BMW Scooters
Bavarian Motor Works, more commonly known as BMW, began life in 1913 as Rapp Motorenwerke, a plane engine maker, founded by former executives of the freshly bankrupt plane maker Flugwerk Deutschland.
It was started in the works of the Flugwerk factory, and produced engines for the German military at the start of the Great War. When Rapp was ordered by the High Command to increase the power output on its engine, it did so, but this resulted in unacceptable levels of vibration and engine failure. In addition, because the engine had to be greatly strengthened because of the increased power output, it became too heavy to be useful in the small Taub scout aircraft in which it was used. Rapp earned a bad reputation from this, and the German military would no longer order engines from the company.
Having disgraced themselves, the Bavarians at Rapp licensed a different design from Austro-Daimler, and produced that motor for the Austro-Hungarians throughout the war, with great results. It was in 1917 that Rapp finally succeeded with its own motor, developed with the influx of cash from building the Austro-Daimler design. The new motor, called the BMW-III, was the world’s first truly high altitude aircraft engine due to certain carburetion advancements by Max Fritz.
It was lightweight, smooth and powerful, everything the previous engines had not been. This was one of the premium motors of the war. The board of the company realized it had been Karl Rapp himself that had been holding the company back with poor design work. When the Prussian Army placed a large order for the BMW engine, the board sent the chairman packing and reorganized themselves as BMW in July of 1917.
In the intervening decades, BMW has gone on to become one of the world’s most respected manufacturers for its design excellence, and the scooters produced by BMW in this day and age continue that tradition. The current range of BMW scooters features two models, the C 600 Sport and the C 650 GT. Both are maxi-class scooters powered by a 650cc 60 horsepower liquid cooled twin with liquid cooling.
The C 600 Sport is a conventional design with constant velocity transmission, aluminium wheels and dual disk brakes. Fuel consumption is advertised to be 5.6 litres per 100 km at 120 km/hour cruising speed. BMW claims a top speed on this bike of 109 mph.
The C 650 GT is a more advanced frame design that sits the rider in the bike rather than perched on top, with a backrest on the seat. This scooter has advanced aerodynamics and more closed bodywork than the C 600 Sport, making it more suitable for long trips. The other critical specifications are the same, including top speed, equipment, and fuel consumption.