BMW Celebrates this Year Two Milestones
This year, BMW is celebrating both 90 years of motorcycle production and the 40th birthday of the BMW R90S, so the company, in a double celebration, has built the BMW Concept Ninety, an homage to the original classic. It was a collaborative effort with input from US custom bike building company, Roland Sands Design, and was presented recently at the Concorse d'Eleganze Villa d'Este, at Lake Como in Italy.The BMW R90S, which debuted in 1973, had a top speed of just over 200km/h, making it, for its time, one of the quickest motorcycles to feature a front fairing as standard.
The BMW Concept Ninety takes te spirit of the original and implants it into a contemporary form. The fairing, tank, seat and tail shapes mimic those of the earlier motorcycle, while the aerodynamic bodywork is visually separated from the engine and chassis.
Aluminum is used for the bodywork, and the orange detailing harks back to the Daytona Orange paintwork of the BMW R90S.
LED elements light up the face of the BMW Concept Ninety but are incorporated in a traditional round-headlamp design. The fuel tank and seat merge cleanly, and an ascending line from the handlebars to the tail lends the motorcycle a dynamic wedge shape.
Powering the BMW Concept Ninety is an air-cooled, horizontally opposed, flat-twin engine, finished in black and purposely visible. The Roland Sands Design team designed and manufactured the front cover of the engine and the valve covers, along with the exhaust system, rims, brake and clutch controls, the Paralever arm and the air filter under the seat.
Edgar Heinrich, Head of BMW Motorrad Design, commented, 'It's an absolute riding machine – Just like the R90S was in its time.'Tag: BMW Roland Sands R90S Concept Ninety Classic Retro Boxer-Twin Edgar Heinrich
