132 Motorcycle . Sport, April 19TI

A Illiddleweight BMW: The R60/5 on the road A N D rea ll y, wh e re el se? The m assive

re se r ves of str ength in all th e part s, th e durable fini sh , th e la ck of any troubl e ­so me ch a in ; a ll th ese cu t dow n th e tim e spent tink er in g in th e ga ra ge . It' s n o t a heav y ma chin e : nor is it l arge and unwi e ld y. It sit s qui e tl y chuffin g on th e s tand an d s h ak es ge ntl y. A nd so it doe s on th e road : it chuff s quietly alon g at no grea t p ace, and shak es ge ntl y th e whil e . :.'\either iL n or it s rid er i s r eall y in a hurr y , ye t gr ound i s covered quietly an d qui ckl y.

If you want p erfonu nnce, the R60 / 5 is n o t fo r yo u . It is po ss ibl e to wind it up to about 100 m.p .h ., but thi s requires some patien ce, and if you wi sh to out a,·ce le rate th e eage r spridg e ts from traffic li ght s yo u will have to be ve r y slick with your gear ch ang in g. There i s a fair a mount of power availabl e, but the peaky power band con sp ire s with the undi stin gui shed gearchange to foil aI!Y r ea ll y effective u se of it. You don't win at th e bottom end of the rev. range. The R60 pink s s pitefully on anything less th an the mo st hi ghl y rated 5-star p etro l if any sp ee d below 35 i s att empte d in top. Third (or sec ond ) is th e town gea r , an d a fin e wi.de ~p ee d range it ha s too. The se co mm e nt s ar~ th e re sult of co n sciou s, and deli be .-ate c_xperiment s, bu t on ce on e r e ­laxes (relap ses?) into th e BMW's rh ythm , th er e i s . a mark ed d eg r ee of flex ibilit y: perhap s th e qui et and gen tl eman ly pro­gre ss s ubcon sc iou sly gea r s down th e twit ch of the throttle wri st? It cer tainl y seem s li ke it. This BMW i s th e fir st compara ti vel y smoo th machin e that wa s in va ri ab l y tr ave lling slower th an I had th oug ht befor e ch ec king the h ea dl amp· mounted sp eedo m e ter .

Lack of , e ffec ti ve acce lera ti on (bear­ing in mind the 600 c .c.s and 40 + h.p. ) was a di sti nct d eten e nt to ove rtaking into on co ming tr affic in the dren ching du sk s of m y w ee k of road -tes ting . It wa s a que s tion of chan ge d ow n (in ago ny to t ry to avoid th e " cr un ch "), full thl' ottle, and a good littl e wait if th e ca r in front wa s doing over 60 : but oh! the softn ess o f th ose be autifully effec tiv e sil enc er s. I'd willin gly lo se 5 b.h.p. from my Ho nd a <1 for a similar soft no te fr om th ose four pipe s . I see, r eread ing th e l as t se nt erwes, that I have been rather unkind and to r edr ess th e b alan ce wi ll point out th a t a pillion pas senger mak es no vi?ible diff e ren ce to performan ce: it 's th at ge archange that kills it .

The , tr ans mi ss ion, take n as a whole , is exe mplar y. Th e final dr-ive is mu ch strong er th an that of the ear l ier R69S, and th e dt"ive lin e h as a fin e solid feel to it. Sho ck ab sorp t ion ha s n ot been n egle cted, and it s e ffec ts are occa sionally n oti cea bl e . The clu tch is r ea ll y lig ht and plea sant to u se. The dri ve i s take n up ver y sm ooth ly,

e The la tes t BMWs are very alike-apart from engine capacity and power. It may he in structive, ther efore , to read this report in conjw1etion with , that on the R75 /5 published la st month .

and the ba sic de si gn i s evidently "r i ght " . Much deve lopmelll ha s gone into th e impro ved tr an smi ssion for th e new se ri es of BMWs, and some odd diffi culti es were over come on th e way . The gea r ch ange m echani sm it self ha s a powerful indexin g plunger to " help " th e rid er , in ad diti on to more ma ssiv e and sturd y cogs. Th e ratio s a re ni cely spa ced and the gear­ch an ge i s po sitiv e . It would take a d etermin ed man ei th er to ove r ch ange or to mi ss a gea r , but I can re comme nd a good r eli gi on if qui et gea r chan gin g is required.

T he seat / footre st/ h an dl ebar positions a re b ea utifull y set out : eve r yth in g is to hand, th e kn ees fit n aturall y into th e tank rubber s, th e gea rchang e p edal is in ju st th e ri ght pla ce, and th ere i s a sli ght inclination to l ean fonvard -n ot eno ugh to mak e ' i he wrists ache at low spee d s, but e nou gh to br east an 80 m.p.h. wind in comfort. The seat it se lf is com fort­abl e, but a littl e hard. It h as a co n vex sur face that doe s n ot indent easily, so that in h eavv rain th e w at er soak s every­w here un de~n·eath th e rider' s and pa·s­seng er's garm ent s . Th e pa sse nger h as an ord inar y leath er grab- strap to han g onto, and two nea tl y chromed handl es to clutch. In fa ct th e pas senger would b e most comfortabl e as lon g as she had praeter-

,,

naturally short l e.gs. The pillion foot ­re sts are ludi cr ou sly p oo rl y placed . T h ey a re far too far forw ard, and far too hi gh. As · a re sult the p 'assenger i s bent double , cramped onto a m er e tithe of that vas t seat , and subjugated to a tap- dan ce on her to es b y the h eel s of th e driver-w ho in hi s turn b ec om es ve r y irritat ed. This BMW i s a solo , unle ss th e co upl e ha ve · a joint ly equable tempe ra ment: and s tee l­tipp ed boot s.

Here we h ave th e nub of th e m atte r: thi s is no r efine d R69 S : thi s i s a semi­tourin g, sem i- sportin g ma chin e, and th ~ co mpromi ses jump up and clamour for at ­tention af ter a day or so. Take the h and­lin g, for exam pl e . This BMW i s r ea l})'. good . The braking too - thi s machin d rea ll y s top s we ll . Th e road holdin g and th e steering are equ all y good. A fri cuori damper is fitted but is quite unn ecessary , The R60 weigh s a goo d 450 lb , but fe'els far li gh ter : it is great fun la ying ii down on a fin e lin e through some twis t­in g Hamp shire ro ad . It hold s line well , doe sn ' t lo se the ba ck end over bump s, and nothin g gr ounds b efo re th e stand s fi!lally tou ch. Changing line i s light wo rk w hi ch b eli es th e hi gh ce n tre of gravity. Th e n ew BMW telescop ic .fork s a r e rea ll y strong , and have th ~t r ~;it :5', a ton gh fork br ace to in cr ease tor sion al ri gi dity still furth er . T he sprin g rates ar e a little strong for a really co mfortabl e rid e , but they pay off in precise h andlin g. The rear suspen sion unit s h ave-sa'd ly­lo s t th eir full enclos ur e, but retain

M etorcycl e · Sport , Apr il 1971 133 ·

It is an "honest" machine hut definitely for a certain class of rider

the hand adju stment for spring preload. This small detail is worth a lot: on how many other machines do people actually change preload for pas sengers; and again when they get off? Like winkers, you never really know how you did without them before you had them. The Metzeler

tyr es were excell ent on the wet roads with which I wa s cursed, and never gave any cau se for concern . The silencers, crank ed in that di s tin ctiv e manner, are th e final payoff from the n ew and livelier image. The ground clearance i s materially in creased by this cranking of the exhau st system , and her e i s the culprit for th e cramp ed pillion rider. The footr es ts are above the rai sed section of th e silen cer s. The balance pipe between the two ex­hau st sys tem s run s acro ss the front of th e engine unit , and no doubt increases th e rigidity of the exhau st system. The engin e it se lf wa s de scrib ed in detail in th e January (1970 ) i ssue of Motorcycle Sport , where I gav e a full te chni cal d es­cripti on of the n ew R 50/ 60/ 75 range. One thing I wa s not prepared for wa s

134 Motorcycle Sport, April 1971

the chatter of tappets. Charle s Coombe assured me that all the clearance s were correct , as he had just done them before loaning me the ma chine.

You may have wondered where we could find a BMW R60 in it s natural state, out of captivity? Many of our

reader s will know that Charles Coomb e and David Dickin son both used to work for MLGs : not long ago MLG s turn ed wholly to cars, but well befor e thi s, Dickinson had set up in Tin,ern (Mon ), and Coombe in Slough in a little shop on the A4 Bath Road near the link to the M4 motorway. Specializing in BMWs, and also selling MZs in the la st few month s, hi s trade ha s built up rapidl y and con siderable numbers of BMW s have flowed through his shop to his cu stomer s fr om England, America and el sewher e. Ind eed, the flow is such that it ha s been impo ssible to hold ma chine s in sto ck, as th ey are sold as rapidly as they can be obtained. Mr. Coombe has an R60 / 5 of hi s own, and has oc casionally let it out on road test or evaluation. Thi s is

the ma ,·hine o n whi..J1 I have had the plea sur e of ridin f! for a w ee k, and we offe r him our s in ce r e thank s .

To return t o th e BMW: l soon be cam e acc u stomed to th e sound of hnlf-a-do ze n domented tri cot eu se knittin g madly ov er my to es . Th e intake s il encing is good,

and the mas sive air filter is hou se d in the hump on the engine ca ses over th e gearbox. The carburettors are 26 mm Bing s , of typi cally Mikuni / Amal ap· pearance and standard de s ign . They nr e provided with larg e float howl ti ckler s, but no choke. Thi s was a di s tinct cau se of annoyan ce. The BeeEm is a cold blooded bea st, and wake s up slowly; starting by th e electric start e r is ea sy, hut keeping tl1e fire alight long enou gh to let it tick-over and warm th e cockle s of it s heart was a distin c t bind. After a few minute s it would take some throttl e, but only when good and warm. Perhap s th e omi ss ion of a chok e i s to aid th e cau se of rebore sp ec iali st s ? All th a t ti ckl er petrol wa shing oil off the bore s · , · The aspiration through tho se Bings

is fairly e ffic ient: I nw nagc d ov er 50 m.p. g. in mix ed ridin g, and am no t fam e d for lei sur ely prn grcss. Th e fu el tank take s full ad va n tage of th e av ail abl e spa ce , and tak es a goo d five ga llon s w ith· out feeling bulk y-o r ind ee d lo okin g it The oil r es erv o ir s a re s imil arl y gener ous, and have a w elc om e fea tur e in th e u se of All en socke t h ea d ed bolt s as plug s. Allen bolt s ar e u se d fairl y wid el y on thi s ma chin e , and help to su stain the gen eral air of effec ti ve and ampl e de sign

Th e angle at whic h i t is set would en sure a sharp car twheel if it we re to di g in. Y ou hav e b ee n warned. In my turn , I was told of anoth er point to wa tch. Th e steer in g colu mn lo ck is in an awkw ard pos ition , and if the key (whi ch doe s 11ot

d oub le as an igni t ion k ey ) i s le ft in aft er th e stee ri ng has b een unlo cked , the fork le g clou ts it firml y, and bend s it or bre aks it off in the lock. Ag ain , you have been w arn ed : this would b e d oubl y fru stra t in g as the ste ering lo ck ke y a lso

tak e ca r e to pl u g i t in co rr ectly! Set tin g the timin g is a stra i ghtfor w ard tas k , and r equir es onl y the re mova l of the b ulb ou s front en gine cove r. T he ove r all acces ­sibilit y is exemp lar y . The m ass ive alumin iu m h ou sin gs for th e wi nk er s a r e quit e impre ssive, an d the wi d e sp acin g of the w in ke r bu lbs thems el ve s is a di stin ct safety fa cto r. T he onl y fa u lt th a t I en coun te red in a w eek 's ridin g was a failur e of one of the w in k er b ulb s, confirmi ng th at vibr atio n i s s till a real

R60/ 5 OPPOSITE IS THE "OFFICIAL" ROAD-TEST MACHINE: PICTURED BELOW AND ELSEWHERE IS CHARLES COOI\IBES' 600

and engine er ing to the l evel of de ta iled examination. Th e dri ver 's footr es ts ar e adju stabl e-- alwa ys a wel come fe a ture-­and ye t quit e strong enou gh to sur vive the odd clout wh e n off the ro ad . I am now abl e to under s tand how the rider s of BMW s manage to ge t throu gh the I SDT so we ll : men of iron th ey m ay be , but their ma chine s certainl y give them every a ssistan ce other tl1an a light w eight . The ground cl e ara n ce i s splendid ; as i s quit e obvi ous in the photo graph s. The s tand s ar e good and hold th e ma chine stably on m ost r easonabl y firm surfa ces. Th e prop stand ha s one in vidiou s fea tur e : it i s quit e invi sible under the left e ylinder head when th e ma chine i s r es t­ing on it, and as it hold s the BMW at only a mod es t an gl e, is easil y forgott en .

unlo ck s th e sea t for access to the too l kit in it s tray over the r ea r mud gu ard, and thu s you would be barred fr om an y attempt s to put m att ers ari ght. You would be un su ccessful anyway, as th e r emoval of such br oke n ke ys is a far fr om easy tas k.

Th e ele ctri cal equ ipm ent is ver y good on the who le : I have a per son al di slike of th e grindin g, wheez in g star te r motor , but no com pl aint s about it s effecti ven ess . T he h eadlight is a bit short on r ange, but gives a fine allround view for low er speed s when thin gs neare r at hand are of grea te st intere st . Th e ignition pack i s full y en cap sulat ed, and cont ai ns the usual tr ansistor s, etc. It al so costs over £18, and if th e rever se polari ty prot ec · tion is as poor as I h ave see n elsewh ere,

facto r as it fail ed a t a con tin u on s cr ui sin g spee d of about 6,000 r .p. m. in thi rd wb~le br castin " a wate r-b enri ng gale . The in ­di ca tor

0

sw it ch really w ork s eas il y and we ll with or w ith out h eavy glove s, an d th e h or n h as a deep an d m ell ow n ote th a t d efin itely fr ig h tene d sever al cats and dog s in m y pat h . A major ad va n ce over the h orns fitted to m any m oto rcycl es.

Th e rev -cou nt er and spe edo m ~ter n ee dle s were pr on e to viole n t osci ll a­t ion s at a m ark ed cha n ge in spee d, a~ d took th eir ti m e set tlin g dow n af ter r api d acce l er atio n. Th e r ev- m ete r i s so sma ll and b adl y pl aced that .it wa s o f li ttle valu e. I h ope thi s is corr ect ed soon , as the BMW co uld eas il y be over -r evve d b y rider s who h av e n o t yet ob tain ed an aut om ati c r ev -w atch in g r eflex . Th e BMW

Motor cycle Spo r t, April 1971 135

·'

vibrate s quite a lot, and my passenger was in no doubt of thi s! It remain s a low-frequency shake, however, and never rea ches the spine-tingling pit ch too often cur sed in other machines.

Strangely, the vibration from an R69 / S that I compared with the R60/ 5 was les s . The older machine had more guts, r evved more easily, and had di s­tin ctly more torque than the R60/ 5: the brake s were not as good , howev er.

The de sign of the new BMW brake s depart s only a littl e from the old er model s'. The self-adju sting system of cab le to one brake arm and leading to the other work s as well as ever, and a new lining material certainly provide s a good con sistent " bite " . Th e self- servo action i s at an effective compromi se, and gives a nice feel lo the action. Stopping the BMW was never a problem. Starting it was, however. The classic BMW pegged key was a real brut e to get into the socket, and I now have si..x or seven blood blisters on my hands fr om it: perhaps furth er comment would be unwi se.

An odd ob servation: the twin flat cylind ers ke ep one' s feet warm, but not dry : the high placing of the cylin ders con spir es to convert the lighte st rain into a seri es of thin stream s of water from the fins . The fins themselve s slow down the air flow, so one gains no real benefit from travelling faster. I got very wet thou gh my boot s, whi ch have proved more than adequate in other cir cum-stance s . .

The BMW is really designed to la st, and th e mas sive solidity of all abou t it is ver y appealing. I am really puzzled as to how to give it an overall rating. It is a solid produ ct but the mon ey for it seem s overmu ch : but compare it with the - Guzzi V7, · whi ch is far more im ­pre ssive (but ha s poor performance)­and it looks abou t ri ght once more . Per­forman ce is limit ed , but 80 m.p.h. crui sin g is po ssibl e for very long di s­tan ces without fatigue.

It is "light" , and cer tainly handle s well, but. seems to . hav e sold its superb touring heritage for a cramped red esign of sport­ing pretensions . To be hone st, I don't really know what to make of it. I wonld not re commend performance oriented ~ider s to get it , even though the top speed 1s th ere and usable: subjectively it just do esn't deliver . For tourists: yes, but ke ep away from 3-star or lower petrol , or you will have even less tractability without pinking . At la st a pi ctur e em erg~s : a cou ntr y with good petro l, long di stance s, and solo rider s with a lot of money. Am eri ca again.

And in Europe, Fran ce. And so it hath come to pass , that th ere they have sold a multitude.

I am grateful for having had the chan ce to assess the BMW on its home ground : road s and by ways in mixed weather s. It i s supremely pra cti cal , and that new sporting handling is a delight. I give no judg ement: it is an hone st ma chine , but definite ly for a cectain cla ss of rider. Can one say mor e?

. M. R.W.

136 Mo,torcycle Sport, April 1971

NEW MACHINES F'OR 1971 EARLY DELIVERY

OR FROM STOCK

MODELS R75/5 R60/5 RS0/5

FU.LL RANGE ~OF SPARES AND ACCESSORIES

CHAS. COOMBE The BMW Speda/;sts & 80 Bath Road, · Slough, Bucks.

Tel.: 22354

Depend on Duckhams

Brian Kend.:ill World Record Hold er Br ya n Moo rcroft 1970 BTRDA Aut ocross Champ ion

The Oil that likes to be driven hard

DUCK HAMS O IL SUMM IT HOU SE WEST WICKHAM K EN T BR4 OS.J

:l lo wrcycle Sp ort . A f1ril 197 l 13 7