Bmw To Abandon the Fork?

BMW TO ABANDON THE FORK?

HOT ON THE HEELS OF THE introduction of a radical front suspension system for its revised Boxer Twin comes news that BMW is developing a single-sided-swingarm front suspension system for its four-cylinder K-bike line. According to a BMW spokesperson, the company’s engineers have not yet solved problems associated with use of a single-sided front swingarm, and therefore are not yet ready to fit the system to the K-bike line.

Hans Sautter, a Munichbased BMW spokesperson, told Britain’s Motor Cycle News, “We have been working on a design for some time now, but no decision has been made to fit it to any bikes. We are still conducting research because we can still see problems with hub-center suspension. The unsprung weight of the front wheel is very high, and there could be problems with brake cooling.”

BMW’s new RI 100RS, which uses a redesigned opposed-Twin engine, is based around an alternative front suspension system called Telelever. Similar, at least in look, to a fork-based system, it relies on fork sliders, and on a single shock and an A-arm attached to the fork that pivots on the specially stiffened engine cases (see “Brave New Beemer,” page 36).

Sautter told Motor Cycle News that a decision by BMW to use a swingarm front suspension also could revolve around European reaction to Yamaha’s GTS 1000, the first large-bore production bike to offer a non-fork front end.

Jon F. Thompson