1958 BMW R-Series

368040

I am selling my BMW R26. This is a very rare bike only produced from 1955-1959. BMW did things differently from other manufacturers. This is evident in the R26. Its enclosed shaft final drive is rare for a single cylinder motorcycle. But it also had a triangulated Earles front fork (named after English designer Ernest Earles); so the motorcycle had a front swingarm as well as a rear swingarm. When you squeezed the front brake lever hard not only did the front end not dive, it actually rose slightly. Thus, braking was a very steady activity. I bought this bike from a collector who never rode it in the 5 years he owned it. He had it displayed on a viewing stand. He bought it because of the original condition. (as you can see in the pictures). From my understanding it has never been restored, but it is an old bike and i am sure there must have been normal repair and maintence over the years to keep it in such excelent condition. I filled with gas, added oil, cleaned the carb and fired it up. The bike allways starts up right on the first kick even after storeing it all winter long.( with last years gas) thats German engenering. It does not leak oil. I have never seen one in better natural condition than this one. i am sure there BMW experts out there who will disigree with me, but this is my opinion. for example the rear view mirror is not orrigional. In 1958 the R26's did not come with one. but it is the law to have a mirror, so it has one. I only rode it on Sundays twice a month. I stored in a heated garage. I rode only in summer on sunny days. I hate to give it up. The total miles on the speedomitor no longer works. The speedomitor needle works (MPH) and trip milage works. I added a fule filter. I also added a quick charge adapter to batteryOn Jun-03-11 at 19:11:55 PDT, seller added the following information: >>>>>> This is a numbers matching origional !!! <<<<<<<<