Both BMW & Hoske offered a rear fender grab handle for the BMW singles & twins (yes - singles too!). Here's a comparison shot of both, with clothespins holding them up (just so you don't get confused). The Hoske is the more rounded one on the left.

Contents of a well appointed tool kit. The manual indicates that this is for a 1955-60 era twin.

Another beautiful factory green R60/2. I think BMW made a big mistake in not offering more of these colors through the years...

A BMW R35 with sidecar (of unknown type). This looks like a wonderful rig to explore some back roads with.

A very rare BMW R3 that came up for sale in Europe a year or two back. A friend of mine that collects only singles just missed this machine. He has since found one, and now only needs an R39 to have one of each BMW single ever made.

Seen in this photo is what's supposed to be a factory short shifter for use with the ISDT exhaust system. I've gotten a lot of emails on this one - some saying there's no such thing, and others insisting that this is correct. What's interesting is that the R68 parts book DOES list a different part number for the shift handle as compared to an R51/3 or R67/2 of the period - something I never noticed before.

On the same bike as the short shift lever was this accessory luggage rack bracket. The bracket bolts to the same holes used by the grab handle, and it provides a rear mounting point for a Denfeld-type rear folding rack.

The winters must be long & cold where this person lives, because all the aluminum parts on this R25/3 were highly polished - even the normaly rough engine castings.

Ok class, pop quiz: Identify this bike & engine..... Some hints huh? Well ok. Rigid frame, hmmm... R5 or R6? Engine.... R12? Could be, but the trans is all wrong. R61, R71? Nope, same problem with the trans. Give up? Well this one is a Harley XA engine and trans in an R5 frame. The original R5 engine is visible just to the left (washed out by the sun). A few years ago I also ran into the reverse combination - a BMW engine in a Harley XA frame. Yes they really did copy a BMW to make that Harley!

Another quiz bike? Actually this is a French "Ratier" model L7 from 1955. Supposedly they were built up from recycled BMWs left in France after the war. This one is has an R12 engine and trans in a plunger frame. The tank & fenders are non-BMW parts.