Pub Quiz (quick help needed) Whats this bike?

[adrianw]

Hi,

Err, need a spot of help with this, I've been challenged to identify it, so I'd thought I'd subcontract the issue to the global market:



Apprently I know the owner, and the model will help me with a clue....

Adrian.

[roger albert]

R50/2 or R60/2, likely from the '63-67 timeframe.
I bet /2 can tell you better than I

[roger albert]

Other keywords that could be useful to your clue might include Earles fork or Sport tank. Not sure what kind of clue you can get form the short numeric designation alone.

[adrianw]

Mmmh, me suspect the sixty might be an age. I've an uncle who just turned sixty, but I'd be surprised.

Thanks Roger,

Adrian.

[gigantic]

1967 R50/2?

[adrianw]

Mmmh, model didn't actually help, bloke nromally runs around on Bimotas, but its:

"R62 circa 1928. BMW's first 750 and the biggest bike they made before 1972."

[Dan Alexander]

1928, you sure??

[adrianw]

Nope, I know nothing, my mother used to warn me about talking to strangers with knowlege of olde bikes....

[1967 R50/2]

Roger is correct. It is either a R50/2 or R60/2. You can tell because you can see the little diagonal brace welded to the "B" pillar. Pre-/2 frames did not have that. It also has a bulge on the fron engine cover, which is probably an indication that it is a fairly late production bike, although the air cleaner is not the later R69S choke-less style. So again, Roger is most likely correct, it is a mid-1960's R60/2 or R50/2.

R50/2s were all 500cc, R60/2s were 600cc with a longer stroke, so the cylinder is a tad longer. They also have little "ears" on the front and the back of the cylinder fins where as the cylinder fins on a R50 are simply round. The nomenclature has to do with the displacement, not with the year of manufacture or age.

You could make the distinction between these two models by looking at the carbs, cylinders or serial numbers, none of which are visible in great enough detail to distinguish them here.

With that said, I have a hunch, and it just a hunch, that this is an R60/2. From looking at my own bike for years, this one seems just a little different.

Also, 750cc was a common displacement for a BMW bike in the pre-war years. R11, R12, R71, R75m and probably a bunch more, were all 750cc. Maybe that helps. Or if the hint refers to the displacement, consider that the bike is 600cc....and there are lots of 600cc bikes out there today, probably even Bimotas.

So where is this bike? (In America somewhere, I suppose, hence the flag in the back.) And who is selling it and how much do they want?

[roger albert]

> You could make the distinction between these two models by looking at the carbs, cylinders or serial numbers, none of which are visible in great enough detail to distinguish them here.

I sure can't.

> With that said, I have a hunch, and it just a hunch, that this is an R60/2. From looking at my own bike for years, this one seems just a little different.

And conversely, seems JUST like my 65 R60/2, so I'm going with the same hunch. I'd have missed the B-pillar clue though. That does narrow it down. See, I told you 50/2 would know it better than I.

[1967 R50/2]

Might another clue be that it is a "boxer"? Know anyone who likes to climb into the ring?

[adrianw]

Hi,

I'm not suer where he bike is, the bloke used to live near London, used a ZX9 for courier work.

Haven't heard from him for a while, but he seems to be doing OK, turned up at a mates house a wee while ago on a Hyabusa thingy where they chatted about :

"and he's also got an MV F4. A landie V8, a Citroen V8 coupe thing and he's trying to resist buying an Aston Vantage. Boy's obviously doing well."

As for boxing, no, but if I recall correctly he was mildly successfull in juditso.

Do think it's for sale, but I'll ask.

Adrian