BMW Kick Starter History

[DarkCloud]

I'm interested in what year BMW first put electric starters on. Was it an option? Did the bike have a kick starter along with the electric starter. Was BMW a fore runner in electrical starters?

Thanks, JON

[DarrylRi]

The /5 series introduced electric start for BMWs in 1970, when the bikes moved over from 6 volt to 12 volt electrical systems (there were 12 volt systems previously for special purposes like police bikes). They all came with kickstarters as well. The kickstarter was phased out after 1974.

A forerunner? I don't really know. I suppose the Honda CB750 had an electric start a year or three before that.

BMW kickstarters are notable for one other thing: they swing out perpendicular to the frame. Most bikes with kickstarters swing them parallel to the frame. In the early years, BMW did too. But after 1927 and the end of the R42/R47 production, they changed it.

[Visian]

I *believe* that my 86 R80 G/SPD+ was the last model shipped to the US with a kickstarter.

Saved my butt just a couple of weeks ago when my 3rd Valeo starter crapped out on the way back home from the Iron Butt Catfish lunch in Nowhere, Alabama.

The bike is a mother to start with the kickstarter when cold, but when warm, it fires right up.

Ian