both cylinder heads directly in the airstream for improved cooling. This bike used a car-type 3-speed transmission and clutch and employed a shaft drive. It was adorned with a BMW logo, a circle with blue and white quadrants symbolizing a spinning propeller. The "R" in R32 and a whole succession of R-bikes is short for the German word Rad that means cycle.

This same basic design continued to be refined by BMW until 1983, a period of over 50 years.

In 1983, BMW saw that the future of motorcycles would be filled with water-cooled engines and introduced a new series starting with the K100 model. This was a four-cylinder water-cooled engine that was inclined 90 degrees to the left. It looked like a small car engine on its side. An immediate dichotomy of BMW owners was created. Owners of the air-cooled R-bikes could see that the future might only have K-bikes in it. In 1985 BMW introduced the 3-cylinder K75 bike. The water-cooled, fuel-injected K-bikes then started receiving many innovations such as the first motorcycle Anti-lock Braking System (ABS) on the K100 in 1987.

BMW began to realize that the owners of the R-bikes didn't want to see the technology that had served BMW for 60 years thrown away in favor of the new K-bike technology. Therefore, in 1993, BMW reworked the flat-twin technology to provide fuel injection, oil cooling and ABS brakes together with a modern look and suspension for the Boxer. The R1100RS, R1100RT and other models emerged. In 1996, the old two-valve Boxers and the three-cylinder K75 Series were phased out of production. The last model of the classic boxer generation, an R80GS Basic, came off the production line at the Spandau BMW motorcycle plant on December 19, 1996.

Read more about BMW including: the F650, K-bikes, how I was introduced to BMW motorcycles, and the BMW Quiz (Remember, the quiz does not work on mobile devices.)

I am now writing my fourth book on motorcycling. It will be a small introductory book that will most likely also have an Audible audio book edition.

The book was inspired by my Audible producer who was looking for a 2-hour audio on motorcycles.

I'm well into completing the book except for my usual intensive editing.

It will have Kindle, paperback, and Audible editions.

Today is the first day of the 2015-2016 Polar Bear Grand Tour riding season. I'll be working on pictures later in the day and will have links in each future Newsletter to show you what goes on at Polar Bear runs throughout the winter. Traditionally, the first and last runs of the season have always been to the VFW in Cape May, New Jersey. Cape May is at the southern tip of New Jersey. USA Today, just today, listed Cape May as the most idyllic town in New Jersey. By the way, they also named Lewes, Delaware as the most idyllic town in Delaware. Lewes has been the second town on the Polar Bear schedule for as long as I can remember.

It appears that there may be a demand for a 50 Wild Motorcycle Tales - Book 2 in my future. It would be my fifth book. I will be writing some new stories of my own but I want to solicit from you any motorcycle stories you have written or might write to be part of the new book. These stories must involve real events that happened to you while you were motorcycling. You must be the author of the story. Send me stories if you wish to see your work in my new book.

I'm running one new Motorcycle Views Poll in each issue of the newsletter. Please participate in each poll so we can all find out what's happening in motorcycling.

Here's Poll No. 25: Do you think you're addicted to motorcycles?

The latest Motorcycle Views Poll also appears on the front page of the Motorcycle Views website.

ALL Motorcycle Views Polls

Today's How-To:

Motorcycle Picture of the Month:

My Book, 50 Wild Motorcycle Tales, is also available as an Audiobook (Audible) Edition on Amazon, iTunes, and Audible:

Here are some very popular articles on the Motorcycle Views Site. Take a look:

• Motorcycle Salvage Yards: Where you can find motorcycle parts.
  
• Motorcycle Seat Heights: Lists seat heights by motorcycle make.
  
• Famous Motorcycle Movies: The great motorcycle movies are discussed.
  
• Motorcycle Recalls: Gives all motorcycle recalls for the last ten years by make and year.
  
• Women on Motorcycles: These women ride their own bikes.
  
• 10 Ways to Be Safe on a Motorcycle: This article could save your life.
  
• 10 Motorcycle Myths: There are many myths about riding.