Euro-News: Diesels And Better Beemers

Euro-news: Diesels and Better Beemers

WHAT HAS TWO CYLINDERS. two cams, eight valves and looks like a liquid-cooled BMW Boxer motor? Easy: the new, long-awaited, BMW Boxer motor. Tentatively scheduled to debut on the European show circuit this fall, the new opposed-Twin will be an overhead-cam design with four

valves per cylinder and chain drive to the cams. It almost certainly will be launched in both fuel-injected and carburated forms. And if this development of the venerable BMW engine is interesting, equally interesting is news of a competition prototype to carry the motor, a prototype underdevelopment by BMW’s Special Projects division, which earlier this year commissioned a special chassis from Dutch custom frame manufacturer Nico Bakker. This features a hub-center front-end with White Power suspension front and rear and an aluminum chassis.

The Bakker-BMW may end up being built and sold in street form, though there are those who say that BMW's purpose in developing this bike is only to ensure the debut of the new street Boxer isn’t overshadowed this fall by the launch at the Cologne Show of the Bimota

Tesi ID, and that beyond this maneuver of timing and presslaunchery. BMW has no serious long-term plans for it. Time will tell.

Meanwhile, in another European country, a less-eagerly awaited motorcycle is being built. A production line in northeast France has spewed forth a total of 32 “Boccardos” so far. Fifteen of these are powered by four-cylinder Peugeot diesel engines, which deliver exceptional fuel economy without too adverse an effect on performance. The Boccardo Aero 97, as the machine is known, currently is available in three versions: diesel, or with a 1 300cc, four-cylinder Peugeot/Citroen gas engine, in either 85-horsepower or 100-horsepower forms.

Unlike many other previous carengined bikes, the Aero 97 doesn't look incongruous, in spite of the unusual lengthways installation of the belt-drive sohc motor. This is relatively compact for a car engine, and lends itself very well to twowheeled use; it’s also very light, thanks to its all-alloy construction. The engine is mated to an Innocenti gearbox as supplied to Moto Guzzi, with shaft final drive, while the chassis and all the bodywork are made in house by Boccardo’s six employees, using the latest plastic injection molding techniques. Though on a smaller scale than originally conceived, the Boccardo project is a serious one which is now off and running, with a network of 24 dealers set up in France, plus exportation beginning soon to Germany, Belgium and Luxembourg. Development continues on the diesel version, which, in credibly, is attracting more sales than expected.

—Alan Cart heart