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BMW motorcycles have continually evolved from the R32 offered to the public over 80 years ago. But that is only part of the story. In reality, Bayerische Motoren-Werke (Bavarian Motor Works) or BMW began by building engines for German aircraft during World War I. After the war, they were prevented from building aircraft engines and began producing engines for trucks, boats and motorcycle manufacturers.
In 1921-1922 BMW produced a 500cc flat-twin engine known as the M2 B15. The pistons worked in opposition to each other resembling a boxer, hence, the engine became known as the Boxer. The engine was placed with the cylinders in line with the frame of the motorcycle. This had some problems, notably an inability to uniformly cool each cylinder.
By 1923, BMW had decided to start building their own motorcycles and enlisted Max Friz to design a new integrated motorcycle. Friz in designing the first BMW, the R32, rotated the previous flat-twin engine 90 degrees to place both cylinder heads directly in the airstream for improved cooling. This bike used a 3-speed transmission and clutch and employed a shaft drive. It was adorned with a BMW logo, a circle with blue and white quadrants symbolizing a spinning propeller. The "R" in R32 and a whole succession of R-bikes is short for the German word Rad that means cycle.
This same basic engine design continued to be refined by BMW until 1983, a period of over 50 years. In 1983, BMW saw that the future of motorcycles would include water-cooled engines and BMW introduced a new series starting with the K100 model. This was a four-cylinder water-cooled engine that was inclined 90 degrees to the left. It looked like a small car engine on its side. An immediate dichotomy of BMW owners was created. Owners of the air-cooled R-bikes could see that the future might only have K-bikes in it. In 1985 BMW introduced the 3-cylinder K75 bike. The water-cooled, fuel-injected K-bikes then started receiving many innovations such as the first motorcycle Anti-lock Braking System (ABS) on the K100 in 1987.
BMW began to realize that the owners of the R-bikes didn't want to see the technology that had served BMW for 60 years thrown away in favor of the new K-bike technology. Therefore, in 1993, BMW reworked the flat-twin technology to provide fuel injection, oil cooling and ABS brakes together with a modern look and suspension for the Boxer. The R1100RS, R1100RT and other models emerged. Finally, in 1995, BMW discontinued the old style boxers that were air-cooled - "air heads".
In 1997, BMW introduced the F650 motorcycle into the USA market after several years in other countries. The F650 was different from anything BMW had produced. The 652cc single cylinder, water-cooled, chain-driven bike was made under BMW control by Rotax in Austria and assembled under BMW control by Aprilia in Italy. The F stood for Funduro indicating its enduro capabilities. Also in 1997, BMW introduced an enhanced series of K-bikes beginning with the K1200RS and later with the K1100RS and K1100RT models. In 1998, BMW introduced the futuristic K1200LT. The K1200LT has since become the world's premium touring motorcycle.
Currently, BMW sells both R-bikes, K-bikes and the F650 series. BMW is also a motorcycle survivor having successfully sold motorcycles for over 80 years.
Most non-motorcyclists do not know that BMW makes motorcycles, since BMW has become known for their luxury autos. Also motorcycles are Beemers and the cars are Bimmers.