When BMW comes out with new models,
they're really new. And you'd better believe
that they're better than the old ones
IT WAS THE SAME as Rolls
Royce saying they had a brand
new car ready for the public. Brand
new from the ground up. You don’t
expect radical changes in a company
like Rolls Royce. You expect slow,
evolutionary type changes.
Ditto BMW. The Bavarian Motor
Works have been building fine, un-
compromising, technically perfect
motorcycles since 1923 that are re-
knowned the world over for engi-
neering excellence. Sure, they’ve *
changed things through the years,
mostly to improve durability or
smoothness. But they’ve never
changed anything fast, like bang-
bang. Instead, they’ve always taken
the slow but sure path toward tech-
nical excellence. They wanted to be
sure each piece was right before they
liung it on one of their bikes.
And that route has paid off. To-
day, BMW has an unmatched rep-
utation for building the most dur-
able, smoothest, quietest, most re-
fined and advanced motorcycles in
the world.
So what happened? They went
and dumped all their time-proven
models for a whole line of new bikes
that BMW itself describes as “new,
modern, sporty, hot.” They’ve got
so much confidence in the new mod-
els that they’ve even built a new
plant in Berlin to produce them.
BMW doesn’t want to just hold their
present market. They want to ex-
pand it considerably.
Even if you didn’t read any other
magazine except this one, you’d
know what was happening to the
motorcycle scene today. The super-
bike is happening. The superbike. A
bike with fierce acceleration, good
crusing ability, comfort and out of
sight styling. That's what today’s
buyer wants. And there are plenty
of bike manufacturers both here, in
Europe and in Japan that can supply
him with what he wants.
As you can guess, the old BMWs
just didn’t make it here. Sure they
were smooth and reliable and quiet.
But they were ugly and slow and
fat. That just couldn’t cut it.
So BMW went to work on a new
line and we think you’ll like the re-
sults. We spent a day at a special
preview showing of the new models,
riding them and photographing-
them. And we can definitely dig
them.
The new lineup consists of three
series, each with their own model
designations and displacements. The
three models are the R5O/5, the
R60/5 and the R75/5. The R5O/5
carries a 500cc engine putting out
36 horsepower. The R60/5 displaces
600cc and churns 46 horses. And the
big gun, the R75/5 pumps 57 horses
from its 750cc.
The new, sportier look of the
BMWs will catch your eye immedi-
ately. The larger tank, the narrower
fenders, the telescopic forks and the
shorter wheelbase give the new
series a more compact, powerful
appearance. Substantial savings in...