Saw this in a local bike repair shop. Well, one like it. The one I saw is a 1950 BMW R25 250 cc. The engine turns on an axis that is at right angles to the rotation of the wheels. It's connected to the rear end via a drive shaft. I wasn't aware that anyone used a drive shaft on bikes that early. The only BMW's I was aware of were the boxer type engine with opposed cylinders.

.

.

--
Sincerely,

Hobie

.

nm

Not exactly. The bike came with Lucas electrics. Lucas is known among gearheads as "The Prince of Darkness". If you owned a Lucas refridgerator, when you opened the door, the light blinked a few times, then went off...

JLF

Funny but there was a motorcycle that was shaft driven, liquid cooled engine and it had disc brakes, (I think front wheel only) in the early 1920's. It was called the Scott Flying Squirrel.

Like Brit bikes for handling,etc..., but when the first Modern aftermarket elec systems showed up -- off came Lucas -- and on went the New Stuff. However, i will say that you can get home with ciggie pack tinfoils, replacing blown Lucas fuses.

Would still like to see sleek stylish stripped-down modern classics, as clean as a Brit could be done with a little work. The modern stuff just is chunky, tho some trim bikes are seen -- not keeping up with it anymore - but a good proper bike still delights the .

And shaft driven bicycles even earlier.
bob

"They" say this is the "most reliable" BMW engine ever used. Or so I have read.

http://royalenfield.com/motorcycles/classic-chrome

Still a little busy, but neat classy styling.

--
https://facebook.com/M2bKydex/

Interesting. I'd never have expected a German bike to have a British electrical system. Of course, it's post war and Germany was still under reconstruction. Still, I didn't have a clue about that. Now I'm DOUBLY curious about the old thumper I saw.

They make a classic putter around here. Our shop/house sits on a corner next to a scenic river road along the Maumee -- up and down river. Some hills and curves, and antique Erie Canal Town with good cafes, at the turnaround...for a banged up gimpy sixty-seven, it would be just right!! ;~`)

You just might have started something. Your post reminded me that a few years ago I stumbled across a tiny Royal Enfield dealership in Bogotá. With that in mind after your nudge, I got to digging and it turns out that just last year one of our largest bike assemblers/distributors became the official importers for RE down here. The shop I stumbled across was pricing them high and selling few. RE's CEO in India is focusing on becoming the world leader in the midsized bike market - which is increasing down here and currently only occupied by crotch rockets in the 200-250 CC range. There are no local RE dealers yet, only the two biggest markets have them so far - Bogotá and Medellin. Still, it's early in the game and they are just coming online so we'll see how things play out. After digging around the Indian forums a bit as well as youtube, this thing looks quite interesting. It may be just the thing for tooling around the Andes, since they haul them all over the Himalayas with good results. Gonna have to do some more digging for info.

Thanks for the reminder!

They can't get the lights to burn.