BMW R-series: Illustrated History Books & Guides

BMW Motorcycles (1971-1976) - Brooklands Portfolio

Brooklands Portfolio book featuring BMW motorcycles from the years 1971-1976. Describes the BMW R50/5, R60/6, R75/6, R90/6 and R90S.

• The 38 period articles, brought together from leading British and American motorcycle magazines, provide much information about history, model changes and engineering.
• Also driving impressions, original road tests, comparison tests, technical data, etc.

More information about Brooklands Portfolio books

Product details

Details:	172 pages, 10.6 x 7.9 x 0.39 in (27 x 20 x 1 cm), paperback
Illustrations:	200 photos
Language:	English
Publisher:	Brooklands Books (GB, 1997)
Series:	Gold Portfolio
ISBN:	9781855203785

The BMW Boxer Twins Bible - All air-cooled models 1970-1996 (except R45, R65, G/S & GS)

Before the /5 series, BMW had a reputation for producing expensive and idiosyncratic touring motorcycles. But the /5 changed that.
Although still expensive, the market was opened to a new world of riders, and during the 1970s the air-cooled boxer evolved into the ground-breaking R90S and R100RS. These were amongst the first motorcycles with factory-fitted fairings and they also offered class-leading performance.

Even when BMW decided to discontinue the twins in favour of the new four-cylinder K-series in 1984, demand for the older boxers forced BMW to reconsider. The boxer was resurrected and continued for more than a decade.

Pages of the book "The BMW Boxer Twins Bible - All air-cooled models 1970-1996 (except R45, R65, G/S & GS)"

Features
- Full description of the model's development
- Analysis of the boxer twin engine
- Detailed look at the R90S and R100RS
- Racing history
- Year-by-year revisions to each model during the whole production run
- All engine and frame numbers by year
- Technical appraisal
- Complete appendices of technical specifications.

Covers the period 1970-95, and the following models: R50/5, R60/5, R75/5, R60/6, R75/6, R90/6, R90S, R60/7, R75/7, R80/7, R100/7, R100S, R100T, R100RS, R100RT R100CS, R80T, R80RT, R80ST, R65 Mono, R65RT Mono, R80 Mono, R89RT Mono, R100R, R100RS Mono and R100RT Mono.

Product details

Author:	Ian Falloon
Details:	160 pages, 9.8 x 8.1 in (25 x 20.5 cm), paperback
Illustrations:	190 b&w and color photos
Language:	English
Publisher:	Veloce Publishing Ltd (GB, 2016)
ISBN:	9781845849993

BMW Airhead Twins - The Complete Story

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.

Product details

Author:	Phil West
Details:	192 pages, 10.4 x 8.9 x 0.87 in (26.5 x 22.5 x 2.2 cm), hardback
Illustrations:	50 b&w and 247 color photos
Language:	English
Publisher:	The Crowood Press Ltd (GB, 2020)
Series:	The Complete Story
ISBN:	9781785006951

BMW Boxer Twins (1969-1994) - All R45, R50, R60, R65, R75, R80, R90, R100, RS, RT & LS (Not GS) Models - Essential Buyer's Guide

There are lots of books about the classic BMW Boxers; their history, performance, lineage, and the minutiae of its specification. But none of them concentrate entirely on telling you what to look for when buying one secondhand.
That's what this book is about - it is a straightforward, practical guide to buying a used Boxer twin.
It doesn't list all the correct colour combinations for each year or analyse the bike's design philosophy - there are excellent books listed at the end of this one that do all of that - but it will help you avoid buying a dud.

Point by point, it takes the reader through everything that needs looking at when buying a Boxer, plus spares prices, which is the best model to buy for your needs, and a look at auctions, restorations and paperwork.
The last of the 'classic' air-cooled BMW Boxer twins, these bikes are now collector's items, and many have been saved, restored and continue to be ridden - this book tells the reader how to be part of the Boxer's ongoing story.

Covers all air-cooled BMW R45, R50, R60, R65, R75, R80, R90, R100, RS, RT & LS models from 1969 to 1994. Does not cover the GS models.

Product details

Author:	Peter Henshaw
Details:	64 pages, 7.7 x 5.5 in (19.5 x 14 cm), paperback
Illustrations:	90 color photos
Language:	English
Publisher:	Veloce Publishing Ltd (GB, 2017)
Series:	The Essential Buyer's Guide
ISBN:	9781787110052

Soul Fuel - BMW R nineT Customizers

With the market launch of the BMW R nineT in 2013, the unique Soul Fuel project started in earnest. Over the course of the nascent cooperation, the first selected customizers received an R nineT by BMW Motorrad, which they were able to remodel and modify pursuant to their own vision.
To date, 17 customizers have created fascinating customizations of the R nineT through Soul Fuel. Five additional projects are to follow in 2018.

Introducing the bikes completed to date, the book Soul Fuel is an homage to the "customizing attitude" towards life. When we take a look into the workshops of the most innovative customizers, we can virtually smell and hear the welding equipment.
With full passion and dedication, customizers like Blitz Motorcycles, 46 Works, El Solitario, and others create exceptional interpretations of an exceptional machine.

As unique and customized as the machines it presents, "Soul Fuel" boasts incredible graphics, layout, and fascinating portraits of the customizers in one innovative, impressively-designed book.

Product details

Author:	Dirk Mangartz
Details:	160 pages, 9 x 12.6 in (24 x 32 cm), hardback
Illustrations:	10 b&w and 155 color photos
Language:	English
Publisher:	teNeues Publishing UK Ltd (GB, 2018)
ISBN:	9783961710515

BMW Boxer - 100 Jahre Faszination (Band 1) - 1920: der erste Motor / Die Gründerjahre: von der R 32 1923 zur R 75 1941

Half a liter of displacement and 6.5 hp: In December 1920, BMW's first boxer engine went into series production, initially as a built-in engine for Victoria and Helios motorcycles. Just in time for the "100 Years of the BMW Boxer Engine" anniversary, this book is a tribute to the founding years of the Bavarian motorcycle manufacturer, which presented its first complete motorcycle in 1923, the ingenious and epoch-making R 32 with a transverse boxer engine and shaft drive to the rear wheel.

On 176 pages, with informative texts and 380 contemporary photographs exclusively released by the Historical BMW Archive, author Hans-Jürgen Schneider documents the models of the first era up to 1944, type by type, from the tourer R 32 and the sporty R 37 or R 57 to the pressed steel models R 11 to R 16 to the style icon R 5 and the fully suspended models R 51 to R 17. The 19 models described are also shown in motorsport and in sidecar operation.

BMW's dealings with the Wehrmacht or police are not left out: 36 000 units of the 750 R 12 (mostly as sidecars) were delivered, mainly to government clients, and 18 000 units of the heavy 750 R 75 sidecar, specially designed for wartime use, rolled off the production lines.

Complete technical data, chassis numbers and an extensive register of names, places and institutions round off the work.

Product details

Author:	Hans-Jürgen Schneider
Details:	176 pages, 11.2 x 9.8 in (28.5 x 25 cm), hardback
Illustrations:	380 b&w and color photos
Language:	German
Publisher:	Schneider Media (D, 2020)
ISBN:	9783667120830

BMW Boxer Zweiventiler ab /5 (1969-1984) - Alle Modelle mit zwei Federbeinen (Boxer im Detail Band 1)

The BMW "two-valve" boxer motorcycles are presented here in more detail than ever before. This series debuted at the end of 1969 with the /5 models. A long success story began and ended with the R 80 GS Basic in 1996 after more than a quarter of a million motorcycles were built.
This first volume presents all models with two spring struts. These are the machines from the /5, /6 and /7 series. There are also the R 45, R 65, R 65 LS models and finally the R 80 RT, R 100 CS, R 100 T, R 100 RT and R 100 RS, which were built until 1985.

Not only are all series models and never-before-seen prototypes described in detail, the fathers of these machines also have their say. All frame and engine numbers, visible and invisible changes to details, numbers built, tips on buying used, identifying and restoring these machines that have become classics complement this volume.

4th edition from 2013

Product details

Author:	Andy Schwietzer
Details:	176 pages, 11.6 x 8.25 in (29.5 x 21 cm), hardback
Illustrations:	284 b&w and color photos
Language:	German
Publisher:	Bodensteiner Verlag (D, 2013)
ISBN:	9783980663144

BMW Zweiventiler - Motorräder 1969-1996 (Schrader Typen Chronik)

BMW had already built boxer engines before the legendary Stroke-Five models - but none of such quality: engine, chassis, performance and appearance - everything was just right here, and with this generation of engines the Bavarians (who produced their motorcycles in Berlin) achieved their breakthrough: the /5 BMW of 1969 changed everything.
BMW conquered new customer groups; the air-cooled "rubber cows" were also able to prove themselves in sporty terms, such as the legendary R 90 S or the R 100 RS. And even when the K engines appeared, the boxers were not a thing of the past.

Pages of the book "BMW Zweiventiler - Motorräder 1969-1996"

In this volume of the successful series, Andy Schwietzer creates a monument to the classic boxers in brochures, pictures and driving reports.

Product details

Author:	Andy Schwietzer
Details:	96 pages, 8.7 x 9 in (22 x 24 cm), hardback
Illustrations:	160 b&w and color photos
Language:	German
Publisher:	Motorbuch Verlag (D, 2011)
Series:	Schrader Typen Chronik
ISBN:	9783613033740

BMW Boxer Zweiventiler ab 80 G/S (1980-1996) - Alle Modelle mit Einarmschwinge (Boxer im Detail Band 2)

This second volume on the subject of BMW two-valve engines covers the models with one-sided rear suspension, often referred to as "single-sided swing arms", that rolled off the production line at the Spandau plant from August 1980. These are all G/S and GS models with two-valve boxer engines.
In addition, there are the R 80 ST, the R 65, R 80, R 100 RS and R 100 RT from 1985 as well as the R 100 R, the R 100 R Mystic and the Classic models from 1995.

The description of the machines is systematically based on the model of the first volume, which was met with great acclaim among BMW enthusiasts. The considerations and activities that preceded the appearance of the first R 80 G/S and its successor models with the two-valve engine are discussed in detail here.

3rd revised and expanded edition from 2017

Product details

Author:	Andy Schwietzer
Details:	186 pages, 11.6 x 8.25 in (29.5 x 21 cm), hardback
Illustrations:	310 b&w and color photos
Language:	German
Publisher:	Bodensteiner Verlag (D, 2017)
ISBN:	9783981601343

BMW-Boxer - Die Zweiventil-Twins 1969-1996

At the end of the 1960s, only a few optimists still believed that BMW's boxer bikes would survive economically. Without the Munich-based company's successful automobiles, they seemed beyond saving.

But the boxer engine was the face of the white and blue two-wheelers, and so BMW stuck to the boxer until 1983 - today these motorcycles from back then have achieved cult status - and ten years later launched a new boxer generation.

In this BMW boxer bible, Ian Falloon tells everything there is to know about the subject and presents all the models and series with their technical peculiarities.

Pages of the book "BMW-Boxer - Die Zweiventil-Twins 1969-1996"

Product details

Author:	Ian Falloon
Details:	176 pages, 10.4 x 9.1 in (26.5 x 23 cm), hardback
Illustrations:	44 b&w and 157 color photos, 10 drawings
Language:	German
Publisher:	Motorbuch Verlag (D, 2016)
ISBN:	9783613038806

BMW Boxer - 100 Jahre Faszination (Band 2) - Die Nachkriegszeit: von der R 51/2 1950 bis zur R 69 S 1969

Passion, German engineering and major setbacks have shaped BMW's motorcycle history. After the Second World War, the company was on the verge of bankruptcy, but kept itself afloat with cooking pots and bicycles made from aircraft engine waste. It was not until 1948 that BMW was able to celebrate a revival as a motorcycle brand and found new courage with the R 24.

The second volume of the Boxer saga takes a look at the brand's history from 1945 to 1969. From the creation of the first post-war Boxer R 51/2 to the legendary motorcycles of the R 69 S series: knowledgeable texts and exclusive images from BMW's development department give a glimpse behind the scenes.

• Descriptions and background information on BMW boxer models from 1950 to 1969
• Numerous valuable vintage motorcycles in collectors' hands and on trips on Germany's roads
• Insights into the difficulties of motorcycle production in post-war Germany
• Approx. 380 historical photos and drawings from the BMW archives
• Detailed appendix with technical data and chassis numbers

Product details

Author:	Hans J. Schneider
Details:	228 pages, 11.4 x 9.8 x 0.94 in (29 x 25 x 2.4 cm), hardback
Illustrations:	523 b&w and color photos
Language:	German
Publisher:	Schneider Media (D, 2022)
ISBN:	9783667125323

BMW Boxer - 100 Jahre Faszination (Band 3): Die Renaissance - Modelle mit Zweiarmschwinge 1969 bis 1985

In the late 1960s and early 1970s, the motorcycle industry experienced a global revival. Motorcycles became symbols of fun, sport, and adventure for young people.
BMW responded early by introducing the newly developed R 75/5 with a two-cylinder boxer engine and two parallel models in 1969. These bikes matched modern lifestyles and quickly achieved strong sales, saving BMW's motorcycle division.

Growing demand for larger engines led in the 1970s to legendary models such as the design icon R 90 S, the first fully faired sport-tourer R 100 RS, and the long-distance boxer R 100 RT. 600 cc and 750 cc models were replaced by 800 cc variants such as the R 80/7 and R 80 RT.
In 1978, BMW added the R45 and R65 for riders preferring smaller machines.

All boxer models of this period shared the characteristic long-arm rear swingarm with twin shock absorbers, which defines the selection of models in this book.

Product details

Author:	Hans J. Schneider
Details:	240 pages, 11.2 x 9.7 x 0.91 in (28.5 x 24.5 x 2.3 cm), hardback
Illustrations:	500 b&w and color photos
Language:	German
Publisher:	Schneider Media (D, 2023)
ISBN:	9783667127884

BMW Boxer - 1950-1996 - Alle Zweizylinder im Detail

Classic motorcycle fans still associate BMW motorcycles with the legendary air-cooled boxer engines. Brand expert Ian Falloon presents all the special features of the models and years with countless detailed photos. A must for every connoisseur and for anyone who restores their rubber cow true to the original.

Ian Falloon is one of the world's leading motorcycle historians. In his more than 25 years as an author, the New Zealand native has written for numerous motorcycle magazines all over the world and published more than 40 books.

Pages of the book "BMW Boxer - 1950-1996 - Alle Zweizylinder im Detail"

Product details

Author:	Ian Falloon
Details:	128 pages, 11.4 x 9.7 in (29 x 24.5 cm), hardback
Illustrations:	many b&w and color photos
Language:	German
Publisher:	Heel-Verlag GmbH (D, 2018)
ISBN:	9783958435919

BMW Boxer (1950-1955) - R 51/2 bis R 68 (Boxer im Detail Band 5)

A detailed look at the R 51/2, R 51/3, R 67, R 67/2, R 67/3 and R 68. The book gives tips on identification and restoration for solo machines and sidecars. Number ranges as well as information on model history, purchase, repair, maintenance, optimization and accessories for all "straight-line boxers".

Product details

Author:	Thomas Welzel, Peter Bohn, Elmar Schmelz
Details:	232 pages, 11.6 x 8.25 in (29.5 x 21 cm), hardback
Illustrations:	470 b&w and color photos
Language:	German
Publisher:	Bodensteiner Verlag (D, 2019)
ISBN:	9783981601350

BMW Boxer Zweiventiler (1973-1984) - R 90 S, R 100 S und R 100 CS (Boxer im Detail Band 4)

The fourth volume of the two-valve boxer series from Bodensteiner Verlag describes the legendary BMW R 90 S and its successor models with 1000 cm³ displacement.
The creator of the R 90 S, Hans A. Muth, who gave this motorcycle its unmistakable character, was co-author of this work and provided a glimpse into the development process behind the scenes of the marketing measures and press releases.

Product details

Author:	Andy Schwietzer, Hans A. Muth
Details:	160 pages, 11.6 x 8.25 in (29.5 x 21 cm), hardback
Illustrations:	269 b&w and color photos
Language:	German
Publisher:	Bodensteiner Verlag (D, 2015)
ISBN:	9783981601329

BMW R90S - Conoscerla, sceglierla, restaurarla - Piccola monografia su una grande BMW classica

This monograph is dedicated to those looking for an R90S at the highest level of originality, or to those who own one and want to bring it back to its former glory.

Text in Italian.

Product details

Author:	Antonio Frova
Details:	112 pages, 11.4 x 9.8 x 0.39 in (29 x 25 x 1 cm), hardback
Illustrations:	extensively illustrated
Language:	Italian
Publisher:	Libreria ASI Service (I, 2013)
ISBN:	9788898344017