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Motorcycles

2,000cc BMW boxer perfects motorcycling's Golden Ratio

By Mike Hanlon
May 27, 2024
2,000cc BMW boxer perfects motorcycling's Golden Ratio
BMW's R20 Concept is a visual feast for BMW aficionados, capturing the lines and visual cues of seemingly every boxer twin of the last century. It is a magnificent 100th anniversary model in the making.
BMW's R20 Concept is a visual feast for BMW aficionados, capturing the lines and visual cues of seemingly every boxer twin of the last century. It is a magnificent 100th anniversary model in the making.
View 18 Images
BMW's R20 Concept is a visual feast for BMW aficionados, capturing the lines and visual cues of seemingly every boxer twin of the last century. It is a magnificent 100th anniversary model in the making.
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BMW's R20 Concept is a visual feast for BMW aficionados, capturing the lines and visual cues of seemingly every boxer twin of the last century. It is a magnificent 100th anniversary model in the making.
As postulated by Luca Pacioli's Divina proportione, certain ratios consistently appear in geometry, art, and architecture. After 100 years of refinement, BMW might just have found motorcycling's "Golden Ratio"
2/18
As postulated by Luca Pacioli's Divina proportione, certain ratios consistently appear in geometry, art, and architecture. After 100 years of refinement, BMW might just have found motorcycling's "Golden Ratio"
BMW's R20 Concept is a visual feast for BMW aficionados, capturing the lines and visual cues of seemingly every boxer twin of the last century. It is a magnificent 100th anniversary model in the making.
3/18
BMW's R20 Concept is a visual feast for BMW aficionados, capturing the lines and visual cues of seemingly every boxer twin of the last century. It is a magnificent 100th anniversary model in the making.
BMW's R20 Concept is a visual feast for BMW aficionados, capturing the lines and visual cues of seemingly every boxer twin of the last century. It is a magnificent 100th anniversary model in the making.
4/18
BMW's R20 Concept is a visual feast for BMW aficionados, capturing the lines and visual cues of seemingly every boxer twin of the last century. It is a magnificent 100th anniversary model in the making.
BMW's R20 Concept is a visual feast for BMW aficionados, capturing the lines and visual cues of seemingly every boxer twin of the last century. It is a magnificent 100th anniversary model in the making.
5/18
BMW's R20 Concept is a visual feast for BMW aficionados, capturing the lines and visual cues of seemingly every boxer twin of the last century. It is a magnificent 100th anniversary model in the making.
BMW's R20 Concept is a visual feast for BMW aficionados, capturing the lines and visual cues of seemingly every boxer twin of the last century. It is a magnificent 100th anniversary model in the making.
6/18
BMW's R20 Concept is a visual feast for BMW aficionados, capturing the lines and visual cues of seemingly every boxer twin of the last century. It is a magnificent 100th anniversary model in the making.
BMW's R20 Concept is a visual feast for BMW aficionados, capturing the lines and visual cues of seemingly every boxer twin of the last century. It is a magnificent 100th anniversary model in the making.
7/18
BMW's R20 Concept is a visual feast for BMW aficionados, capturing the lines and visual cues of seemingly every boxer twin of the last century. It is a magnificent 100th anniversary model in the making.
BMW's R20 Concept is a visual feast for BMW aficionados, capturing the lines and visual cues of seemingly every boxer twin of the last century. It is a magnificent 100th anniversary model in the making.
8/18
BMW's R20 Concept is a visual feast for BMW aficionados, capturing the lines and visual cues of seemingly every boxer twin of the last century. It is a magnificent 100th anniversary model in the making.
BMW's R20 Concept is a visual feast for BMW aficionados, capturing the lines and visual cues of seemingly every boxer twin of the last century. It is a magnificent 100th anniversary model in the making.
9/18
BMW's R20 Concept is a visual feast for BMW aficionados, capturing the lines and visual cues of seemingly every boxer twin of the last century. It is a magnificent 100th anniversary model in the making.
BMW's R20 Concept is a visual feast for BMW aficionados, capturing the lines and visual cues of seemingly every boxer twin of the last century. It is a magnificent 100th anniversary model in the making.
10/18
BMW's R20 Concept is a visual feast for BMW aficionados, capturing the lines and visual cues of seemingly every boxer twin of the last century. It is a magnificent 100th anniversary model in the making.
BMW's R20 Concept is a visual feast for BMW aficionados, capturing the lines and visual cues of seemingly every boxer twin of the last century. It is a magnificent 100th anniversary model in the making.
11/18
BMW's R20 Concept is a visual feast for BMW aficionados, capturing the lines and visual cues of seemingly every boxer twin of the last century. It is a magnificent 100th anniversary model in the making.
BMW has an historic model overview which can be sorted by models. We clipped together this image from that source, and it shows the most important boxer twins from BMW in the last 100 years. The family resemblance is striking for obvious reasons, but compare the profiles of these historical artifacts and you will see many of the classic lines incorporated into the R20.
12/18
BMW has an historic model overview which can be sorted by models. We clipped together this image from that source, and it shows the most important boxer twins from BMW in the last 100 years. The family resemblance is striking for obvious reasons, but compare the profiles of these historical artifacts and you will see many of the classic lines incorporated into the R20.
BMW has an historic model overview which can be sorted by models. We clipped together this image from that source, and it shows the most important boxer twins from BMW in the last 100 years. The family resemblance is striking for obvious reasons, but compare the profiles of these historical artifacts and you will see many of the classic lines incorporated into the R20.
13/18
BMW has an historic model overview which can be sorted by models. We clipped together this image from that source, and it shows the most important boxer twins from BMW in the last 100 years. The family resemblance is striking for obvious reasons, but compare the profiles of these historical artifacts and you will see many of the classic lines incorporated into the R20.
R32
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R32
Production of the 500cc R32 began in 1923. A top speed of less than 100 km/h might seem docile these days, but at the time, it was a genuine speedster and established a sporting reputation for the fledgling BMW marque
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Production of the 500cc R32 began in 1923. A top speed of less than 100 km/h might seem docile these days, but at the time, it was a genuine speedster and established a sporting reputation for the fledgling BMW marque
The beginning of a dynasty. BMW's R32 of 1923
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The beginning of a dynasty. BMW's R32 of 1923
R32
17/18
BMW's first motorcycle under its own name was the R32 that began production in 1923. BMW had previously manufactured a 500cc opposed-twin that was used by several motorcycle manufacturers, but the R32 was the first BMW-badged BMW.
BMW's R20 Concept is a visual feast for BMW aficionados, capturing the lines and visual cues of seemingly every boxer twin of the last century. It is a magnificent 100th anniversary model in the making.
18/18
BMW's R20 Concept is a visual feast for BMW aficionados, capturing the lines and visual cues of seemingly every boxer twin of the last century. It is a magnificent 100th anniversary model in the making.
View gallery - 18 images

Concorso d’Elegenza Villa d’Este has become such an annual treasure trove of automotive delights that the headline acts can overshadow some important debuts. This is one of them.

As it does regularly at Concorso d’Elegenza Villa d’Este, BMW Motorrad showed a concept, though this year it was the only internal-combustion-engined motorcycle in the entire event, and it was presented to a cultured, monied, automotive-focussed audience alongside the 20th BMW Art Car and a stylish V8 Sports Car concept.

Hence, when it was mentioned in very few despatches, no one should have been surprised … except for motorcycle enthusiasts who immediately recognized that one of the most iconic motorcycle designs in history had just had a major revision – an update that visually distills 100 years of continuous refinement of BMW’s signature horizontally-opposed engine into a truly exquisite form.

BMW's R20 Concept is a visual feast for BMW aficionados, capturing the lines and visual cues of seemingly every boxer twin of the last century. It is a magnificent 100th anniversary model in the making.
BMW's R20 Concept is a visual feast for BMW aficionados, capturing the lines and visual cues of seemingly every boxer twin of the last century. It is a magnificent 100th anniversary model in the making.

Motorcycle marques that have endured 100 years of commercial warfare are few: Royal Enfield (founded 1893), Peugeot (1898), Norton (1898), Indian (1901), Triumph (1902), Harley Davidson (1903) and Husqvarna (1903) were joined by Moto Guzzi in 2021, BMW Motorrad in 2023, and Ducati will join this exclusive club of century-long survivors in 2026.

R32
BMW's first motorcycle under its own name was the R32 that began production in 1923. BMW had previously manufactured a 500cc opposed-twin that was used by several motorcycle manufacturers, but the R32 was the first BMW-badged BMW.

BMW’s very first motorcycle saw production as the R32 in 1923, and you can see the family resemblance even now.

As postulated by Luca Pacioli's Divina proportione, certain ratios consistently appear in geometry, art, and architecture. After 100 years of refinement, BMW might just have found motorcycling's "Golden Ratio"
As postulated by Luca Pacioli's Divina proportione, certain ratios consistently appear in geometry, art, and architecture. After 100 years of refinement, BMW might just have found motorcycling's "Golden Ratio"

The bike gave the fledgling BMW motorcycle brand a perfectly balanced horizontally opposed engine platform that has been the signature configuration of the brand for 100 years.

BMW has an historic model overview which can be sorted by models. We clipped together this image from that source, and it shows the most important boxer twins from BMW in the last 100 years. The family resemblance is striking for obvious reasons, but compare the profiles of these historical artifacts and you will see many of the classic lines incorporated into the R20.
BMW has an historic model overview which can be sorted by models. We clipped together this image from that source, and it shows the most important boxer twins from BMW in the last 100 years. The family resemblance is striking for obvious reasons, but compare the profiles of these historical artifacts and you will see many of the classic lines incorporated into the R20.

There are detail photos in the image gallery, but at this point in time, very little solid information has been revealed, because it's notionally a concept bike.

The thought of how sweet this bike is likely to be, and how sought-after a limited-production model to commemorate the 100-year-lineage would be ... and given just how good the R20 looks, BMW Motorrad must have production in mind.

Let's hope so!

Source: BMW

View gallery - 18 images
Motorcycles
2 comments
Mike Hanlon
Mike Hanlon
As a photojournalist, Mike’s work has been published in a dozen languages across 20+ countries. He has edited or managed over 75 different print publications, each with a different target audience: sports, automotive, advertising, marketing, design, ad infinitum. Mike has been working in the internet for more than 25 years and was the veteran of five internet start-ups before founding New Atlas in 2002.

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2 comments
paleochocolate
That is one fat engine.
Luc
Arguably flawed boxer engine concept nevertheless exquisitely executed by the BMW team as concept only, because these velocity stacks will readily suck in any sand and gravel that the huge unfendered rear tire will sling forward, maybe even jam open the throttle for extra excitement. A V twin like a Guzzi offers better vibration control, a stronger, lighter crank and less cylinders sticking out. Please no flopping in the wind loose shoestrings, lest they are caught in the naked spinning drive shaft. At least you can see if your drive shaft is about to fail.