This photo was taken in the early 1960s, and shows a late 50's R69. The early "coffee can" style tail light is fitted to this bike, along with a German "Aero" aluminum windshield. The saddle bag bracket appears to be home made & quite substantial. 

A personalized 1952 R67/2 belonging to one of my web page readers in Uruguay.

A 1961 R50S has been high on my wish list for years, but the right bike just never came along until 1999. This bike is complete except for the mufflers, and is still pretty much original and unrestored. Some folks still talk about avoiding these bikes, but I think they're just repeating old rumors. I believe that these one year only bikes are highly desirable. Note the pristine valve covers, which were only used on this model.

The 1982 red R65LS was the only one to receive the white wheels (in the US anyway) - all silver LS twins and all 83-84 red twins got the natural cast aluminum wheels.

This is my recently acquired 1955 R69, which took a long time for me to find because only 304 bikes were made in 1955. I mounted the 7 gallon Hoske tank on it, which I've been saving for a special bike. To me the R69 has all the appeal of the more popular R69S, but it has additional character with its small tail light and manual spark advance system. The fact that only a little over 2,900 were made (about 1/4 the number of R69S bikes made), only adds to its appeal.

To me the first year R100RS is a beautiful machine, and the early examples are of special interest to collectors. These early bikes came with 40mm carbs and exhaust systems, along with other minor differences. In 1977 a 40mm R100RS (with available tall rear drive gears) was clocked at 137 mph.  Around February of 1977 the factory de-tuned the R100RS, and fitted it with 38mm carbs and exhaust system, along with different rear drive gears. The de-tuned R100RS has come to be known as the "CFO" bike, since these letters are actually stamped into the engine case above the serial number. For 1977 about 500 40mm bikes were produced for the USA, along with about 700 CFO versions. This is my 1977 40mm R100RS, which I found earlier this year...  and yes - I found a set of those factory tall gears too!

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The early "coffee can" tail light is not the same as the one used during the 1960's. Seen here is a comparison shot of the two lights, with the early one on the left. As you can see, the tail light body is shorter and straight rather then tapered.

The same two lights - with the early one still on the left - showing another important difference that makes these lights non-interchangeable. The early coffee can light was made to use 3 mounting screws, with the bolt pattern being the same as tail lights going back to 1950. The later coffee can light used 4 mounting screws. The fender flap construction details changed with the move to the 4 screw light, and the light location also moved higher up on the fender.

A good example of BMW evolution - here are three variations of a simple clutch throwout lever. These levers were used between 1950 and 1955 - and just on the plunger twins. The first two (left to right) are almost identical, but sharp eyed readers will notice that the center ring is threaded internally, so that the pinch bolt doesn't need a nut. The earlier ring on the left has a flat spot on each side of the pinch bolt, and takes a nut and lock washer. The throwout on the right came from a 1955 R67/3. The ring looks similar to the other two, but the lever mount point has been moved 90 degrees relative to the pinch bolt. The earlier lever was a combination stamped steel arm with a cable fitting brazed to the end, whereas the one on the right was a forging. While the forged lever  looks similar to the type used on the 1955-69 twins, it will not interchange!

This R66 has an interesting story. It was purchased new by a fellow from Pennsylvania back before the war. He rode to New York City on the back of an R12 to pick it up. During the war the rear drive went bad, and he wrote to the factory about replacement parts. After about a year (but still while the war was on) he got a letter back from the factory saying "...due to present world situation, we can not directly supply you with the parts you need. If you contact our shop in Lisbon, Portugal, and reference the enclosed order number, the parts will be available for shipment to you."! Sure enough, a few months later the parts arrived, despite WWII!  This bike changed hands in the late 1970s when the original owner died, but sadly the bike was lost a few years later in a garage fire.