bmw r75 wh picture

The BMW R75 is a global Warfare II-era motorcycle and sidecar combination produced by the German company BMW.

In the 1930s BMW were producing a volume of popular and impressive motorcycles. In 1938 development of the R75 started in reaction to a need from the German Army.

Preproduction types of the R75 were run by a 750 cc side valve engine, that was based on the R71 engine. Nonetheless it was quickly found necessary to design an all-new OHV 750 cc engine for the R75 unit. This OHV engine unit later proved to be the basis for following post-war twin BMW engines like the R51/3, R67 and R68.

The 3rd side-car wheel was powered with an axle linked to the trunk wheel of the motorcycle. They were fitted with a locking differential and selectable highway and off-road products ratios by which all four and invert gears performed. This made the R75 highly manoeuvrable and with the capacity of negotiating most floors. A few other motorcycle manufactures, like FN and Norton, provided an optional drive to sidecars.

The BMW R75 and its own competitor the Z?ndapp KS 750 were both greatly utilized by the Wehrmacht in Russia and North Africa, though after a period of analysis it became clear that the Z?ndapp was the superior machine. In August 1942 Z?ndapp and BMW, on the urging of the Army, agreed after standardization of parts for both machines, with a view of eventually creating a Z?ndapp-BMW hybrid (specified the BW 43), in which a BMW 286/1 side-car would be grafted onto a Z?ndapp KS 750 motorcycle. They also agreed that the produce of the R75 would stop once production come to 20,200 units, and after that point BMW and Z?ndapp would only produce the Z?ndapp-BMW machine, making 20,000 each year.

Since the goal of 20,200 BMW R75's was not reached, it remained in production until the Eisenach factory was so terribly ruined by Allied bombing that development ceased in 1944. An additional 98 devices were put together by the Soviets in 1946 as reparations.

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