BMW R12 and R17
The BMW R12 and R17 are flat-twin engine motorcycles made by BMW Motorrad from 1935 through 1942. They were developed in 1935 based on the R7 concept of 1934. A few hundred R17s were made, ending in 1937, while the R12 continued through 1942, with a total of 36,008 produced. R7 concept The BMW R7 was conceived in 1933 by engineer and designer Alfred Böning, with an Art Deco mathematical geometric basis of his design. Only one R7 was ever made, which Böning disassembled and stuck away with design plans in a BMW warehouse. It was discovered more than seventy years later, in 2005. Hans Keckeisen in Munich began a restoration on behalf of the BMW Museum, completed 2012. After appearing in European bike shows, restored 1934 R7 was first shown in the US at the Pebble Beach Concours d'Elegance. Böning's new hydraulic fork design of the 1934 R7 went into production the following year, in the 1934 R12 and R17. R12 and R17 On 14 February 1935, BMW presented the R12 together with the R17 on the German Automobile Exhibition in Berlin for the first time, being a direct successor to the BMW R11. This and the R17 were