Cycle News is a weekly magazine that covers all aspects of motorcycling including Supercross, Motocross and MotoGP as well as new motorcycles
Issue link: https://magazine.cyclenews.com/i/126846
.... IJ.) ..0 S IJ.) > o Z (Above) The 1923 BMW sh8'ft-drive. opposed-twin R32. (Below) Early 1920s Megola with f iv e-cy li nd er radial engine inside t he front wheel. • -1:..:: .....,.. ,." .... - .. , -lttr .. -, ... ~ (Above) The touri ng version of t he BMW·R32. w ith headlight. speedometer. mirror. (Below) 1894 Hildebrand and Wolfmuller' in actio n. in g one of th e fou r pi ston rin gs a nd a lso to definitely use th e o p tio na l front forks. wh ich were ava ila ble a t a n addit ion a l cos t, for racin g. Wh en th e BMW mo tor cycle engin eer s in Mun ich th ought of th e newest techn ol ogy. th ey exchan ged th e sick-va lve cyli nder for a cyli nd er h ead with ove rhea d valv es. T ha t's wh en a tr ue perfo rma nce exp los io n occ u rred; th e BMW th en mad e 17 h orsepow er , a lmost do u ble th e pow er m ad e by th e side va lve version. From th en on , th e BMW was th e fast est , winning in 1925 th e So li tudeBer g a wa rd a nd dozen s o f o the r races. In 1926, BMW won th e m ost diffi cult ra ce in the world , Th e En glish Six Da y. Th e first victory by a m ot o rcycl e from th e co ntinent shook En gl and , th en th e leading m otorcycle nation o f th e world, The techn ical h ead o f th e Auto Cvcle U n io n , wh ich sa nc tioned British races, was ready to d isq ua lify a ny mach in es th at were too loud o r leak ed oi l. But even though Professor Art her M. Low gave the Ge rma n twi ns a hard look, h e co uld n ' t fin d a ny sig n o f a n o il leak , even after the to ughes t da ys in th e even I. "T he BMW mach in e was very quiet a nd seem ed to hav e grea t p ower re- . serves," wr ot e o ne observer a t th e time . "It is mi les ahead o f every English ma chine;' in regards to its co n str uctio n ," That's quill' a sta teme nt co ns ide rin g that England was th e ce n ter o f the mot orcycle un iverse a t the time . On th e o the r hand , th e MABECO motorcycle factory in Berl in , G erm an y, lost a court battle brought by Indian , a n America n manu fa cturer, beca use MABECO copied the In d ian SCOUI. And a t th at time mo to r vehicles st ill pl a yed a m in or role in G erman y, T he re were 500,000 mot or veh icles in Ge rmany ; half were ca rs a nd moto rcycles . a nd th e rest were trucks. Fra nce had al most tw ice as m an y veh icles a nd of th ose at lea st 120,000 were motorcycles. The British already had 1.5 million veh icles o n th eir isl and. and a li tt le less than ha lf were m o torcycles. At th e tim e, th e world 's bi ggest race was th e Isle o f Man Touris t Troph y, a nd wh oever won in th e TT . Th is is how the first motorcycle meeting may hav e looked; the machine on the left is an NSU while the other is a Hildebrand and Wolfmuller. Note the radiator beh ind the fender on the Hildebrand and Wolfmuller. 15