BMW R12 and R17

The BMW R12 and R17 were flat-twin motorcycles made by BMW Motorrad from 1935 through 1942, developed from the R7 concept of 1934 and presented together on 14 February 1935 at the German Automobile Exhibition in Berlin as direct successors to the R11. They were the first motorcycles in the world produced with hydraulically damped telescopic forks, a design that came from Alfred Böning's one-off R7. The engine was a twin-cylinder four-stroke flathead boxer with a four-speed gearbox operated by a hand lever on the right of the tank, shaft final drive and drum brakes, on a rigid frame with a sprung seat, and many R12s carried a sidecar. A few hundred R17s were made, ending in 1937, while the R12 continued through 1942 with a total of 36,008 produced; a single-carburettor version for military use was available only for the R12.