BMW Museum, Pt. I

In the past few years I've tried to take a day or two after the Eurobike show to check out some great places in my favorite country to visit. Since I hadn't yet been to Munich, this year I decided to spend a day checking out the BMW Museum and the Bavarian city.

While cruising the A96 at dusk on Friday evening, I passed this mid-50s BMW 502 Cabriolet, a harbinger of good things to come the next day.

BMW's headquarters and museum (partly contained in the bowl-shaped building):

BMW Welt (BMW World), across the street.

Among other things, the sweeping BMW Welt...

...houses brand shops for Rolls Royce...

...Husqvarna...

...along with a coffee bar, restaurant, gift shop and factory delivery.

new BMWs awaiting pickup by their new owners

 spot the 560HP M5s, including a police car are ready for pick up

The MINI brand shop was still under construction. Although stuffed bulldogs were available for purchase:

Some vintage VW models were spotted as well:

And smartly-designed kid's like-a-bikes:

 Isettas by the handful:

 And this trim 120D sitting in the lobby.

It's a shame that BMW doesn't bring in the best-looking and most-practical 1-series variant to the US and A.

Since BMW has such a rich history of both two and four wheeled-vehicles, I'll focus on the motorcycles with this post. Sorry that it's not very detailed. I love BMW bikes, but took more notes on the cars. Onwards...

One of each of the current offerings out front.

I'd happily put this GS in a shipping container and send it on to California:

Lederhosen-clad youths extra.

Pops was decked out for a big day as well. Waiting outside the museum.

1923 R32:

 

R32 flat twin engine detail:

Rear brake shoe:

Impressive wall of bikes from throughout their history:

1931 R2, known for its innovative pressed-steel frame:

I really like this R 50/2 police bike from the 1960s:

 only 500ccs of displacement from the Boxer engine

1970s (I think) R 80 GS:

 

Aesthetically it's definitely one of my favorites in the collection.

1938 RS 255 race bike:

RS 255 gauge package. Yup, just a tach staring at the rider:

Side hack:

Streamliner:

Streamliner cockpit:

Streamliner helmet - more for aerodynamics than protection:

1980s Paris-Dakar GS:

Contemporary Paris-Dakar GS:

Navigation consists of a scrolling route ticker:

Mid-70s R 90 racer:

Basic gauges:

Love that orange tank:

R 90 in stock, street guise:

GS styling prototype from a few years back:

XT500 "Expresso Racer" show bike:

Now if the bugs in the Blogger site that I've been fighting get taken care of quickly, maybe I can post the cars soon. Until then, one more motorcycle, vintage marketing:

Mexico Day Trip

Some pix from a quick trip to Tecate, Baja California to wrench on some bikes at the Rancho Nazaret Hogar de Niños oprhanage.

 border crossing at Tecate

 cemetery

 the boy's bikes, ready for some repairs and tuning

 with a gadget

 I've never seen a tire so evenly and thoroughly worn out

 rollin'

 ready to rip down a hill

 Electra bikes last

 Cat

 diesel injectors

 mangy mutts

 mariposa

 discarded desks

 coop

 Jose, future mechanic

 lumber store dog

 street taco stand

 70 min border wait

ads painted on the border fence

 tamale wagon

 street vendor tries his best to peddle religious tchotchkes (we bought churros instead)

border Maria