BMW R75/6 in Bol D39;Or Red

The BMW R75 is a global War II-era motorcycle and sidecar blend produced by the German company BMW.

In the 1930s BMW were producing a number of popular and highly effective motorcycles. In 1938 development of the R75 started in reaction to a need from the German Army.

Preproduction models of the R75 were powered by the 750 cc area valve engine, which was based on the R71 engine. However it was quickly found necessary to design an all-new OHV 750 cc engine unit for the R75 product. This OHV engine motor later proved to be the basis for subsequent post-war twin BMW engines like the R51/3, R67 and R68.

The third side-car wheel was motivated with an axle connected to the rear wheel of the motorcycle. They were installed with a locking differential and selectable highway and off-road items ratios by which all four and reverse gears proved helpful. This made the R75 highly manoeuvrable and with the capacity of negotiating most floors. A few other motorcycle manufactures, like FN and Norton, provided an optional drive to sidecars.

The BMW R75 and its own competitor the Z?ndapp KS 750 were both broadly employed by the Wehrmacht in Russia and North Africa, though after a period of analysis it became clear that the Z?ndapp was the superior machine. In August 1942 Z?ndapp and BMW, on the urging of the Military, agreed after standardization of parts for both machines, with a view of eventually building a Z?ndapp-BMW hybrid (specified the BW 43), in which a BMW 286/1 side-car would be grafted onto a Z?ndapp KS 750 motorcycle. In addition they decided that the manufacture of the R75 would stop once production reached 20,200 models, and after that point BMW and Z?ndapp would only produce the Z?ndapp-BMW machine, making 20,000 every year.

Since the concentrate on of 20,200 BMW R75's had not been reached, it continued to be in production before Eisenach stock was so terribly destroyed by Allied bombing that creation ceased in 1944. A further 98 systems were assembled by the Soviets in 1946 as reparations.

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BMW R75/6 in Bol D39;Or Red. Photo by Bengt Axel Myhr