BMW R42 1926

BMW R42 - this model was manufactured from 1926 to 1928. Its boxer-twin engine was based on earlier R32 design.

12 HP, 494 cc four-stroke two cylinder flat twin engine, 3 gears, Bosch magneto ignition. Fuel consumption was approximately 3 litres per 100 km, and top speed - 95 kph (59 mph). 6502 units were built from 1926 to 1928 and sold at the price of 1510 RM. Photo from 1928 courtesy by Autogallery

„Following the collapse of its aero engine business after WWI, BMW turned to other areas of manufacture, motorcycles among them. Its first two models, marketed as the Frink and Helios respectively, were failures but a successful proprietary engine was supplied to other manufacturers. Launched in 1923, the first motorcycle to be sold as a BMW - the R32 - featured a 494cc, twin-cylinder, sidevalve engine having horizontally opposed cylinders, and this 'flat twin' layout would forever be associated with the marque. Setting a pattern that endures to this day, the first BMW motorcycle was relatively expensive but superbly engineered and constructed, while the quality of finish was of the highest order. Before long BMW updated its original tourer, which in 1926 became the R42, gaining a redesigned and more powerful engine boasting detachable alloy cylinder heads and cooling fins set at 90 degrees to the cylinder axis. The engine was set further back in the duplex loop frame, which improved weight distribution and enabled straight front down-tubes to be used. The braking too came in for attention: the old block-and-pulley type rear brake being replaced by a drum on the drive-shaft gripped by external contracting bands. Electric lighting was still regarded as an 'extra' and would not be standardised until 1928. R42 production lasted for just two years and today this rare BMW is among the marque's most desirable and sought after machines of the Vintage period.” (from bonhams.com)