Born-Again Boxer
BORN-AGAIN BOXER
NEW FOR'93?
SINCE BMW'S PLANS TO REVAMP its trademark flat-Twin Boxer were aired last year (see Roundup, July, 1989, and September, 1991), BMW management has taken pains to downplay any such intention, coyly admitting only that experiments into a possible overhead-cam, liquid-cooled Boxer replacement were underway. Now, however, proof has come that the so-called experiments actually are very far advanced. This proof exists in the form of photos, published in Germany's Das Motorrad magazine. Taken by a reader on the South Africa-Namibia border, these photos show a prototype flat-Twin BMW bearing a Munich-registered license plate. If this is the prototype Boxer it seems to be, and if development of the machine is as far-advanced as the photos indicate, the bike's launch at the 1992 Cologne Show seems certain.
ghi~ photos show only the rear of the bike, certain assumptions about the new Beemer still can be made. Its engine evidently is oil-cooled, since the vestigial fin ning is not deep enough for an aircooled design. Neither is the cylinder jacketing substantial enough for a liquid-cooled motor. An oil-cooled, or a combined, airand - oil-cooled, engine therefore seems most likely. Also visible in the photos are heads
with single, central sparkplugs. These heads appear to be of the four-valve variety, with dual-overhead camshafts. probably chain-driven. Bosch fuel injection is employed, and displacement of the engine likely is somewhere between 800 and 1 lOOcc. The chunky silencer of the 2-into-l exhaust system almost certainly has a catalytic converter incorporated in its construction.
Seen from behind, the Boxer has distinctive styling, with a one-piece tank cover/seat section. The bike captured on him is a two-seater, though a single-seat RS version may also be under development—possibly with the factory-commissioned Nicco Bakker chassis seen in German Battle
of the Twins events last year under the colors of Munich BMW dealer Hand rich & Mayer (see Roundup, January', 1991). Of course, shaft final drive is retained, with a singlesided swingarm and Paralever linkage, but with the single shock located not at the side, as on current Beemers, but centrally, in front of the rear wheel. A White Power upside-down fork appears to be fitted up front.
The new' Boxer doubtless will evolve considerably from this early prototype before its launch next year. Nevertheless, what for a while has been speculation is now verified: BMW is well on the wiiy to an all-new Boxer-Twin. —Alan Cathcart
