This is the new Franzis reissue of its 1:2 scale working model of the BMW R 90 S flat-twin – timing the new edition to the 50th anniversary of two R 90 S race wins in 1976 for 2026.
The transparent engine kit has 200 parts, and the first version went on sale in 2019, proving popular immediately with the vintage BMW community. The kit has an electric motor that turns the engine over, moving the crankshaft, connecting rods, pistons, and valves all in perfect synchronization, just like in the original engine.
The 1:2 scale kit has an electric motor that turn the engine over, moving the crankshaft, connecting rods, pistons, and valves all in perfect synchronization, just like in the original engine.
The BMW R90S
BMW introduced the R90S in 1973 as the top model of its /6 range. It was styled by legendary designer Hans Muth, the same guy who would later design the Suzuki Katana. The 900cc (actually 898cc) flat-twin in the R90S breathed through 38 mm Dell’Orto carburetors, produced 66 bhp and it was capable of 124 mph.
BMW’s US importer, Butler & Smith, entered three R90S race bikes into the new AMA Superbike series. In March 1976, Steve McLaughlin rode one to victory in the first AMA Superbike race, held at Daytona. His teammate Reg Pridmore went on to win the inaugural AMA Superbike Championship on his R90S. The same year, Helmut Dähne and Hans-Otto Butenuth shared an R 90 S to win the 1000 cc class of the Isle of Man Production TT.
Production of the R90S came to just under 17,500 examples in total, at the IFMA show in Cologne in 1976, BMW presented two new 1000cc (actually 980cc) models. The R100S was the R90S’s direct successor, but it was partly overshadowed by the R100RS, whose frame-mounted full fairing was developed in the wind tunnel with help from the Italians over at Pininfarina.
BMW has long described the RS as the first production motorcycle with a standard full fairing, and while some might argue with that, depending on what you consider a “production motorcycle,” it was certainly either the first or one of the first.
Steve McLaughlin, Reg Pridmore, and Garry Fisher. racing their BMW R90S bikes at the 1976 AMA Superbike Championship race in Daytona. Image provided by BMW Motorrad.
The Franzis BMW R/90S Engine Model Kit
The Franzis BMW R/90S kit plugs and screws together without glue, it’s made up of over 200 individual pieces, and the display stand holds three AA batteries and a sound module that plays the original engine’s note as the electric motor spins the rotating assembly.
Two red LEDs in the heads light up at the exact moment in the cycle when the spark plug would fire, and the 5-speed gearbox shifts through the correct 1-N-2-3-4-5 pattern, just like on the real bike.
Franzis quotes three to four hours for assembly and the finished model measures in at 13.4 inches across the cylinders, 12.2 inches from header to muffler, and 10 inches tall. As noted higher up, it’s a 1:2 scale model, so its an impressive size, and it teaches you how the real engine works remarkably well.
This is the new Franzis reissue of its 1:2 scale working model of the BMW R 90 S flat-twin – timing the new edition to the 50th anniversary of two R 90 S race wins in 1976 for 2026.
The model was designed and developed by John Anson, he’s the same engine designer behind Franzis’s 1:4 scale Porsche 911 flat-six kit. Each BMW R90S kit comes with a 120 page companion book in German and English that covers the boxer twin and the R90S, followed by detailed assembly instructions.
If you’d like to read more about the kit or order your own you can visit the official Franzis Amazon store page here.
Images provided by Franzis + BMW Motorrad
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Silodrome was founded by Ben back in 2010, in the years since the site has grown to become a world leader in the alternative and vintage motoring sector, with well over a million monthly readers from around the world and many hundreds of thousands of followers on social media.
