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Bicycles
can cost $4000. Some are branding exercises. But when BMW designs a
2-wheeler, expect some serious engineering.
Something about bicycles gets auto manufactures exited. Maybe it’s
because they get to show off their engineering chops in a purer medium
than the computer-assisted realm of cars. Maybe the marketing department
likes high-ticket accessory it can hawk at dealerships. In any case,
bikes from the auto industry tend to fall into one of two categories:
those engineered by bike manufactures (with the carmaker label slapped
on). Bikes from Jeep and Hummer adopt brand-appropriate technology from
esteemed bike manufactures like Christini and Montague, but engineering-driven
companies like BMW and Honda (who both also happen to have pretty amazing
motorcycle divisions) go farther to bring auto- and motorcycle-inspired
ideas to two-wheeled machines.
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