Old BMW motorcycles that I have owned
I have been lucky to have owned some interesting vintage BMW models, and here is a partial list with a few details. Most are photos of photos. Sorry for the poor quality. Many of these photos were taken in Fort Bidwell at my BMW museum from 1975-92.
This is volume 1, number 2, in October 1972 of the Vintage BMW Motorcycle Owners Club.
1. The oldest was a 1921 Victoria that used the M2B15 BMW engine. This was before BMW made bikes under the BMW name. It was a 500 cc boxer flathead with an external flywheel. The bike wasn’t complete, but it had enough parts to be interesting. The engine wasn’t crosswise like BMW always mounted them, but fore and aft. A chain drove the transmission, and a belt drove the rear wheel. The rear brake was a piece of wood that pinched the belt pulley on the rear wheel. I discovered this bike in a small motorcycle shop in Denmark. We were only in Denmark because Germany had some holiday and everything was closed. I sold this bike in the late ’70s, and it appeared on a poster.
2. I had three R52s for several years. All were in running condition, but different configurations of accessories, such as lights and horns.
Riding one of my R52s in Fort Bidwell, Ca. in about 1978
3. R35. A single-cylinder 350 ccs “trials” bike. Of course, it had the usual hand shift. It ran well, but it vibrated badly and was uncomfortable to ride. This one puts vibration in a whole new light.
4. R2. This was a series one and was quite complete and in decent running condition, and we used it often in various events. It had two solo seats, and was fun to show passengers the mid-30s BMW experience.
5. R17. A 750 cc overhead-valve sportbike of the late 30s. It had a beautiful valenced front fender with an interesting oval-shaped cutout in it. I never had it running because of missing clutch parts.
6. R4. I owned two very rusty models. We fired up one bike to hear it run. It shook so badly while on the center stand that it would walk sideways across the floor at a certain rpm.
7. R61 and R71. The R61 was a great runner. Very soon after I got it from Germany, I entered it in the California 1000. A Southern California event that wound all over in deserts and mountains while trying to go 1000 miles in 24 hours. I made it with a couple of hours to spare. The top speed of that old tired engine was limited to about 60-65, so I only ran it at about 55, and that meant only 4-5 hours to sleep if nothing went wrong. The battery ground wire came loose, but that took only 10 minutes to fix. I didn’t pass even one rider during the whole 1000 miles. I had my sleeping bag and a toolkit, and that was enough. It was the oldest bike to enter or finish. Hundreds of riders wished me good luck and offered encouragement along the way.
8. R23. It ran ok, but we didn’t use it much as it wasn’t as flashy as the R2 or old-looking. It was about the same as an R24 with a very short tank. I can’t find a picture of it.
9. R75 sports solo bike. After the war, the allies restricted motorcycle companies to only 250 cc bikes. In 1950 that was changed to allow 500 cc bikes. It was the late 60s before they were allowed to make a 750. The war had ended, and BMW had been bombed to rubble. They were cash-strapped and had to do something. They found some old R75 military motors and built a special frame similar to the R71 for it. I heard that maybe as many as a few dozen were built and sold “under the table” to rich sports riders. The engine was highly modified and very powerful. I ran across one at some BMW rally. The owner had only some slight knowledge of his bike. I bought it and spent the next couple of years trying to get the full story. I learned that some of the several factories that had been converted to BMW motorcycle production continued to make motorcycles. We were never sure that BMW made the bike. It was popular in Germany for private owners to use the military engine in an old frame. The frame had to be modified for it to fit. When this frame was finally stripped of paint, then we could see that it hadn’t been modified but had been specially built for that engine. This bike is very powerful for something so old. It has been raced in the vintage class in the San Francisco Bay Area.
10. R24. This bike was a gift from a German motorcycle rider whom I visited in 1969. He lived in a small village near the border with Eastern Germany. The only person who could speak English in the village was a 10-year-old girl who spoke English poorly but better than my German. It was literally leaning up against a wall in his barn surrounded by straw. I was prepared to buy it, but he wanted to give it to me. He had used it often up till about 63. It ran ok but had carb problems.
11. R51/2. A real throwback to the late 30s. It didn’t even have a magneto but battery coil ignition. I had a full spare drive train for it. The air cleaner was unique. It was the same wire mesh used in many of the R61/R71 era bikes, but they added a swooping cover to it.
12. R67/2. We started restoring it and got the mechanicals finished, but none of the cosmetics.
13. R69, 1956. When BMW came out with the Earles fork models, they showed several weaknesses. Most of them were fixed and came out in mid-57. It was called the accessory group and was advertised as such. I restored it in 1974. My longtime friend, Peter Brewer, owned this one until he sold it to a local collector. It took me ten years to find all the “bad” parts to make it correct.
I have owned one or more of the postwar bikes up to 1979, except the R68.
Updated 30 March 2023