for Paul:

back then, you mentioned that you weren’t aware of the significance of each model. i hope to clear some of that up for you in the following lines.

writing down a couple of notes to help fill in some blanks, lot’s of memories about each adventure in design, have popped up. it’s been fun recollecting.

• chronologically, the first of the bikes i worked on that are in your picture was the R 1200 C. it was meant to compete in the cruiser market by not simply cloning Harley-Davidson. for a german manufacturer, it was very satisfying that this innovative and proudly traditional company turned to realise how important pleasing aesthetics are in inspiring riders (1998).

• the guggenheim museum seemed to think that we did a good job, including the bike in their “the art of the motorcycle” exhibition (top 100 most beautiful motorcycles of the century, artistically speaking). the show premiered in new york, going on to bilbao, spain, and eventually to las vegas. the bmw motorcycle riders; jeremy irons, dennis hopper, laurence fishburne & lauren hutton joined me in spain and then for the 2 day motorcycle trip from los angeles to vegas (without laurence “fish”, but along with another 30 other riders:-)

  we even did a show version of the bike with a sidecar, just to prove our point:-)

• there’s more: this one’s a two-parter:-)

part 1: bmw was approached by the james bond film company during the planning phase of film number one of the many films in which pierce brosnan starred. the first of those films introduced bmw’s two seat sports car, the “z3”. as planning for their second film was underway, they were interested in getting another free car (or rather, a whole fleet, etc..) and an informal/ formal presentation was arranged in our inner sanctum. our public relations head gave me a call, asking me to join in. a very hollywood collection of people showed up, appropriately polite/excited, as they listened to our people try to make the fact that we had no new sports cars coming out in their film’s timeframe, somehow not too embarrassing. then i was introduced.

we had just presented the k 1200 rs to the public in the fall of ‘96 (the very first of the “david robb” bmw’s). i presented this still new bike to them, and went on to show the r 1200 c, which wouldn’t be released until the fall of ‘98. polite compliments about the bike and the presentation were exchanged, and after that, plus the narrative that their film had no motorcycles in it, they flew back to southern california.

a week before christmas, our marketing department got a call from hollywood. the company would like 6 of the motorcycles early next april (for a number of stunts, different shots, etc., plus a fleet of bmw’s and range rovers). they had rewritten the script around the bike!

now we just had to knock out a half dozen of the not yet in production motorcycles by hand!

the bike became commonly known as the bmw james bond cruiser.

part 2: in the spring of 2002, i was in california to meet with the motorcycling press, and ride two new products with them. on the second day, i made a stupid mistake. riding with a group at a nice clip along the mulholland drive, i didn’t consider that the wind could carry sand all the way from malibu, 12-15 miles away. a very fine, invisible sand, completely effective at negating adhesion of tires to roads had settled onto the pavement. after more than a week in a local hospital recovering from a reconstruction of a spiral fracture of the left tibia, and resulting infections, I was on my way back home in business class on a british airways flight to munich by way of london. i noticed a familiar face moving into first class. once we were in the air and settled in, i asked the flight attendant if she could pass my business card on to him with my personal greetings. after our first meal, the attendant returned with the printed, first class midday menu. the handwritten note said he was sorry he couldn’t come out right now, but really appreciated the bike & and wished me the best. signed; pierce brosnan

• of the 101 motorcycles i have been honored to be able to create, this bike is the one I am most personally proud of. presented in milan, italy in 2009, the “concept 6” shocked everyone. i designed the show bike around the idea of bmw producing a groundbreaking new 6 cylinder motorcycle. it would go into production as a hi-tech, sporting, gran-turismo called the K 1600 gt. (the show bike should also convince riders to wait the year and a half for it to be introduced, rather than, say, consider buying a honda:-)

years went by since bibs and i had originally gotten married, and we had never had the chance to go on a honeymoon. when year 25 was coming up, we figured it would finally be doable. as that summer got closer, it looked like this very important project was going to happen. in this case, having a passionate designer as a spouse was a good thing. after telling her this was too great an opportunity to farm out, we agreed on a trip to the seychelles in year 26:-) it was great!

• having built a strong reputation for robust, globe-trottable, touring enduros, we reduced the all-rounder touring qualities for a finely focused very high performance off-road machine, Hp2 enduro.

• with the continued growth of bmw’s reputation for enduro motorcycles based on the original r 1200 gs, with it’s bmw typical boxer engine, the single cylinder, dual-purpose f 650 gs was created to attract new riders to the brand (1998). entry level, and returning riders, loved it’s non-intimidating nature, ease of use, pleasant qualities and unique good looks:-)

• the g 450 x was designed as a street legal, edgy, off-road competition bike. the pro’s ride for tight courses with extreme jumps.

• bmw motorcycles had long been known for innovative engineering and great quality, but the last motorsport championships they won were on the isle of man in 1938.

we had to crank up the volume over time. a single excitingly fast model would not change rider’s perceptions. from the R 1100 s (1998) onwards, riders have to believe in each model’s improved abilities. in 2008 this model, the hp2 sport, was authentically fast. we even made a moto version, quick, with a little more upright seating position.

• … and another notch:-) this was bmw’s first foray into the world super-bike championship competition class.

200 horsepower at 200 kilos weight (441 lbs.)

to be competitive, it meant improving on tried and true proven methods. but following only what others had done, wouldn’t cut it. an innovative design & engineering approach helped make this motorcycle top in class. s 1000 rr (2008)

my unique approach to finding unconventional solutions, to reach further, rather than following what others had done, wasn’t understood by all at the get go (even satirized in a national magazine).

But standing out in a crowd isn’t for everyone:-)

• in this age of “mobility”, bigger & faster isn’t the only answer. in the year 2000, bmw introduced a single-track vehicle with a unique safety concept.

what looked like a scooter with a roof, was actually a safety cell structure which offered the passive safety of a small car, with seat belts and a helmet exemption. this is an electric powered prototype which was shown as an alternative for the future. bibs bought a normal production version back in 2002, and it is still a very practical one-person-into-town shuttle.

• the french, italien & spanish markets let it be known, that if we built them, “they would come”. the challenge was to design a brand new product, in a new segment, that looks like it’s always belonged to the bmw family. this “concept c” design study (2010) lead to a later production model.

• and another one:-) the “concept e” (2011) pointed the way to a production electric scooter, introduced to the market in 2013.

• there is a long story behind this one; deserves a book on it’s own. it was long kept out of sight, thought by many to be dead & buried a number of times.

to keep it short, we presented a show bike “custom concept” in 2008 (after 3 years under wraps in a basement), and introduced the production model “R9T” (bmw’s 90th anniversary) in 2013.

the highlight for me, was being able to give my wife her very own, “slightly customised” version for her 60th birthday. the alps are just around the corner from here:-) when she gets off her bike after a ride, she’s always giddy as a child, ear to ear grins & giggles :-)

(check out her license plate:-)

this was fun. i hope i was able to take out some of the guesstimating and color some of the unfamiliar objects and experiences in 3-d.

when i put some of the many motorcycles i had helped come to life, down on paper before our visit in 2013, i thought i was spontaneously just throwing a couple into the mix. it turns out, they each were very meaningful to me in their own ways. i’m glad i was able to share them with you. enjoy.

(…and that’s only scratching the surface:-)