Where were you??

[kstoo]

This is a hijack from the "What are these?" thread.
The attached clip from some RS book has a statement that intrigued me.
"The RS's sexy shape was so revolutionary at the time that it caused riders to remember where they were when first they saw it. It evoked images of ..." dang, I will have to buy the book!

So, tell me, where was your first encounter with an RS? I'll go first and then you tell me your story.

1977. I lived in Norco CA and worked in Perris CA wiring up manufactured housing. I had a really nice ride to work through the hills between Riverside and Perris Valley. One morning on my Honda CB350F I came over the top of a hill and coming at me through the fog was this most remarkable sight; a R100RS with only the running light on. There was no paradigm for this sight, the shape and lighting leaning over in motion through the fog ...

your turn ...

[keelerb]

No doubt reading a motorcycle magazine, probably Cycle World, ogling the bikes in the articles and the ads and wondering if I could afford something to replace my first bike, a 74 (75?) Suzuki GT-380 - preferably a four-stroke so I could stop carrying spare plugs and replacing fouled ones several times a week...

[tghsmith]

1979 had seen the pics in mags, one or two at a distance, misty evening on a wisconsin back hiway, a 77 blue past my bikinied faired CB400f I took the little honda up to red line in fith and then to all it would do in sixth , all I could see was the RS's taillight vanishing into the diastance. Somehow the 400 wasn't the same bike it had been ten minutes before. took me a year and half plus a renlistment bonus but a rs came home.

[Braddog]

Honestly, all the folks that I knew that had airheads in the late 70's and early 80's all had /5's or naked /7's or /7's with Hannigan's on them.

My first experience with a true R100RS didn't happen until 2001, when I bought the one I now ride daily.

I found a want ad at my place of work. I knew the lady that placed the ad, so I thought I'd check it out. At first glance, I thought it looked kind of funky. Then I started doing some online research and found out that the RS was actually quite a bike in its day. This pushed me over the edge to buy it. My first motorcycle, after a 19 year layoff was a Honda Shadow that I bought in 2000. The R100RS that I bought in 2001 is what really made me the daily rider that I am now.

Motorcycles are just appliances, right? Tools to be used for a purpose? You shouldn't develop any kind of emotional ties to them right?

If only....:heart

[keelerb]

"Motorcycles are just appliances, right? Tools to be used for a purpose? You shouldn't develop any kind of emotional ties to them right? "

So why do I kiss my Commando before bed each night? It ain't JUST the sex....

[The_Veg]

I was 14 or 15 and at the back door of a civic center about to trade a sweatshirt for admission to a concert- that in itself is a whole different story...but outside the big roll-up door that lets in the buses was a metallic-yellow RS. At that age I wasn't into motorcycles, but I remember being really impressed by how it looked and impressed enough that so many years later I can see it in memory and say that it was an RS.

[kgadley01]

It was just two years ago. I had allways wanted a Beemer, but didn't know what to buy. I started looking on e-bay and when I saw my first RS I thought it was one great looking bike. a couple of weeks this guy in Colorado listed a 1988 R100RS that was all original and perfect. I out bid everyone else and bought it. I rode it for 1 1/2 years and sold it to purchase a R1100RT. But that bike was special, too bad my wife limits me to two bikes at a time. of course if she didn't I'd have thirty!!!!! :clap :clap

[Na Cl K9]

I do remember the event quite well because I bought my first new BMW that year (a R75/7). B&S representatives were there to roll out the new bikes for the public and it was an exciting time. The RS didn't do anything for me right away. The riding position felt at odds with the idea of comfortable posture but mostly because in the 11 years I had been riding by then, I had NEVER ridden behind a 'barn door' as we used to call fairings. Well, the RS fairing is definitely NOT a barn door and I found that out right away the first time I rode one. Eventually the 76-79 year bikes became my favorites and over the years I have owned one or more of each model except an RS. This year I found a 1977 RS needing restored and finally added one to my garage. I can’t tell you why it took so long except that it’s the only two wheeler I’ve got that has a fairing so it MUST be a search for riding comfort in my old age that has finally brought me to this moment. :-)

[ducatipaso]

I was about 13 years old. It was 1980. My dad painted one for a friend. He took me for a ride on it and I have been a beemerphile ever since.