Hi All,
Hope this counts. 8-) Well for starters I ride both a r12clc & a r65.. the clc is great for trips & very comfortable as you can guess. The r65 is mostly for around the house, although I'll share how I came across both.
I have always like the BMW style, little did I know they are "high maintanence", anywhoo, I love'em. I bought both bikes this past July on an auction site I sure your all familiar w/, by the way I live in lower Alabama, gulf coast region, so, the clc i bought from a guy in VA. & the r65, w/11kmiles on it from a guy in Canada, my son & I rented a car, drove to VA, picked up the clc, rtrnd the car & I just knew i had bitten off more than I could chew when I sat on the thing, not hviaving been on a bike in 20 yrs or so. After a day of rest, both my son made our way to Niagara NY, over a couple of days. We made the arraingements to meet the guy near Watterloo Canada & spent most of the day there letting my son get used to the r65,. He's been riding a little scouter for the past 2 years around our town so he at least knew how to ride, but not such a big bike, with GEARS. He can drive a car w/a clutch so that helped him out. Anyway, the bike had'nt been used much & the brake master cylinder gave out on us while riding around near the guys house we bought it from. At this point, a BMW, no dealer anywhere, 1000 miles from home, getting deeper & just confirming the bite was bigger than I could chew, we took the master cylinder apart, cleaned it out, put new fluid in it & off we went, back to Niagara, 4hours via the back roads. Those canadians drive fast on the freeway. That day & most of the next the bike ran pretty good. The 3rd'ish day it started acting up & a fork seal started leaking. Well our agenda was to head to NYC so off we went. 2 days later, we limped into NYC, broke down (kinda) in Saturday evening traffic on our way to Queens to stay w/wifes family that lives in NY. By the way, she kicked us out the 2nd day cause she did'nt want her daughter to be in the house w/"men" ?? So, trying to avoid alot of traffiic w/got up early Monday morning & headed to Manhattan BMW, got there 1.5 hrs b4 they openned so took a nap on the sidwalk in front of their bldg. I trying to condense. Hung out in NYC for 3 more days waiting on r65 to get fixed, fork seal, carb float, valve adjustment. Stayed in a youth Hostel, Jazz on the Park, North end of central park on 106th st. great place & fun. Went out w/large group from hostel 1 night & my 17 yr old is the only one to, well you know! So. now we are off to Maryland for 2 days, 1 in DC on the mall, we left there & crossed ANOTHER HUGH bridge, at least not so much traffic & a bit slower, & headed out the Cheasapeke pennsula, made our way to the outer banks of NC, over to Natahala NC for some white water rafting, hit some of the blue ridge mtns,then to ATL for a night at my parents, & off to L.A.. 3.5 weeks & 3500 miles from when we picked up the bike in VA. My son, needless to say rode the r65 w/an open face helmet, no windshield, by the way I looking for one or a fairing, & after the tune up in NYC he would go off & leave me behind, NUTS! We made it home. & I ready for more.
I'm looking for stuff for the r65 & plan on letting my son have it when he gets a little older. Mostly waiting for him to appreciate the quality & the time he will need to dedicate to keeping the bike up & in good shape. Anyone who has fairing, bag rack, backrest & the accessories needed to really use bike for trips, I'm interested.
One question, can I put some handelbar extensions on this bike to push the handel bars back an inch or so & will this throw it out of whack as far as handeling?
There, I hope this counts for my first post & hope you enjoyed it as much as I did!
Bill
