1961 BMW 247cc R27

Please kindly note that this motorbike will be available for viewing by prior appointment in Dortmund: please contact [email protected] for booking.

BMW's first new post-WWII model was a 'single', the 247cc R24, which arrived in 1948 looking pretty much like the pre-war R23 but producing an additional 2 horsepower. In mid-1950 the R24 was superseded by the R25, which featured plunger rear suspension but was otherwise very similar. An improved R25/2 version was introduced during 1951 incorporating a stronger crankshaft and minor revisions to the front mudguard stays and seat springing. By 1956 BMW's 'one-lunger' had evolved into the R26. In what would turn out to be its penultimate form, BMW's quarter-litre luxury lightweight boasted a more powerful engine than its R25 predecessor; an Earles-type leading-link front fork; and a larger fuel tank among numerous improvements. The range's final development - the R27 - arrived in 1960 substantially unchanged but for the adoption of a rubber-mounted engine. Built to the same exemplary standards as the Bavarian company's famous horizontally-opposed twins, the traditional BMW single was much missed after its demise in 1966.

This R27 is offered with an original instruction manual; German Kraftfahrzeugbrief (registration document); and sundry invoices and other German paperwork. The engine turns over. Offered with a headlamp key.