1980 BMW R-Series

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THE SHORT STORY This auction is for one very low milage 1980 R100 with matching engine and frame numbers. The drive train is 100% stock, from the crankshaft rotor bolt to the rear drive splines. Most everything else has been either non-destructively modified or swapped out for aftermarket and vintage BMW parts for the sake of lower maintenance and retro styling. Everything is in excellent mechanical order. Starts on the button and goes like a berzerker. Shifts smoothly through all gears and pulls strongly through all rpms. Ready to roll. Turn key and turn heads. THE NOT-SO-SHORT STORY I bought this bike last Fall in Vermont, where I live when it's livable, and I hauled it with me to Florida to work on over the Winter. The guy I bought if from wasn't riding it much, so he kept it garaged. It was originally an RT (of course); the original red smoke paintwork (notorious for fading) looked nearly new, so I promptly sold it all on eBay to pay for the cafe build. The bike had around 36K on the clock, and I have seen no reason to doubt the veracity. For example, the oil pan came off with one tap and the old gasket peeled of with no complaint. Actually, everything on it came apart more easily than any airhead I've ever worked on. For another example, when I pulled the jugs I found the original white factory o-rings at the cylinder base and oiling channels. The old spark plugs and carb internals looked good, so it seemed to be burning gas correctly. I put in new plugs, new points, new battery, new oil sender, new miscellany. The old battery had overflowed onto the subframe and swingarm, so that looked pretty cruddy, and (of course) the pushrod tube seals were shot, so it had been slowly barfing oil all over the bike's nether regions. Since I had to pull the jugs to do the pushrod tube seals, I figured I had best replace the head gaskets, valve cover gaskets, and whatever else turned up. The motor was tight as a drum even before I re-sealed the top end. Prior to pulling it apart I did a proper leak-down test (with blocked flywheel) and got less than 5% on both sides. (If you are unfamiliar, this indicates good intake & exhaust valves/seats and piston rings.) While I had the heads off, I removed the pulse-air injection system -- correctly -- by plugging the holes with M12 drain plugs/crush rings, hot, with Loctite red. (The lazy way to do it is by capping the ports with brass acorn nuts -- effective, but ugly.) I replaced the hulking rectangular air filter housing with pods (de rigeur for this sort of thing) but if you (the buyer) want the stock box it is yours for the asking. To be honest, I can tell no performance difference, but it looks pretty neat, no? MODIFICATIONS I hate old disk brakes, and this bike had three of them, so I scared up a nice set of /5 drum-brake wheels. I performed a full service on both -- i.e., heated the hubs, pulled & cleaned the bearing stacks, lapped the wedding rings for preload, re-installed correctly (hot hubs, frozen stacks). While apart I went ahead and turned down the inner spacers, so in future you can service the inner bearings without pulling the stacks. I trued the wheels, and when I mounted the stock Metzelers (ME33/ME77) each wheel balanced with a single weight. The /5 fork lowers bolted onto the original stanchions no problem. I added the necessary drum-brake hardware to the original 32/11 final drive. All splines are in excellent shape. The rear shocks are adjustable Mulhollands, which are quite a bit stiffer than stock Boges, and a bit stiffer than Konis on max. I like suspension on the stiff side, but if you would prefer softer shocks I can swap them out for a set of (clean, stock, shroudless) Boges. The vintage Tomaselli drop bars mounted with no fuss (unlike, say, 7/8" bars from a Triumph) and paired well with the rear-sets to preserve the famously neutral handling. The welding on these bars is insanely clean. No one makes them like this anymore. I like the bars wide, but if you prefer a narrower setup you could probably chop off as much as 2" on each side. The lower/wider reach seems to work quite well; for comparison, I personally find that stock S (Euro) bars feel just about right, whereas I find US bars too wide and squirrely, and RS bars too narrow and heavy. I paired the customized rear-sets with folding Denfeld pegs from a /5 to preserve BMW look and feel. They're set back and up a bit, but not too extreme. I much prefer this position to that of the Raask rearsets, which cramp long legs, and which have mounting plates that splay foot position too far apart. Gripe, gripe. To show fitment, I have included a pic of me on the bike: I stand 6'1" with a 34" inseam and 42-L jacket -- basically the prototype BMW rider. The seat is built on a stock /6 pan with about 1" of foam; seat height is maybe 1" lower than stock, so combined with the lower/closer clubman bars this bike may work for a shorter rider than most. I used /5 headlight brackets to push the bucket out farther, which allowed me to tilt and drop the instrument cluster while negotiating the cable re-routing. The handlebar switchgear is stock; I drew up the long RT cables inside the bucket rather than chop them down. One simply cannot purchase terminals of the same quality as OEM, so I always keep as much wiring intact as possible. The ignition key is an aftermarket unit with screw terminals that allow for multiple spade mounts, hence I was able to wire both park and run positions without modifying the harness. For some reason I rarely see the front parking lamp working (or even installed) on these, so I made sure it did on this one. A compact sealed battery is cleverly stowed under the seat; bar-end indicators and compact tail/brake/plate combo light complete the cleanup. Wiring for the accessory instruments and rear turn signals is still in place. The RT had many removable sub-harnesses, so I was able to clean up the wiring without a lot of snipping. Rear combo lamp is a stock 12V dual-filament bulb. (IMHO, LEDs are only appropriate on Japanese street fighters.) Both the rear brake pedal and the front brake lever actuate the brake light. This is important for some of you! (For example, you must have both to pass inspection in Vermont.) To do this, I mated a plunger switch (same as on clutch lever perch) to the terminals previously hooked to the under-tank master cylinder cable switch -- again, no mods to the harness. Fortunately, as the R60/6 model still shipped with a front drum brake, Magura simply continued to provide for switch mounting on both perches for all models. Details, details. The tachometer, odometer/tripometer and idiot lights are all in working order. I replaced the original 80-mph speedometer mech (and face plate) with a 140-mph unit, because this thing laughs at 80. The original was a 1.078; the replacement is a 1.244, which would have originally been paired with a 37/11 final drive; this change of ratio brings the speedo closer to an accurate read, but as you (should) know, BMW has never been famous for their speedometer accuracy. If this does not make sense to you, please see "Snowbum's" website; Fleischer explains gear ratios in detail better than I. What more can I say? I'll shoot and upload some videos this weekend, or whenever it stops raining. Any questions? Ask away! (But: there is no Buy it Now price. I turn down cash offers nearly every time I park it anywhere. Good luck!) FINE PRINT This bike is currently registered in my name in Vermont, which does not issue titles to old vehicles. When you register an old car or bike in Vermont, a local DMV or police officer looks over the bill of sale and does a VIN verification to make sure it isn't stolen or whatever. What you will get from me, papers-wise, is a Vermont bill of sale as well as my current Vermont registration certificate, which has blanks on the reverse side for transfer of ownership. If you need an actual title in hand in order to register an out-of-state vehicle, I don't know what to tell you, other than: due diligence is the responsibility of the buyer. I expect a $500 non-refundable deposit within 24 hours of auction close, via PayPal only. I then expect the balance to be paid within 72 hours of auction close, via cashiers check or money order only. I will not accept PayPal for the balance. If and only if you bank with Bank of America, we can do a wire transfer for free if you prefer. Pickup and/or shipping is the sole responsibility of the buyer. The bike must be picked up before April 20, beyond which things would get very inconvenient indeed, as I would no longer be in the same state as the bike. I could deliver the bike along the Eastern Seaboard, between Port Saint Lucie FL and Norwich VT (basically, anywhere along I-95), between 4/21 and 4/28. I would be renting a trailer and riding along in someone else's van, so this would cost you a flat non-negotiable $475, paid in advance, whether you live in Savannah GA or Boston MA. We will not be detouring west (New Orleans, Chicago, etc.), so please don't bother to ask. Otherwise, do look into shipping options before you bid. Shipping a bike costs money! How much? Don't ask me, ask U-Ship. The eBay site will tell you all about it.On Apr-03-14 at 21:02:27 PDT, seller added the following information: So, here's a demo video, below (hopefully -- that is, if the link/embed code is working). I don't know what's going on with YouTube right now, but I cannot seem to get a video uploaded that doesn't look like crap. I shot this on my GoPro at best quality, I tried pre-compressing it out of QuickTime player, etc., but YouTube keeps massacring it. Any suggestions? Anyway, I'll try to get another and/or better video uploaded soon. On Apr-03-14 at 21:04:38 PDT, seller added the following information: Oh great. So it looks like the embed code is NOT working. No video. I can't beat my head against this for any longer today (it just passed midnight), so I'll try again tomorrow (Friday 4/4). Argh. On Apr-04-14 at 08:27:01 PDT, seller added the following information: