The New And Improved Unofficial R65 Forum V2
General Category => Chit-Chat => Topic started by: Justin B. on October 30, 2015, 12:32:59 PM
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Most "old timers" around here probably already know about BMWs history but some that have just bought their first "Cow" might not. Bike Bandit put up a very condensed history of BMW Motorad.
http://www.bikebandit.com/community/articles/motorcycle-history-bmw-motorrad
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This is not just a condensed history of BMW Motorrad but it is heavily airbrushed and contains a number of inaccuracies. Just for the record and from my limited research-
By 1942 BMW, which was essentially an engine company, had stopped producing motorcycles for the Wermacht and production was entirely turned over to conventional aero and jet engines. At peak production in early 1945, over 30,000 aero engines and 500 jet engines were manufactured. By 1945, almost half of the 50,000-person workforce at BMW AG consisted of prisoners from concentration camps such as Dachau. So, did much of the forced labour do the daily 15km commute to Munich and the BMW factories? Perhaps as critical labour for the total war effort they were camped closer and fed marginally better.
Contrary to cold war propaganda, the motorcycle manufacturing facility at Eisenecht was not dismantled by the Soviets as reparations and sent to the Soviet Union to be reassembled in Irbit to make IMZ-Ural motorcycles. Russia had already gained access to the BMW technology under licence from BMW prior to the end of the German Soviet Pact and the German invasion of Russia in 1941. So in some later battles across Russia it may have been BMW airhead against BMW airhead.
Post war most of BMW's engineers went to the US or the Soviet Union to continue the work they had done on jet engines during the war. The post war occupying powers did not allow BMW to build motorbikes until 1947, the new bike, a 250 single, had to be reverse engineered from a pre-war model as all the machine tools, drawings, technical specs and blue prints were in Eisenecht in what was then the Soviet sector.
Some sources:
The Dachau Concentration Camp, 1933 to 1945, Comite International Dachau. 2005. p. 171
http://www.viator.com/Munich-attractions/Dachau-Concentration-Camp/d487-a616
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_BMW_motorcycles, viewed 28 November 2013
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Good points Kooka,
Also no mention of how the motorcycle department was eventually taken over by the car department to produce the bikes today that have no direct link to the airheads we love.
Not a lot about Ks and nothing on either the K75 or the F650 series, of which I have a few in my collection of BMWs.
Just my opinion but disappointing and needs more.
Dave.
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Actually it is so full of inaccuracies it simply isn't worth bothering with.
The writer did however manage to spell BMW correctly, which measured against today's journalistic standards does give him/her some kudos.
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motorcycle department was eventually taken over by the car department
When did that take place? BMW cars are stylish and trend setting. I have always thought BMW Motorcycle beauty stopped with the introduction of the oil head........... ugly ever since to my eye. (except that S1000rr)
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I would have hated to be tasked with writing BMWs history in just a few paragraphs and a lot of stuff it/was left out.
I did read, in one of my books, that in 1941 the last war-time civilian bike (R71) was produced. The R75 was designed specifically for military use and production was in the auto plant in Eisenbach. No mention of the "car side" of BMW taking over but just that this was where they were constructed.
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I have a book from 1982 about the history of BMW motorcycles, seems to be quite comprehensive .
Title : BMW Twins & Singles .
ISBN 0 85045 470 0
Author Roy Bacon, a British writer that has published a few books on British bikes .
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Wilcom,
Not sure when the car dept. took over but I believe they worked on it a while because the motorcycle dept. was not producing a profit. I am not sure but some one else may clarify. Stab in the dark here probably by 2000/03. That's when the electronic unreliability began to but appear.
Just another German megalomaniac in action, perhaps?
Cheers, Dave.