-- Chris Bynum's Motorcycles: BMW /5 --

While BMW's basic concept for its time-tested horizontally opposed boxer twin engine design remained virtually unchanged from the time the first R32 models rolled off the Münich production line in 1923, when the company relocated its motorcycle production in 1969 to its new plant in Spandau outside Berlin, it sought to reinvent its own unique creation and create a totally new modern motorcycle -- one that would shake off BMW's image as the makers of reliable but stodgy touring bikes. Gone were the old-style plunger frames and Earles leading link forks, replaced with twin-shock swingarms and modern front telescopic suspension units. The new /5s had a sporty ride and a short wheelbase, while still maintaining BMW's deserved reputation for comfort and roadworthiness. The existing boxer engine design had been inverted, with the /5's pushrods and camshaft now slung beneath its trademark air-cooled transverse twin cylinders. Color alternatives to black and white became widely available for the first time in company history. The series set the tone for the company's motorcycle development throughout the '70s and early '80s, and significant traces of this design lineage are still clearly in evident even in today's R-series machines.

I am restoring three /5 models:

Series /5 Technical Notes

Original equipment /5 shock absorbers (usually recognizable by their long shrouds) are slightly shorter (7-10mm) than the later /6 and /7 OEM 13.35" suspension units (337mm eyelet to eyelet) spec'd to bikes starting in the 1974 model year. The top eyelet of the later shocks was machined taller, and the heftier /6 and /7 shock mounting plates on their uprated subframe were drilled higher to accommodate the change. As a result, most /5 shocks will not mount with proper clearance on later Airheads, although /6 and /7 units can be retrofit to /5s. Most replacement units available for '70s Airheads today are 13.25", and they offer short-wheelbase /5s very pleasing handling characteristics as well as modernized damping and adjustability.

On the front-end suspension, BMW changed from a single-piece fork bushing to a three-piece model during the /5 production run, starting in the fall of 1971 for the '72 model year.