Another Newbie

[Danie]

Hi Everybody
Thanks for exepting me as a member of this Forum.  

I am on holiday at the moment, and yesterday I have spent almost the whole day - "surfing " this website.  Needless to say, it will always be an honor to be a Forum member of a high quality website like this !

I have been a motorcycle enthusiast all my life - my current bikes are a 1988 Bmw R65 monoshock  (ex Police bike), and a 1983 Kawasaki Gpz 1100.

During the previos year I was dreaming of buying myself a new bike during this new year, but I have changed my mind in the meanwhile.

My wife and myself visted our son, (who find himself in the United States) during July last year, and we went on an extencive tour by car - starting in Chicargo IL, then Wisconcin, Minnesota, Nort Dakota, and ending in Great Falls, Montana.

Needless to say, I fell in love with America, and it's people - so I decided rather to forget about buying a new bike - I will rather spend the money on future  visiting / touring trips to the USA !

Fortunately, my son (who finds himself in America ) is also a motorcycle enthusiast, and he is planning to buy himself a GS 1200 during this year. He is dreaming of going on a bike tour to Alaska, and he wants me to join the trip.

I am thinking of converting my R65 to a GS model, because I also like travelling on dirt roads , and visiting remote areas.

Hopefully I will not pesture you with too many "stupid" questions in future !

Regards

Danie

[Justin B.]

Welcome, Danie, and we hope you enjoy your visits.  Don't forget to post pix of your scooters...

[Bob_Roller]

Welcome Danie,

I believe we have another member here, Xeffer, that resides in Durban as well.

Post often, pictures are greatly appreciated.

I'm a little bit curious as to what brings your son to Chicago, I was born and raised there , and lived there for 37 years, until I got fed up with the winters there.

I work in the airline industry, and I have a co-worker that takes his family to South Africa about every 2 years, from the pictures and videos, South Africa looks to be quite a place to live in.

[Danie]

Hi Bob
Yes indeed - we do find ourselves in a very small world ! Hopefully Xeffer and myself will be able to meet in future.

I already tried to find nice pictures , but I will rather get new ones - probably tomorrow (Our local time differs about 7 hours from yours, and it is dark outside already)

Yes, I do find myself in a wonderful country, but unfortunately I do have to admit - hundreds of thousands of young people, as well as highly skilled people, are leaving our country - mainly for two reasons : an extremely high crime rate, as well as a lack of working opportunities.

My son studied at an institution in Chicargo, but at the moment he finds himself in Thorndale, Pennsylvania.

How sad it might be, my youngest son finished his studies locally at the end of last year,and although he find himself in a very good professional job at the moment , he is also planning to leave our country by the end of next year. I am not sure about my daughter, and son in law - they also find themselves in professional jobs - hopefully they will not decide to leave our country as well.

Having said all this - I still love our country to bits. Hopefully all my children will come back one day.......

[Bob_Roller]

Danie,

By chance did your son attend Illinois Institute of Technology ?

It is rather troubling that you have to leave your 'homeland', to find a good job in your chosen field, but it seems that it is the trend in the world these days.

[Danie]

Hi Bob
My son attended Universal Technical Institute (UTI), Glendale Heights Ill.  

[Danie]

I tried to forward pics of my bikes, but was unable to do so - the pics sizes exeeded the limit of 215 KB.

Unfortunately my computor skills are not up to standard - I will try to find out how to reduce the file sizes, and hope to forward the pics as soon as possible.

Regards

Danie

[tagordon]

Danie
The file size limit is just for image u load directly to this site. Like for your avatar.

Best way to share pics with group is to post them first to a pic website like Photobucket. Then all you need to do is put a link in your posted msg, to the pic u wish to share. If u need further assist/guidance let us know. We really enjoy seeing all the bikes others like us enjoy.
Troy

[Danie]

Thanks for your advice Tagordon.

Hereby included, is a pic of my R65.

It clearly is in desperate need of a proper "facelift"

http://i247.photobucket.com/albums/gg122/Danie_083/IMG_0189.jpg

[tagordon]

Danie
You can have the pic show in post by inserting the link.
When composing your msg to post, use the function Add YaBBC tag, Insert Image button found on the toolbar above the Smilies.
Like this:

[Justin B.]

Danie, so this is a pic of your R100?  I thought that all of the later model ones had black valve covers, maybe just a US thang...    Do you have any pics posted of the R65?

[Danie]

Justin,
No, I do not own a R100 - the bike on the pic is a R65.

I bought the bike with the sidecovers, as seen on the pic. I am not sure whether our  police have made any changes on the bike - I actually thougt the bike was a standard (monoshock) model.

[Justin B.]

Hmmm, it's gotta be newer than an '81, then...

[Danie]

According to the registration paperwork, it is a '88 model - however, a chap at a local Bmw dealer shop told me that it can't be a '88 model. According to him, the R65's have been discontinued in 1985.

So I am not sure - perhaps somebody has made a mistake with the registration paperwork.

[Justin B.]

Oops, my mistake on '81.  I saw the pic under tagordon and his sig says '81...

There are a couple of web sites you can plug your VIN into and it will return what year and m0odel it is.  In the US the last dual-shock R65 was 1984 and the mono-shock bikes were made from 1985 to the late 80s.  We have a couple other mono-shock owners on here but they are not that common...