File:BMW R75 116 Pz Div JPG3.jpg Wikimedia Commons

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

Inside the 1930s BMW were creating a volume of popular and impressive motorcycles. In 1938 development of the R75 started in response to a need from the German Army.

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

The 3rd side-car wheel was motivated with an axle connected to the trunk wheel of the motorcycle. We were holding fixed with a locking differential and selectable highway and off-road gear ratios through which all four and invert gears worked. This made the R75 highly manoeuvrable and capable of negotiating most floors. Additional motorcycle manufactures, like FN and Norton, provided an optional drive to sidecars.

The BMW R75 and its rival the Z?ndapp KS 750 were both widely used 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 creating a Z?ndapp-BMW hybrid (selected the BW 43), when a BMW 286/1 side-car would be grafted onto a Z?ndapp KS 750 motorcycle. In addition they arranged that the manufacture of the R75 would cease once production come to 20,200 systems, and from then on point BMW and Z?ndapp would only produce the Z?ndapp-BMW machine, developing 20,000 each year.

Since the goal of 20,200 BMW R75's had not been reached, it remained in production until the Eisenach manufacturer was so terribly ruined by Allied bombing that development ceased in 1944. An additional 98 units were set up by the Soviets in 1946 as reparations.

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