BMW R 42

The BMW R 42 was the second touring motorcycle of the German maker BMW, presented in Berlin on 26 November 1925 as the successor to the R 32. It carried on the building-block principle of the company's early range, with frame, gearbox and base engine largely shared with the sporting R 37 and the difference between touring and sporting models made by side-valve or overhead-valve cylinders. Its longitudinally mounted boxer twin had side valves and cast-iron cylinders with removable light-alloy heads, and a shaft ran to the rear wheel. It was priced 700 Reichsmark below the R 32: production ended in 1928 after more than 6500 had been built, and the R 52 followed it.