1973 BMW R-Series

2998247

Low-verbiage version inserted up front because I was just asked "Do you want to sell a motorcycle or wax poetic about it while trying to be entertaining?" To which I answered "Why can't it be both." So, here's the low-bandwidth version, then the version I first wrote and like better: ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- I'm selling my 73 BMW R75/5 that has the long wheelbase, both types of fuel tanks available for it, and the most popular fairing and saddlebags that were available for it. Please buy my motorcycle and give me a lot of money for it. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Original version: Trying again but with a LOT more pictures and a low reserve. Selling an unmolested, beautiful 1973 BMW R75/5 that's in excellent condition mechanically and cosmetically. I've owned literally hundreds of bikes in my life and "The Brave Little Toaster" has earned a special place in my heart, but I'm in ruthless simplification mode, so she gets to be someone else's trusty steed. And as charming as this bike is and how perfectly it just is what it is, it ain't my style. I'm ready for another Gold Wing. A scoot that'll let me nap on the longer rides. Let's go over some of the details that people who are interested in such bikes care about. Negatives first: When ridden fairly aggressively, gear oil ends up on the back wheel. I don't know these bikes intimately enough to know if that's as much a part of its DNA as the smoke cloud at startup when you use the side stand (imagine my surprise when my 05 K1200LT did the same!) or if I'm overfilling, or something needs adjusting or replacing. Me, I clean it up and call it good. The aforementioned startup cloud that you can see from Google Earth if you time it right. Okay, exaggeration, but until I had a brand new K bike do the same, I wondered if it might not be a valve guide and seal issue. I haven't quite gotten the hang of positioning the pushrods when adjusting valve lash, so to my ear the valvetrain clicks too loudly. I suspect it's pushrod positioning; not lash. It's always right on the money though I haven't tried tightening up the lash as I've seen suggested because I like an air-cooled engine's exhaust valves to spend as much time closed (and cooling) as possible and have seen too many burned exhaust valves on other bikes despite having at least some lash. There's a small tear on each side of the seat that's pretty hard to see, but knowing it's there is enough to really bug me and probably anyone who'd purposely search for an old BMW on eBay. There's minor rust spots on the right muffler that, if they're going to come out, are going to need more aggression than I want to use. I like naked bikes, but I guess now that I'm old I prefer looking at them rather than riding them at 70+ mph. But I just can't get myself to like the looks of the fairing and bags and know it knocks the fuel economy into a cocked hat along with the acceleration it otherwise has at highway speed. Positives: You make new friends at every fuel stop and sometimes at stop signs. It's a great example/minor variation of the concept of "Set it and....... Forget it." Fuel, oil, an occasional loving or respectful removal of some of the bugs on the front and the dust on the rest and the most mental energy you'll ever put into this bike is remembering where the key is. It demands nothing from you. Ever. Just start it and it's ready to go 5 blocks or to one of the coasts; whatever floats your boat at the time. I've got the idle set so low that on a pretty hot day I'll have to blip the throttle occasionally, not to stop it from dying, but to get enough oil pressure to turn off the light. I love how stupid low you can get this bike to idle. You can actually count the revs as it just sits there ticking over so slowly my old Ford 2N keeps going "Sucker's gonna stall anytime. Like right now... Well, dang! You just wait. It will." The 2N doesn't realize just how insane it sounds having this conversation with itself out loud for half an hour as the Beemer taunts it. And I'll thank you to not comment on the fact that I'm aware of this conversation and what said awareness might say about me. Besides, in my defense, the Beemer can attest to these conversations as it's heard them too and just the other day said "Und wo ist dass stuck de scheisse Ford jetzt? Ich habe langsamer-laufen gern." or something like that. It doesn't speak English, but I understand "Ford", so I think it's telling me how much it admires the talkative 2N that's 30 years its senior. I think the second item bears repeating and rephrasing. This thing is friggin' OLD but looks and acts like it's a new bike. Designed by someone who hasn't quite made it out of the time of "Peace, love, and, like, wow man, quit nuking the whales. Far out." I've learned that really is BMW DNA. No matter how old one of their machines is, if it's cared for enough to just plain run at all, it likely feels like you're riding it out of the crate. Has the toaster tank on it for those who, like me, think it's too cute for words, but also has the bigger tank for those who might want to really go obscene distances between refills. I figure that tank would be good for about 400 miles or so. No thank you. That many miles and I'd be worse than numb. Speaking of numb, the engine makes the vibration felt in the seat a side-to-side one rather than the Harley's front-to-back. Get the carbs a tad out of synch and it's more pronounced. I disavow any knowledge of why this might be a positive or a negative and especially why it's in the positives list. I can certainly see why a fairing and bags are good things and I like them; just not on this bike because to me they're just hiding a really great-looking bike. But I've got them and though, not being Deutsch, the years haven't been as kind to them, they're not too bad either. VIN and Engine Number are the same. I'm not used to this, actually, because I'm more of a Japanese bike collector, and they usually don't ship from the factory with numbers that're even in the same order of magnitude, but to me the matching numbers thing just says the Germans like things to be orderly and make sense. Like we didn't already know that. But it also isn't mch of a surprise to me because this doesn't seem the kind of bike often requiring engine replacement. Anything else and you'll want to check out any of the many online resources about this bike, like that it makes 50 horses and in its day it was a big, fast motorcycle and having seen it indicate 110 with me laying on the tank, I can attest to its ability to go fast, though if you're upright, it's pretty tapped out at around 80. The pictures probably tell this bike's story the best, so I'll shut up and put 'em up. Thanks for reading, bid early and often, and give 'er a good home.