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At the 1923 German Motor Show in Berlin BMW shows off it's first badge-wearing motorcycle to the public for the first time.
Their first motorcycle blows the minds of the "experts" immediately, and is an instant hit with the public. A review in the magazine DER MOTORWAGEN read: "And finally, the culmination of the exhibition, the new BMW motorcycle (494cc) with the cylinders arranged transversely. Despite its youth it is a remarkably fast and successful motorcycle."
BMW had been an aircraft engine manufacturer during World War I, but was forced to diversify after the Treaty of Versailles banned the German Air Force and German aircraft manufacture. BMW initially turned to industrial engine design and manufacturing. Then in 1919, BMW designed and manufactured the flat-twin M2B15 engine for Victoria Werke AG of Nuremberg. The engine was initially intended as a portable industrial engine, but found its main use in Victoria motorcycles.
The R32 had a 494cc air-cooled horizontally opposed engine, a feature that would become their stamp and resonate among their various models for decades to come, albeit with a few displacement increases. BMW's other major innovation - a driveshaft instead of a chain to drive the rear wheel had people so excited they were unable to control their themselves.
