The New And Improved Unofficial R65 Forum V2
General Category => Totally Off-Topic Discussions, Rants, Tire & Oil Threads, Etc. => Topic started by: Tony Smith on July 03, 2014, 01:20:02 AM
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I started to write a reply in another thread about how much I would like to have a "vintage" airhead as a long term restoration project.
Then I realized that like a lot of what I write, it was getting way too long and creeping way too far off topic to remain there.
Instead I put it here.
I really would love a /6 to /7 R50/60/75 and have for a long time.
Unfortunately I've left my run way too late on that score and they are mostly now in the hands of collectors - and I deliberately use the word "collector" rather than "restorer". There is a person not far from where i live who has 20 airheads under his house quietly rusting and dripping the odd drop of oil. He has no intention (or I suspect the ability) to ever restore any of them, he is just sitting on them in the hope that one day someone will pay him cubic $$$s to take some or all of them away.
It's for the fact of missing the boat on an early airhead that I intend to buy a K100RS in the next year or so and keep it alive to the standard of being able to ride it anywhere i want to for a few years to be followed at the appropriate time (after I retire) by a full restoration.
Timing if everything as they say, so to is knowing what is worth keeping.
To my eternal shame I was given an R68 sidecar outfit many years ago, yes that is R68, not the R69 or R69S, the model that nearly sent BMW motorcycling to the wall.
The R68 in solo form (manufactured 1952 ~54) was the first production BMW to be capable of exceeding 100mph (and frankly one of the few motorcycles that could anywhere at the time). It was assembled to such fine tolerances that the only gaskets in the engine were the head gaskets and rocker cover gaskets.
From memory they only made 3,500 of them making them now amongst the very rarest post war BMWs.
I received mine from a deceased uncle, he had bought it new and then attended to all work on it after, which meant that by the mid 1980s it was a bit dilapidated and in need of a careful and sensitive restoration. I rode it once or twice and compared the R100 or the GPZ1100 I owned at the time it was simply a slow boring and uncomfortable motorbike. At the time I was rebuilding a 500cc Velocette and that project was stalled by needing a cash injection. I sold the R68 to raise funds to complete the Velocette.
I finished the Velo and quickly discovered that aside from launching a cheeky young lad who reckoned there was no magic in starting old English singles over its handlebars, the Velo had bugger all to recommend it, and it too was sold (probably also at an undervalue as I had had a gutful of its constant requirement for "fettling")
As the R100 and I aged gracelessly into old age I came to realize what I had in the R68 and I keenly regret to this day that I had not valued it higher.
Only recently my aunt told me that in the late 70s the local BMW dealer had offered my uncle a brand new R90s as a straight swap for the R68 and he had knocked them back on the basis that it was worth more and that young Tony would appreciate it in due course. i really hope that wherever he is now that he has got over his nephew's stupidity and forgiven me.
The moral of the story is don't let go of what you have unless you know its worth, and don't hanker for stuff you know bugger all about (like ancient "high performance" British bikes).
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These are good words, Tony.
My friends wife has a WWII or pre-1950 BMW under a shed, it actually runs and they do go for a occasional ride with it. Nobody really uses it and I have thought several times of maybe putting an offer on it. But the lack of permanent home and also giving my entire hand to the restoration demon has discouraged me from doing so. Nevetheless, I will take a close eye on it to know what we are dealing with there. These things need to be preserved and if that bike is going from that shed to somewhere, i want to know about it.
It is never about the money, owing one of these oldschool motorcycles. and yes, they are not that great of a ride. But you are running on a piece of history and that counts more than burnouts and wheelies.
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Yes I was recently looking wistfully at an R60 with a drum brake front end and its speedo mounded in the headlight nacelle and a kicker gearbox.
At one time a bike with little or no value that has risen in price on the back of the R75/5 and R90s.
None of these bikes are cheap any more. Some of the later incarnations are being made into Café Racers, Bobbers and 'Brat' style bikes, but the /5s are generally now collector's bikes which, I suppose, really should remain unmolested. I really do prefer them to the /6's and /7s.
£3500 was the starting price, if I recall.
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Yes Steve, that is the problem all right.
Which is why I am looking hard at the flying bricks. A serviceable K100RS, as in all plastic present, an engine in decent running order can be had for approximately 2,000 folding fun tickets here in Australia. Parts are plentiful and mostly pretty cheap and the RS Brick is still a good ride in anyone's money (even a K1 can be had for $4~6k and they are seriously special and there are still some roads here where the probability of being detected is fairly low - a bike designed for sustained +200kph motoring, now there is something worth preserving).
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My first BMW was a '73 R60/5 "Toaster" that I bought in 1976 with 1200 miles on the clock for $1000. I traded it in on a new '78 R100/7... A few years back I thought I should return to my "roots" and get another R60. I test-rode a couple and remembered just how smooth AND underpowered they were so I stayed on my R90...
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Oh the need for speed.................... Having recently rebuilt a K75 I never had the love for it that I have for my R65 apart from the fact I kept falling off it which resulted minor injuries, ( mostly earache from the wife) it just didn't tick any of the boxes I expected it to..... yes it was quick and would gobble the miles on motorways but the handling at lower speeds was awful and after a couple of incidents out of my control I decided to part company with the bike, the process of restoring the K to its former glory was far more enjoyable than the end result.
I am keeping an eye open for my next project, my Uncle asked me if I wanted to restore his old Kit built Aeroplane but I passed on that in anticipation of of a divorce.
I stupidly sold my Honda dream for a bag of beans when I was a cash strapped student and parted company as quick as I could with the Triumph Tina which my dad bought me as a starter ride, both of which are worth a mint today but hindsight is a beautiful thing.
Lou
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....Triumph Tina
I remember those. Not what you'd call a great success for Triumph and I can imagine now very rare. Understandable that you would have wanted to part company.
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It was a Triumph Tina that literally bit Edward Turner's arse.
Meriden, and it's Tina's roll out day for the press with lots of photo ops. Edward Turner could not resist sitting astride the little scooter and making face for the photogs and reporters from the motorcycle press.
There was a small issue with the Tina that the test riders and engineers knew about and would need to be corrected before dealer deliveries began... the tiny Tina engine would occasionally start in reverse rotation! Quirky little lass, she was. Turner was not in the loop.
You can see it coming, can't you? [smiley=whistling.gif]
Turner kicked the tiddler to life and scooted off... backwards and onto his bum!
The Man's temper was as great as his design and marketing skills. Pity the staff that caught his wrath that day.
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... the tiny Tina engine would occasionally start in reverse rotation!
A quirk of two strokes that was deliberately utilised in later models of the Bond mini car to provide reverse gear. It used a Villiers motorcycle engine that had only forward gears.
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Ah yes, Tony. Twelve months ago I picked up an '86 KRS for $500. It was in pieces and 99% complete. I brought it whilst on a work trip for a mate of mine who wishes to café it. More of a street fighter to be correct. I get to keep all the plastic bits which I may use on a K75RT that I have whilst I repair the fairing. It had been sitting in pieces for about ten years, and as the chap was moving and cleaning out his garage, he said make me an offer. So I did.
The rear mudguard had a BMWMCCQ sticker on it and I am pretty sure that I would have known the original owner.
Tonight on Gumtree, a chap in Brisbane advertised 2 x 1984 R65s for $1,000. I found the add 5 hours after it went on and left a message. I expect they are both already gone. :'( The unfortunate thing is that I expect them to be cafe'd or turned into parts on fleabay.
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Burt I know where you are coming from. Personally I hate nearly all so-called "cafe" conversions as most of the perpetrators have no idea what they are doing.
But, at least the bike is still alive and most times can be converted back.
I know a guy here in cairns who has over 40 motorbikes, 20 of them airheads, under us house hoping that one day they will be worth lots of money. He has no intention to actually restore any himself, just hang onto them.