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London, UK
List of contents
Introduction
1 Origins
2 Roaring Thirties
3 WWII: Armageddon
4 Postwar and the 1950s
5 1960s and 1970s: Winning the Peace, Matching the Brits
6 Trying to Keep Up with Japan
7 1990s—Defining Performance
8 Twenty-First Century: Back in the Fast Lane
9 Racing 175
10 2010s: Globalizing Performance
11 Do Androids Dream of Electric Bikes?
Index
Acknowledgments
About the author
Alan Dowds has been writing about motorcycles since 1994, when he launched his own Scottish bike magazine in Glasgow, Scotland. Next stop was
Motorcycle News, where he spent two years in the newsprint mines before slacking off to an easy life on monthly magazines: first
RiDE as road test editor, then
SuperBike as deputy editor. After a decade at the latter, Alan went freelance in 2011, writing for a wide range of top UK motorcycle magazines, including
Fast Bikes,
Classic Motorcycle Mechanics and
Motorcycle Sport and Leisure, as well as major websites like
Visordown,
DriveTribe and
FastBikesMag.com.
Alan has also written several books on motorcycles, including
Superbikes: Street Racers Design and Technology,
Superbikes: the World’s Greatest Bikes,
Classic Superbikes and
Cool Wheels – Superbikes.
He’s tested virtually every BMW motorcycle built over the past three decades, and is more Scottish than anyone you know. Despite that, he lives openly in London with his wife, kids, and cats – and he still loves writing about motorcycles.
Summary
BMW Motorcycles: 100 Years celebrates the legendary machines built by Germany’s leading motorcycle manufacturer.
BMW’s long history of evolving technology is highlighted in this detailed story beginning with side-valve machines in the 1920s and early overhead-valve performance bikes, then moving to the postwar R-series Airhead and modern Oilhead twins, followed by four-cylinder and six-cylinder K-series touring bikes, the latest parallel twins, and inline-four cylinder sport bikes. From the first R32 that launched BMW’s motorcycle dynasty, to the latest S1000RR superbike and R18 mega-cruiser, BMW Motorcycles captures a century of motorcycling excellence in a combination of historic and contemporary photos sourced from BMW’s archive.
The stories behind all the classic and modern BMWs are here:
- 1920s and 1930s BMWs like the R5 that defined performance in the prewar era
- The military R12 that supported the Wehrmacht as it battled its way across Europe in World War II
- The 1960s R69S that offered an excellent platform for both touring and sporting riding
- The R90S café racer and the R100RS, the latter arguably the world’s first dedicated sports tourer
- The astounding K1 “flying brick”
- The GS (Gelände Sport) series that launched the adventure-bike revolution
- Today’s R18, R nine T, and the world-class S100RR superbike
This is a once-in-100-years story captured in a beautiful book sure to be enjoyed by any BMW Fan.
