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Bahnstormer

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Mike Fishwick View Drop Down
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Joined: 04 Aug 2006
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    Posted: 15 Oct 2013 at 11:25am


BOOK REVIEW:    BAHNSTORMER   by LJK Setright

Mike Fishwick

Unless you have absolutely no interest in anything BMW but their cars, you will no doubt have a few volumes on your bookshelf about the company’s motorcycles.  In the last few years many books have been written on this subject, but most are of a rather general, ‘coffee-table’ nature, often with vague and inaccurate text.  In direct contrast, ‘Bahnstormer’ is for those who understand a little of the subject, and are able to appreciate a book which is well-written and carefully researched.

This must have been one of the very earliest books on BMW and their motorcycles, having been published in 1977 just after the introduction of the /7 Series models.  It remains one of, if not the, best book covering our preferred company’s older two-wheeled products, and has the distinction of being written in that very correct form of English which Leonard Setright has raised to an art form.

It contains an excellent description of  how BMW’s motorcycles developed, covering every model – singles and twins – from the R32 to the original R100RS. The racers, record breakers, and ISDT successes are also there, coupled with details concerning the more important technical points and some interesting stories concerning the personalities involved.   The bankruptcy of 1959 and the last-minute rescue from the grip of Daimler-Benz are well covered, as is the recovery of the early ‘sixties. 

A series of photographs and line drawings illustrate the machines, with sectioned views detailing some of their finer technicalities.  Specification tables cover all models but there is no index, which is a pity.

This is not, perhaps, a book for those who regard the older models through rose-tinted spectacles; it is reported that when Hans-Gunther von der Marwitz joined BMW from Porsche, and was given the task of developing the successors to the Earles-forked models, he rode one, commenting that it was ‘Quite ghastly!’   We are told that the controls of these now-revered models were ‘Heavy and imprecise,’ while the comments on the crankshaft and its lubrication system will doubtless excite those who firmly believe the roller bearing legend.  Even the R90S does not avoid criticism of its high-speed handling, coming a very second best to the R100RS; progress really does happen, and we should not permit our enthusiasm to overcome our objectivity. 

One bit of progress which did not happen, however, was the R75/5’GS’ prototype, which was built in 1972 and so anticipated the big trail bike fashion by almost ten years. This machine, and an interesting plunger-suspended 1939 R36 single with a rearward-facing exhaust port, are the only prototypes described, which is a pity, for the enclosed R7 twin and others such as the initial post-war R10, a two-stroke flat twin, would have made interesting reading.

Although a most precise writer, the learned Leonard has made a few glaring errors; we are informed that the wartime R75 had its magneto (rather than generator) mounted on the front of the crankshaft, and that the R51/2 had a single gear-driven camshaft (it used two chain-driven cams!) but the largest area of doubt must be in his description of the circumstances leading to the formation of BMW.  As a standard in these matters I prefer to adopt the BMW-approved book by Horst Mönnich, ‘A Company In Its Time,’ as a standard, for this book was written after years of basic research and interviews with almost all the key personalities except von Popp and Max Friz.  

Historical gripes apart, this really is an excellent book, and is a pleasure to read – it should be on every BMW enthusiast’s bookshelf, and at under six pounds for the soft-cover edition it is a bargain; buy your copy now, while it is still available.

Bahnstormer – published by Transport Bookman Publications, £5.95.  (ISBN 0 85184 021 3)   

 


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