If motorcycles coud talk

[sumran]

Some of us have owned our bikes since they were new. Most of us bought them after many years and miles had passed. What have you been able to learn about your bike's history before you started writing it?

I purchased mine on eBay last April. It was the model and color I wanted and it was in my price range. It had a small fairing which suited Florida riding and it was close enough for pick up. A jumbled bag of old service tickets came with the bike and I finally spent the time to go through them and load everthing in a spread sheet. I learned a lot in the process.

My bike started as a red RT (now black with no pinstripes). I thought that was primer showing through on that paint chip. It was not only made in Germany, but was delivered there. The original owner lived in New Orleans, but went to Germany and picked up the bike for a tour of Europe. There is a letter from Butler and Smith telling him they had received his money and would have the bike ready in Munich. The initial scheduled service on the bike was performed in Greece. After his tour the bike was shipped to the dealer in the U.S.

The owner moved to Minnesota where the bike spent most of its life. It was sold to some one else in Minnesota in the late 80's or early 90's who owned it until at least 2004. I hope he enjoyed the bike, because he put lots of money in it. There were also lots of miles so I expect it was a happy result. Some of the same expensive service was performed and paid for more than once by different mechanics , so he must have had some problems with service people. It made me grateful for Stan in Gainesville, who does my work. The second owner also gave the bike its current paint job and fairing. I was so impressed by the time and money that owner invested I sent him a thank you card. I hope he is doing well and the card brings him a smile.

After that owner, the bike somehow made it back to Louisiana and then to Tallahassee, Florida. There are no records during this time and there weren't many miles. I bought it from someone that meant to make it his primary ride, but couldn't shake his need for high-performance sport bikes.

I had to replace the speedometer when I bought the bike, because the odometer stopped working. It almost seems fitting that I get to start a new clock on a bike that is more well-traveled than its owner. I hope that I have many great stories when it comes time to put together my bag of receipts, many years from now.

[osbornk]

Almost 9 years ago, I wanted a R80RT (preferably black). I found one on the internet (don't remember where) that was about 150 miles from me. I looked at it and based on the condition and the way it ran, I made an offer that was accepted. I have no idea as to its history except the prior owner didn't have it long. He came off a UJM and decided he wanted a Concours. I don't think the history is terribly important on a moderately priced bike if you know what you are looking at and are mechanically knowledgeable.

When I buy a vehicle (bike, car, truck, etc) from a private owner, I want to look at it at their house. That way, you can see how they take care of their other vehicles, their house and other things. If their property and vehicles are clean and well maintained, the vehicle you are buying probably is also.

[DarrylRi]

When buing old or vintage vehicles you can sometimes get a clue about their past, even if it isn't documented.

I bought a 1941 R12 a while back. The little history of the bike I knew was that it had been in someone's collection in South Africa. I thought this was good, as a lot of these bikes spent 50 years at hard labor behind the iron curtain. Well, one thing after another needed fixing, so I eventually took it completely apart.

The wheels had Polish bearings in them; the motor had Russian main bearings. Oops. With everything out of the frame, it was easy to see how warped it was, probably from dragging a fully loaded sidecar. I could also see where it had been in a front end accident and the downrails in front had been repaired by the village smithy. I took a welding class at a local JC; I can make metal stick together, but know I'm better off taking it to a pro. However, even I could have done a better job than this.

Even though I'm way underwater on this project, I still wish I knew more about the history of the bike. The BMW archives say it was built in March of 1941 and went directly to the Germany army. Between that and 1998 in South Africa, I have nothing, but what I can guess from the physical evidence...

[Na Cl K9]

...taken by a friend of mine in England about the year 1970. The history learned from its owner was actually very interesting. Seems he had been in a British army outfit in Africa during WWII at a point where the German army was being pushed hard and was running low on supplies.

The owner came upon this particular machine on patrol in the desert and looking it over discovered several things right away. One, it was out of gas completely and two, it was practically brand new with only 2700 Km on the clock. Evidently, when it ran out of gas, the soldiers were loath to push it in the deep sand and abandoned it to retreat on foot.

He enlisted the help of a local business man in a nearby town to help recover and store the sidecar (complete with armament and field equipment) and paid the man to keep it till he could return and claim it later on. As the story goes from that point, the owner went back after the war and rode it home to England.

[sumran]

Almost 9 years ago, I wanted a R80RT (preferably black). I found one on the internet (don't remember where) that was about 150 miles from me. I looked at it and based on the condition and the way it ran, I made an offer that was accepted. I have no idea as to its history except the prior owner didn't have it long. He came off a UJM and decided he wanted a Concours. I don't think the history is terribly important on a moderately priced bike if you know what you are looking at and are mechanically knowledgeable.

When I buy a vehicle (bike, car, truck, etc) from a private owner, I want to look at it at their house. That way, you can see how they take care of their other vehicles, their house and other things. If their property and vehicles are clean and well maintained, the vehicle you are buying probably is also.

I agree that history isn't that important in the buying decision, but it is a fun and interesting part of owning an older machine.

[rogermansfield]

I found out most of the history of my 1980 R100RT. It wasn't much as I'm the 3rd owner after only 19K miles (it has 74k now). I wish records were kept like they are in UK where the bikes' history stays with it. ( I'm thankful we don't have all the regulations though!)

[paulfinney2]

I know the history of my '86 R80RT - I bought it from the original owner. In thirteen years, he had put only 16,000 miles on it, and wanted to sell it so he could buy a Harley. Not an avid rider, but he and his brother owned two planes which they operated for business. Considering this and the general immaculate appearance of the place, I safely assumed that he had taken good care of the RT. I now have 76,000 miles, but wish I had more.
A also bought a '76 R75/6 from my brother, who, in 4 years, had only put 100 miles, and kept it outside under a tarp. I had been looking for a '76, based on the general high regard that that year has gained in Beemerdom. That plus my brother needed money and I got it for a really good price. This bike has been a real positive learning experience for me. I knew it had been serviced by Mortons when my brother bought it from them, and I had ridden it back then, so I knew it ran well. The odometer said 33,000 when I got it, and while I don't think that is accurate, I don't think it is far off. After a year of replacing and cleaning, it runs like a charm, and loves the roads around the Blue Ridge Mountains and western Virginia. It will never be pristine, but it's a great rider.

[26667]

Wow! What great stories about the two WWII bikes. Doncha just love to see some of the "real" oldies on the road?

I THOUGHT I knew the history of my '78. After all the PO was a BMW dealer for goodness sake! With a shop, and genuine certified BMW techs. It only had 18 K on the clock! But as the first year of ownership has passed, I've begun to feel like a detective, back-tracking and trying to figure out the PO's whys and wherefor's. Some were pretty obvious and seemed to be good ideas, like the electronic ignition, and the fork braces. And how 'bout the way cool extra VDO gauges! Then the gauges started to act up and when I took out the switch, it had been held in place with silicone! The threads were the wrong size and that's how they did it! I figured because the guy was a dealer his bike would have been cared for in the very best manner. Now I'm discovering and replacing all the corners they cut at that particular shop.
One day while working on something else, w my scoot on the lift, I looked at another guy's RS to see better how much of a pita it would be to replace the triple tree. (I'm new at this) Several incredulous trips back and forth btw the bikes confirmed the PO had already installed the billet clamp.
So I've found some good with the bad, and learned tons about how these wonderful machines work. As my guru says with a laff, "You're learning more about motorcycles than you ever wanted to know." But I've also picked up a couple-a "life lessons" too. In a way this old machine is taliking to me, and I'm starting to speak its language. The conversation makes me smile. :bow

[Rapid_Roy]

My bike would just say "lose some weight and ride more, ya loser!"

[sumran]

My bike would just say "lose some weight and ride more, ya loser!"

You are obviously not talking nice enough to your partner. Your motorcycle must have some unresolved conflict with you. Why don't you try a nice oil change and wash and wax. You may be surprised how quickly the bike opens up to you.:stick

[Rapid_Roy]

You are obviously not talking nice enough to your partner. Your motorcycle must have some unresolved conflict with you. Why don't you try a nice oil change and wash and wax. You may be surprised how quickly the bike opens up to you.:stick
Then why didn't it just tell me to wash and wax it?
No wonder we give our bikes female names. :hide

[kstoo]

You are obviously not talking nice enough to your partner. Your motorcycle must have some unresolved conflict with you. Why don't you try a nice oil change and wash and wax. You may be surprised how quickly the bike opens up to you.:stick

I disagree. I think that airheads respond better to 'tough love' than 'sugar coating'. I never had a bike thank me for a wash and wax, that was only for my pride, the bike didn't care. I have had good response for synching carbs though.
I think that this actually calls for several contiguous 800 mile days on a route that passes many Denny's and Waffle Houses to prove your new sense of priorities.

Sorry, off topic!

I agree that there is not a lot of practical use to know your rides history compared to the fulfillment of curiousity. My '88 was owned by one guy who kept pretty good records and care from what I inherited from the brief interim owner between us. I have been tempted sometimes to see if I can find the guy to see if I could get some war stories. that would be cool.
My '80 is a complete mystery. I have absolutely no thread of history other than someone bought it in Iowa and brought it to Illinois only to find the 80ST that he had been looking for in the 1st place. Other than that there is such a weird mix of parts on this that it must have been a rebuild somewhere along the line. A single disc R100 with Lester mags? Where did the original double disc snowflakes go? Oh, well, I am over it now... I whispered in her ear this weekend that she is the sweetest ride ever. Still, I wonder how she behaved when she had all of her compression ...

[kstoo]

Then why didn't it just tell me to wash and wax it?
No wonder we give our bikes female names. :hide

That is funny because I was just thinking that as I was writing the previous!
the 1988 R100RT is Sharona (m-m-m-m my Sharona)
the 1980 R100 is named Gilera after my first bike, but that makes a sweet female name I think.

[Na Cl K9]

Back in the mid 70’s I’d ride around the country looking for wrecks and cheap used BMW's to buy so I could part out, work on and restore them in order to make my motorcycle habit pay for itself. When I got my first new BMW in 1977 (an R75/7), the entire machine spoke to me. It said "Ride me"! So I did to the tune of 19K the first year alone. That was my ninth BMW at the time. The others had been used bikes and they spoke to me too: "I need HELP”! "Put me out of my misery PLEASE”! "SAVE me from this guy and his adjustable spanner and hammer”! Rebuild my carbs and I’ll take you anywhere you want to go”. “Oooooohh, what hit me”!? Usually, the bike told me more than the owner was able or willing to. Really, owning a used bike is a gradual process of learning how far the PO's have been into it and what they or their mechanics have done, the damage and wear caused by riding and crashing, and even right down to what kind of tools someone has used on the fasteners.

Some of my favorite spots to "listen" to are the rear brake pedal. How many of the little pyramids are worn off tells me what the true mileage is. The raised cast stops on the lower triple clamp sometimes have marks where they have hit the steering head stop in an accident. There are two flat brackets just under the muffler/rear foot-peg mounts and sometimes you'll find them distorted from a tip-over. Valve covers speak loud and clear and I have several souvenirs with at least 300 feet worth of aluminum ground off. I have come across a lot of bent handlebars...some so bad you know it had to hurt to ride the thing, which is a case of a bike screaming at you after a few hours of riding.

I found one derelict R69S where the entire underside of the engine looked like it had been sandblasted...which turned out later to be an indication of riding thousands of miles of dirt roads…So, yes Motorcycles do speak to you but you have to understand the language to get the meaning. To learn the language, you have to put some miles behind you.

[The_Veg]

Very interesting question!

I had an '85 K100RT. I was the fourth owner, and the third was the son of the second. The third was not mechanically inclined and didn't do much but put fuel in it and ride. By the time he was done with it, it was under a tree and uncovered, where it sat for 18 months before I got my hands on it. It looked like a basket-case and I wound up doing a complete strip-to-frame and refurbish. By the way this was my very first motorcycle. I got in in 2001 when it was 17 and I was 32.

I now have a 1995 R100R that I've had for almost four years. I got the story from the previous owner, who was referred to me on this forum after I said something in a post about wanting an R100R. I am legally the third owner, but the first doesn't count otherwise since he only kept it for 200 miles then decided he didn't like it and it went back to the dealer (St. Louis) on consignment. This bike was one of the very last US-market airheads built, with a December 1995 production-date. Running the line until they were out of airhead-parts was one of the rare exceptions to the September-switchover. So here's this still-basically-new airhead in 1996, on consignment at a dealer. The second owner buys it and trucks it to Massachusetts. Somewhere along the line (not sure under which owner), it got an S-fairing very nicely and professionally installed on it.
The second-owner rides it for some miles, has a few tribulations with it, removes the fairing, and then she and her husband get a pair of 1150GS's on which they wind up spending most of their time. The poor little R gathers dust in the garage. They move to North Carolina and soon after they decide that between not getting ridden and needing the garage-space for the Mini-Cooper they want to buy, the R must go. It was a reluctant sale, but between a friend of theirs referring me and the good impression I made (I had learned plenty about airheads due to hanging out on the Boxerworks forum for a couple of years by then), they knew the bike was going to a good home. It came with lots of extra bits (case-liners, spare parts, etc.) and a stack of paperwork about two inches thick including everything all the way back to the pre-delivery-inspection sheet. One forum-member here even sent me a picture of the bike on tour with the previous owner, taken a few years before I bought it. The bike had been very meticulously and lovingly kept.
In three years I'd put more miles on the bike than it accumulated in the first eight years of its life, and that's even with some of the long down-times I've had due to electrical and other problems. Currently the bike is out of commission, having eaten a valve coming home from the West Bend rally. The engine is just about completely dismantled out in the garage. I have yet to determine if I can save what's left of the engine or if I'll need to do find another engine. But the bike *WILL* return to the road, I hope by next spring- and I plan to keep it for a VERY long time.

My other current bike is a 2007 R1200GS that I bought new, the only new bike I've ever bought (don't know if it'll be the last). I've had it for about six weeks/1100 miles. All I know about it before I bought it is that it was built in May, it was the one the dealer got after they sold the one I thought I was going to buy, and it had 2 miles on it when I first threw a leg over.
It was love and lust right away with this bike, as it had been with the airhead. My plan is to keep this one as meticulously and lovingly as my other bike had been kept by its' previous owner. And I hope that I won't be referred to as the GS's previous owner for a VERY long time.

[Isamemon]

I am the 2nd owner of my 80/7 ( 1978) it has been from Oregon to the east coast ( via canada) twice with the PO. I bought it from him, cause he siad he was too old to ride.
when I got it , it looked showroom fresh and was well loved.
but things dry out with age, adn this past winter, I went through every little ( and big) thing and made it ready for more long trouble free rides........
now I cant ride due to health issues, so if the bike was to talk she would say, get your ass over here and lets go
and beleive me, If I could I would
even bitched to the doc today about it,
so whats bothering you the most with this illness the doc said
well, I said
I cant frickin ride my bike !!!!!!!!!!!:D
oh , doc said :nono not until you get your legs under you again
afterwards I went to the shop to visit my bike. gave her a hug and started it just to hear it purr
miss it bad, real bad
if she could talk, I know the feelings would be mutual:heart
we got too many miles and smiles behind us
and too many more to go

[sumran]

I'll be more grateful for tomorrow's ride. Hope you back out there soon.

[535is]

Half of my RS' life is a mystery and half is completely known to me.

The first half is a rare Euro-spec Motorsport Edition R100RS (150 built?) owned by who-knows-how-many owners from its January 1978 manufacture date until 1990, when it turned up in Akron, Ohio, in the hands of a guy from Paris. Along the way, it had been dropped once or twice (judging by the subtle dent and scuffs on one of the equally rare white side bags and the slightly bent mounting frame on that side) and cornered somewhat vigorously (scraped valve covers) but nothing serious. The main fairing parts are 1977 date-stamped, so I assume they are original. The owner at that time left it with his landlady with vague directions to sell it because he didn't want it any more. Then he disappeared, leaving behind no papers or forwarding address.

She also had no use for an old BMW, so she asked a friend in the BMW car club if he was interested. He was, and they struck a deal. The only sticking point was a title. Fortunately, her friend was also my friend and he called me about it. After a little research, I found out what needed to be done and worked up the proper papers. I took them to my favorite Summit County Common Pleas judge and asked him to order the title to be issued.

"Are you sure this is on the level, Krieger?"

"Yeah, judge. You can read the statute there and everything."

[Signing:] "Well, if they come after me, I'm coming after you."

Fair enough, judge!

My fee for the work was first refusal when the new owner decided to part with it. The bike got a pampered but somewhat ignored existence for the next 15 years. While he is a true motorhead, working with a major open wheel race team and playing with his own remarkable cars like a 914/6, he wasn't a prolific motor rider. He did take care of the leaky fuel tank, replacing it with a new one ... which necessitated a complete bodywork repaint by the BMW apprentice program. He also did the reasonable maintenance it needed to be ridden any time. Then, he turned to long distance bicycling and the RS was mostly a thing of the past. It was time to track down - me. With an offer I could not refuse that would maybe - almost - pay for one of his spare pedal bikes, a deal was made and in early July, with some 81,000 km on the odometer, it came to live with me. Indefinitely.

It is still silent, harboring some scars from its past that I am slowly discovering as more things get fixed or rejuvenated. I think it may be still sulking over its prior owner ultimately abandoning it for the last months' rent. Whether it will come out of its shell and tell me more remains to be seen. It does tolerate well all the attention it gathers from BMW folk, both two- and four-wheeled. For now, it is one of the two 'new' vehicles in my keep, having just been joined by a nearly equally-mysterious '87 535is. Both are remarkable and attractive old (gracefully old, that is) Bavarian machines whose foreseeable futures I look forward to sharing.

[sumran]

I just received a call from my bike's previous owner. I think I mentioned I had sent him a card. He was thrilled to hear about the bike and had many happy memories of owning it. He regretted selling it. 535is's story is fitting, because this guy wanted me to call him if I should ever decide to sell it.

I also learned that right before he sold the bike, he had honed the cylinders and replaced the rings. He said the cylinders looked like new, so it may not have needed it. I didn't have any receipts on that work, so it was useful information. That was less than 10,000 miles before I bought the bike. I should be good for many miles on the top end.

The previous owner still has a couple of beemers, including a '74 sidecar rig. I hope to meet him at some future event. The sidecar rig was the reason my bike found its way back to Louisiana. It was an even trade the owners made after they met via the internet.