1941 BMW R12 RESTORATION
email address (beemererik@bellsouth.net)
June
2002
My name is Erik Bahl and
I have been a vintage BMW enthusiast for 15 years. My first bike was a 1964
R50/2, which I rode around for several years. I knew little about it except it
was a reliable ride, which took me on many adventures. After a handful of pre
70’s BMW’s I decided it was time to get and restore an antique BMW. So the
story begins…….
Here is a photo of me with my dream bike. A
1923 R32 (BMW’s first production motorcycle) that Vech and his wife Elaine were
so gracious to allow me to palm. Maybe one day…
The bike I acquired is a 1941 BMW R12 that
was born on the 6th of March 1941. It was delivered to the
"Heereszeugamt Munchen" which purchased materials for the military
authorities. According to the BMW historical archives it started out its life gray
in color. The engine, frame, and ID tag are matching (#32076). The engine is
free and has compression. The transmission cycles through all four gears. It
came out of a barn in Germany a few years back. I believe the last time it was
on the road it called France its home, as both tires are quite old and of
French manufacture.
The bike appears to be
complete and original with the following exceptions. The headlight and top
triple tree plate that the handlebars attach to apparently found themselves
donors to other bikes. Also the front lower motor mount bolt that passes
through the frame and engine block was gone (I found out from Vech that a front
sidecar motor mount bolt for a R69S is the same). The rear taillight and license
plate holder is not correct and appears to be Triumph. Does anyone have a clue
what bike it is for? Thanks to Richard Scheckler, he said that the tail lamp
is from a TWN (Triumph Werke Nuernburg) of what year I do not know yet. If
anyone can specify the particular bike I would like to know. I would be
interested in trading it for parts I need.
I have a repop headlight and taillight assy.
The interesting thing I can not figure out at this time is there do not appear
to be original holes for the stock clamshell license plate. The clamshell
taillight would sit higher up on the fender with hole spacing wider than the
Triumph. I can find no signs they ever existed. It is possible that they were
filled in when the bike was repainted? We will see when the sheet metal is
stripped down.
At first I thought the paint might be
original as the bike did not appear to have been disassembled and I could not
see any other colors underneath small scrapes. Of course this was prior to my
contact with BMW. From several people I have talked with, BMW only produced
military bikes this year and they all came out of the factory painted gray.
This bike is military which is evident from the front fender, footpegs, and
rear steel footplates.
I was sent a CD containing many original
manuals in a jpeg format from Martin Mikula in Slovakia (Thanks Martin). I
printed them out and have been studying and translating as they are in German
for the most part. I am in the information gathering stage. I plan to study
parts breakdowns and any other info I can locate before I start to disassemble
and restore the bike. If anyone has breakdowns for the Bosch magneto I can use
them.
As I said previously I am
looking for a correct top plate for the triple tree. The one that came with the
bike is not correct (It is for a civilian R12). Apparently two were available
for the R12. I have the earlier version, which is wrong for my bike. The top
holes are .945" diameter and have four sets of nipples around each hole.
The center hole is 1.4" in diameter. The photo below shows the one I have.
The photos below show the one I need. I have
taken a picture of the top and bottom. The outer holes that fit over the fork
tubes are ~1.3" in diameter and have a slight cone shaped taper. The
center mounting hole is ~1.26" in diameter.
I will trade the one I have for the one I
need or buy one outright. So contact me if you have one! The R12 frame does not
have a hole for the steering lock so I could use a triple tree plate that is
missing the steering lock holder that you see on the upper left. I will take
either. (Found the correct plate in Europe)
As this page progresses over time I plan to
document the restoration of the bike with all of its glory.
12 March 2004 - Update on the top yoke plate
- I now have the correct one. I bought an entire yoke assembly out of Germany.
ITEMS WANTED!
- Original tool kit
- M2B15 BMW Engine, like the one used in a Victoria Motorcycle
- Any other interesting pre-war BMW motorcycles, parts.
If you have any of
the above items please contact me with price and condition.
5 March 2004 - I am now in the reassembly
process. Things are cleaned and repainted. In order to remember what I started
with I had to look through some past photos. Here are a couple shots right off of
the truck. The photos above were after an initial degreasing and washing. This
is what I really started with.
