Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1980's

~ ~ u 8000 miles on BMWs commitment to the future By Jim Wolcott BMW. In a surprisingly short period of time, this company has risen from a little-known engineering and manufacturing firm , to one of the largest and most respected motor vehi cle producers in th e world. In 1966, BMW launch ed a Formula 2 Grand Prix auto racing effort , scoring impressi ve wins 20 aga ins t mor e expe rie nced and betterfunded team s. For th e pa st decad e. vehicle produ ct ion h as register ed doubl e-digit percentag e in cr ea ses every year in succe ssion . New manufacturing facilities have been built. em p loying th e latest in au toma ted welding a nd producti on techniques. In 1983. BMW produced about 450,000 veh icles - showing a grea ter production percentage gain th an a ny mot or veh icle manufactu rer in th e wor ld. But w hile a u to enth usias ts have ' become well acq ua inted with th e engi n eer ing excelle nce o f BMW , motorcycle ent h usiasts ha ve made do wi th occas io na l refinements to a lo ng -outdat ed design, a mot or cycle fu nd am ent all y un ch anged si nce its introd uc tion in 1 923. By th emid-'70 s, th e fa bled Boxer fla t-twi n engi ne had reach ed its peak : no mor e power co u ld be extracted from the design without h in dering relia bili ty. Worse, fram e and su spension techn o logy developed in the Orien t hadresulted in bikes tha t ecl ip sed th e BMW' s ha nd li ng a bilities . At a corporate level , BMW wa s uncert ain wh et her to commi t th e capi tal for a new mot or cycle design and in stead chose to defend th e for mat of th eir tim eworn Bo xer-twin . Motorcycle technol ogy contin ued to advance . . . and BMW wa tched th eir share of th e mot or cycle mark et steadily dim inish. Officia l corporate sta tements aside, BMW was well a ware o f the limita tions of th e flat -tw in Boxer engi ne. Experimentation with th edesign had shown that onl y a bou t 70 horsepower could be generated for reliable operation. With smog law s a nd noise limits entering th e pi cture, 60 ho rsepower was a mor e real istic lim it. BMW loyali sts could make arg u me n ts for qual it y a n d durability, but th e bottom line was that the one -liter Box er engines mad e a bo u t as much p ow er as co n te m p ora ry h alf-liter engines. Thou gh faced with producing o u tdat ed mo tor cycles, th e board o f di rectors a t BMW was reluctant to d iscontinued mo tor cycle production . T hey felt th at mot or cycles gave the co mpa nya spo rting image, and ultimately enha nced th e sal es o f th eir sports cars . T he p rob lem was that to mai n- ta in suc h a n image , and to rema in via ble in th e market , an entirel y new mot or cycle had to be created. T he year 1977 was piv otal in th e h istory o f BMW motorcycl es; th e quest ion of wh ether to con ti n ue production was held in delicat e ba lance. As a sto p-ga p measure, Hans Muth was commissioned to design the (the n) controversia l RS sport fairing, and th e 1977 BMW RIOO RS was thought by man y to represent BMW's swa n so ng from motorcycle production. Un less, of co urse. a new engine a nd runnin g gea r co u ld be quickl y a nd eco no mically designed. At the req ues t o f BMW 's board of directors. design engineers were chall enged with crea tin g a new motorcycle concept: a motorcycle that wou ld be decidedly di fferent from o ther offerings. whil e a t th e sa me time bein g immediat ely recognizable as a BMW . Regardl ess of th e fin al configuration of j h e new en gine, BMW was co nce rned with h ow th e world might perceive such a new motorcycle. After a ll; with th e motorcycle division acco unting for less than five percent of BMW's vehicle production , im age was the only co nsidera tion. Th e new bike had to have a distinct persona lity: not to be mistaken as a n effort to co p y or co m pete with o the r brands. In the words o f Karl Gerlinger , Marketing Manager for BMW Motorrad GmBH: " . . . BMW' s successdepends o n a certain extent to its excl us iveness. It is clear th at a manufacturer is no lo n ger excl us ive with a tr an sversely-mou n ted four-cylinder in line engi ne , or with a four-cylinder Vengine. T hese designs are now a mo ng th e mass-prod uce rs' sta ndard o fferin gs." Wha tever the merit s of th e chose n engi ne, th e resulting mot or cycle had to be - above all else - diff erent. Since the Boxer was out, BMW 's engineer ing department was given a clean shee t of paper for th e en gine design . BMW experimented with various con fig ura tio ns , an d in lat e 1977 BMW engineer Josef Fritzenwenger hit on th e idea of an in-line four mounted longitudinally and parall el to th e ground. The idea offe red the theoretical advantages of ma ss centralization and a low center of gr avit y. More importantly, an inline four could employ existing BMW automotive technology, thereby trimming en gineerin g and development costs. To test th e concept, a' Peugeot 104 automotive engine was experimentally fitted in a motorcycle frame. This engine was designed to be mounted horizontally. is fairly short and compact. and sports a lightweight aluminum eng ine block. This cobbled-up test bed proved the viability of the KIOO concept, and prototype SOHC engines were tried. with displacements ranging up to 130Occ. In February, 1979. the board of directors of BMW AG gave the final nod to the KIOO project, and laid out specific design objectives for the new motorcycl e. The machine was to provide a comforta ble platform for relax ed to u ring. while affor d ing a sporty enough package for -a n occasional ride on th e racetrack. The new motorcycle was to be lig h tweig h t, easy to ride, and docile enough for dail y use in city tra ffic. Th e horsepower target was set at 90 bhp, a nd th e machine was to be capabl e of II seco n d q uarter-mi le times. Th ese were tall orde rs . Mart in P robst , who had co -d esig n ed th e engi ne s for BMW 's Formula 2 auto racing effort , was assigne d to oversee

• Cover