1965 BMW 247cc R27 'German Red Cross' Motorcycle

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 In mid-1950 the R24 was superseded by the R25, which featured plunger rear suspension but was otherwise very similar.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.

Finished in the distinctive livery of the Deutsches Rotes Kreuse (German Red Cross), this R27 is offered with a German Fahrzeugbrief (registration document) and other German paperwork. The engine turns over.
Offered with key