BMW
- Start
- Sep 6, 196690% CONFIDENCEfrom the source
BMW Rolls Out Its First Berlin-Built Motorcycle, an R 60/2
- BMW's Berlin-Spandau plant assembled its first Berlin-built motorcycle, a BMW R 60/2, in 1966, with final assembly moving on 6 September 1966[3]
- From 1969 every BMW motorcycle was made in Berlin; about 400 employees then built 30 a day, including the R 75/5 with 50 hp[3]
- BMW's own timeline dates Berlin motorcycle production from 1967 and marks 2019 as 50 years of Berlin motorcycle production, a year or so off the 1966 first assembly[4]
- The plant began as Brandenburgische Motorenwerke (BRAMO), a Siemens aero-engine firm merged with BMW in 1938; production restarted in 1949 with components and spare parts for Munich[3]
- Berlin later built its one-millionth motorcycle in 2001, passed 100,000 a year in 2006 and made its two-millionth in 2011[3][4]
Notable features
- The R 60/2 is a 600 cc shaft-drive boxer twin built from 1960 to 1969, succeeding the 28 hp R60; like its siblings it was designed mainly as a rugged machine for pulling sidecars, with mounting points built into its duplex tubular steel frame[2]
- Instead of telescopic forks it uses a triangular Earles front fork, a long swinging arm that prevents front-end dive under hard braking and suits sidecar work, with swinging-arm rear suspension and oil-pressure shock absorbers[2]
- The engine gives 30 hp (22 kW) from a 72 x 73 mm bore and stroke at 7.5:1 compression, with magneto ignition and two Bing carburettors, for a top speed of about 90 mph[2]
- The driveshaft runs in an oil bath inside the right swingarm; it has a four-speed gearbox, 200 mm drum brakes, interchangeable 3.50 x 18 tyres, a 17-litre tank and weighs 430 lb wet[2]
References 484% CONFIDENCE
The first entry is always the pin's source. Overall confidence is a weighted average of how firmly each reference supports the start and end times used above; a reference counts half as much for every 180 days older than the newest.
- [1]90%youtube.com/watch?v=xE5uPvUk3vIyoutube.com· Posted Sep 15, 2026· Starts Sep 6, 1966 ✓· 25% of score
BMW Group's[3] own Plant Berlin history page and its BMW Classic blog both state the first Berlin-built motorcycle, an R 60/2, rolled off the line on September 6, 1966.
- [2]76%BMW R60/2 - Wikipediaen.wikipedia.org· Added Sep 22, 2026· 26% of score
Wikipedia's R60/2 article describes the "600 cc boxer-twin" (R60/2 1960-1969, 30 hp), its sidecar-oriented duplex frame, Earles fork, oil-bath shaft drive, 72 x 73 mm bore/stroke, 90 mph top speed, 17 L tank and 430 lb wet weight.
- [3]80%Power to the City: The BMW Motorcycle Plant in Berlinpresstopic.bmwgroup.com· Added Sep 15, 2026· 25% of score
BMW Classic's own blog corroborates that final assembly of motorcycles moved to Berlin on 6 September 1966, with engines still supplied from Munich at that point.[1]
- [4]90%BMW Group Plant Berlin - Historybmwgroup-werke.com· Added Sep 15, 2026· Starts Sep 6, 1966· 25% of score
BMW's official Plant Berlin history timeline states: "The first BMW motorcycle built in Berlin - a BMW R 60/2 with swinging fork chassis - rolls off the newly build assembly line on September 6" (1966).[1]
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