Bmw Airhead Twins

No motorcycle manufacturer is more closely associated with one type of engine than BMW: the air-cooled boxer twin or 'airhead'. It was included in BMW's very first motorcycle in 1923 and virtually every machine the company made, of every type, from radical road bike to TT winner, to land speed record holder, to 1970s style icon and even to the creation of an all-new adventure bike class with the R 80 G/S, right up to the mid-1990s. Phil West celebrates the success of the BMW airhead twin motorcycles. This book, with over 290 photographs, includes a history of the company pre- and post-War; the personalities behind the development of the bikes; profiles of each of the 'R' bikes in turn, including detailed specification guides and production numbers. These wonderful machines are regularly celebrated and now BMW itself is harking back to them with an all-new series of machines.

The air-cooled boxer BMW twins were among the most significant motorcycles of the late 1970s and 1980s, providing an unparalleled combination of comfort, reliability, and performance. Written by a world-renowned motorcycle journalist and featuring 190 colour photographs, here is the authoritative work on these machines.

The Complete Book of BMW Motorcycles offers a thorough year-by-year guide to every production machine ever built by Germany’s leading motorcycle manufacturer. From the first model, the 1923 R32 that launched BMW's motorcycle dynasty, to the latest (and fastest) superbike, the S1000RR, this book captures nearly a century of motorcycling excellence in a combination of historic and contemporary photos. Technical specs are provided for each model. This comprehensive review covers all of BMW's bike families: The side-valve machines from the early years The early overhead-valve performance bikes The modern Airheads and Oilheads The four-cylinder and six-cylinder touring bikes The early pushrod singles The modern overhead-cam singles The latest parallel twins, and inline-four cylinder sport bikes Among them, you'll find all the classic bikes—pre-World War II BMWs like the R5 that defined performance in that era; the military R12 that carried the Wehrmacht as it blitzkrieged its way across Europe; the Earles-forked R69S that offered the perfect platform for mounting a Steib sidecar; the R90S café racer; the K1 “flying brick”; and the GS (Gelände Sport) series that launched a dual-sport revolution right up to today’s world-class S100RR and retro-inspired R nine T. Like the other titles in Motorbooks' Complete Book series, this guide to BMW's motorcycle output offers the most complete reference to the subject available.

For nearly 80 years, shaft-drive boxer twins have traditionally formed the backbone of the BMW motorcycle line-up. For many enthusiasts of the Bavarian marque the classic BMW twin was the R90S of 1973-76. Over the decades, successive generations of durable machines - including the R100S, fully-faired R100RS, four-cylinder K-series, high-performance R1100RS and an entire family of touring and sporting models ranging from 850 to 1200cc - would ensure the BMW boxer twins a place in the Haynes "Great Bikes" series. This book covers: historical context, racing, the wartime R75 and R69S; the "75" series which enabled BMW to compete with the high-performance Japanese machines; the R90S, the "76" and Superbike performance; the R100RS, the "77" and the touring R100RT; smaller twins, smaller potential; the R89G/S, including a Paris-Dakar version; rationalization of the boxer range, and the new twins that included four-valve heads and electronic engine management; and technical specifications from 1969 to 2003.

Part of the acclaimed Original series, Original BMW Air-Cooled Boxer Twins presents BMW's most famous motorcycles in exquisite detail. The book focuses on the post-1969 /5 and newer series, paying particular attention to such groundbreaking models as the R75/5, the R90S, the R100RS, and the R80G/S. The book also covers the earlier models in a chapter focusing on the Earles fork machines.

While BMW motorcycles remain mostly associated with its R-series shaft-drive boxer twins, it's the K-series liquid-cooled 'multis' that have been – and remain – the German firm's most advanced, radical and downright wacky bikes of all. Launched in 1983 to propel BMW into a whole new era, the K-series has included some of the world's most innovative and interesting motorcycles. From the original liquid-cooled, fuel-injected K100, to the radically aerodynamic K1 of the 1980s; the ultra-powerful K1200RS and space age K1200LT of the 1990s; and the 'Duolever' K1200S and 6-cylinder K1600 of the 2000s and beyond, BMW's 'Ks' have always been special, but also so advanced and pioneering that they've helped shape the whole of modern motorcycling. BMW expert Phil West, author of BMW Airhead Twins and BMW GS, also published by Crowood, has again painstakingly researched their complete history, found pictures never published before and recounts the whole K-Series story in a comprehensive and engaging tale.

The Art of BMW: 90 Years of Motorcycle Excellence presents stunning studio portraiture of the rolling sculpture that BMW has been creating for the past 90 years. Each bike portrait is accompanied by a concise, authoritative profile of the machine. All the classic bikes are here—pre-World War II BMWs like the R5 that defined performance in that era; the military R12 that carried the Wehrmacht as it blitzkrieged its way across Europe; the R75M that accompanied Rommel’s Panzers in North Africa; the Earles-forked R69S that offered the perfect platform for mounting a Steib sidecar; the R90S café racer; the K1 “flying brick”; and the GS (Gelände Sport) series that launched a dual-sport revolution. All the bike families are covered—the side-valve machines from the early years, the early overhead-valve performance bikes, the postwar Airheads and Oilheads, the four-cylinder and six-cylinder touring bikes, the early pushrod singles, the modern overhead-cam singles, the latest parallel twins, and inline-four cylinder sport bikes. From the first model, the R32 that launched BMW's motorcycle dynasty, to the latest (and fastest) model, the World Super Bike dominating S1000RR, this book captures nearly a century of motorcycling excellence.

BMW began its life in aero-engineering--as anyone who’s ever ridden one of its motorcycles might guess. These are bikes as close to airborne as any get. And what’s more, fifty percent of all the motorcycles BMW has manufactured are still flying down the world’s roads. These are the best, and in this book, the best of the best get their due, with brilliant, full-color photographs of BMW’s classic models and detailed descriptions of their features, all located within the context of a concise history of this legendary marque. From the first of BMW’s bikes, the R32, through the models that catapulted the company out of the ruins of World War II, to the latest bikes with the revamped opposed-twin-cylinder “boxer” engines that brought BMW its first fame--these are the bikes that made history, and, better yet, gave the most demanding riders a taste for flight.