1978 BMW R-Series

6123814Z

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0 false 18 pt 18 pt 0 0 false false false 1978 BMW R80/7 I purchased this bike in 2001 from the original owner, he had it for 23 years. It had 51,247 miles on it when I purchased it. Now, sixteen years later it has 52,392 miles on it. That boils down to 72 miles per year. I am now 75 years old and, as I have given up flying, I will now give up riding. I will give up breathing some day, but I hope not for some time. Over the sixteen years I have owned it, I had the bodywork taken off, repainted a shiny black and re-pinstriped as it was originally produced, at the same time I added a Rifle mini fairing. The windshield on the fairing has some small stress cracks at two of the mounting screw holes. It really didn’t detract from the looks of the bike in any way, so I never bothered to order a new piece of Plexiglas from Rifle. After the paint fully dried and cured I put a quilted tank cover on the tank, and it has not been off since, as I use a magnetic tank bag. I was not happy at all with the original seat, so I had Corbin build me a long solo seat with a bit more padding than the original. I had replaced the tires and the rear coil over shocks several years ago and had the front struts resealed just because it seemed like it should be done. I had the clutch replaced a few years back. I put a top of the line battery in some years back with a smart charger feeding in through the accessory socket just in front of the rear shock. I also used this socket to plug my heated vest into in the winter. I noticed that the valve cover gaskets are weeping just a bit. There is some surface rust on the bars and some surface oxidizing on the engine case along with a bit of sawdust and accumulated dirt on the whole bike. I am sure if I took the time to really clean this bike up it would look pristine again, I just don’t want to devote the time to it. Everything works as it was originally built. I have the original hard bags. I did not need the extra space, nor did I like the look, so I removed them. It has never been dropped, raced or abused. I want to sell it because I need the room in my woodshop for other things and I just don’t see myself using it anymore. This bike is almost forty years old. I wish I were only forty years old. The bike presently has an antique tag which makes the full coverage insurance just over $100. annually. I think I have an agreed value of just under $5,000.00 for the coverage. I moved the bike out of my shop to take some pictures of it. It started after about ten seconds of cranking as I always run the carbs dry when I put it away. I rode it around my parking lot for a while and everything works as I remember it did. I have all of the original keys for everything the ignition, the fork lock, the seat lock, the gas tank, the bag locks and I even have the very rare original folding ignition key that when folded, looks like a pivot point for the headlight. I also have the original “Rider’s manual” that came with it. I am a motivated seller, but one who will not be willing to give it away just because I would like the room. At this moment I have moved it to another garage I own and it is sitting next to my 02 BMW M3 convertible. If need be, the two of them can just sit around together increasing in value and talk about all of the changes they have seen in the world since they were produced.