BMW revealed a new concept to mark the company’s 90th year in the motorcycle business while also paying tribute to a classic: the BMW R90S. (UPDATED with video.)

The product of a collaboration between the BMW Motorrad Design studio and Roland Sands Designs, the BMW Concept Ninety will be displayed alongside other classic BMW motorcycles at the 2013 Concorso d’Eleganza Villa d’Este, May 24-26 in Italy.

The Concept Ninety carries many styling cues from the R90S, BMW’s classic superbike. Like it’s forebearer, the Concept Ninety sports a bikini fairing and Daytona Orange paint. The fairing wraps around a round headlight, but unlike the original R90S’ halogen bulb, the Concept uses a modern LED light. The overall aluminum bodywork is sleek and, seen from the side, the fairing, tank and tail forms a wedge shape resembling the cross section of an airplane’s wing. This effect is further strengthened by the contrast of the engine which is blacked out except for the valve covers of the iconic boxer engine. Continue Reading »

Over the summer, we came across spy photos of a new naked version of the BMW S1000RR and a new air-cooled boxer roadster and hoped at least one of the two would be unveiled at either Intermot or the EICMA. Intermot came and went without a word and now EICMA is upon us we have … well, several words but no new model. Yet.

BMW announced in Milan it will introduce a new air-cooled boxer sometime in 2013 to mark the 90th year of BMW Motorrad. Formerly an aircraft engine maker, BMW first started producing motorcycles in 1923 with the R32, a 486cc Boxer Twin mounted longitudinally with a shaft drive.

That engine configuration has remained a fixture in BMW’s lineup in the last 90 years including the company’s top-selling model, the R1200GS. Continue Reading »