1956 bmw r50

[frichie68]

Hi Rubone,I'm glad we can share our experiences riding the BMW 100. Great picture , USA and CA are a large area - your wife bike looks much better than RS - joke.
My trip on the photo was to the Alps with my daughter.Unfortunately, the weather spoiled the plans.After rainy days, we had one beautiful day, my daughter took most of the photos on that day.We had one day for Stelvio and Gavia Pass and a quick return home
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5uetOQEBjGc

Very nice video & music, Jarek, looks like a memorable trip despite the uncooperative weather!
(My R80RT was the same color as yours!)
Rich

[Jarek]

Hi Jarek,
Here is my 1980 R100RS on a trip across the USA, waiting for a ferry from Bar Harbor ME to Nova Scotia CN. We are standing behind my wife's Honda VFR 800.
DCP_0189.JPG

Hi Rubone,I'm glad we can share our experiences riding the BMW 100. Great picture , USA and CA are a large area - your wife bike looks much better than RS - joke.
My trip on the photo was to the Alps with my daughter.Unfortunately, the weather spoiled the plans.After rainy days, we had one beautiful day, my daughter took most of the photos on that day.We had one day for Stelvio and Gavia Pass and a quick return home

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5uetOQEBjGc

[joe fxs fxr]

All those BMWs with sidecars are just screaming out for a dog with goggles to go for a ride! LOL

[Skirted]

a fellow I ride with has a few airheads (I get confused over the /2,3,4 etc. designations...so I don't know what he was riding in this picture ). If we stop for gas we keep track of who is approached first at the pumps with a phrase like "I like your bike, what year is it?" . I think the BMW's are more popular in those situations, my theory being that more people are around that remember 60's vintage bikes than those that remember older bikes like my Chief!

Sorry to hear that Harry.....you must be riding in upper class neighborhoods.
PS glad I'm not the only one who gets confused on the numbering system.

[pisten-bully]

...a fellow I ride with has a few airheads (I get confused over the /2,3,4 etc. designations...so I don't know what he was riding in this picture ). If we stop for gas we keep track of who is approached first at the pumps with a phrase like "I like your bike, what year is it?" . I think the BMW's are more popular in those situations, my theory being that more people are around that remember 60's vintage bikes than those that remember older bikes like my Chief!

[C.Flint]

While early American four cylinders are my favorite, those /2 bikes seem to make themselves part of the family. This rig is a lot of fun. I found the 1963 R69S rusting under a blue tarp years ago and later added the Steib LS200 from a pile of parts. IMG_0698.jpeg

[frichie68]

Hey Rich, did you sell that CJ750 as a 43 BMW? OR have the title "fixed"? It looked cool though!!

I was lucky, swapped it for a car with no change to the title! The buyer was aware of the title glitch & since then has sold it again.

[Jim]

My first foray into antique bikes-and sidecars was this CJ750 (CJ=Chinese Junk). The title read "1943 BMW", both incorrect. My first ride to get it home was "interesting" but only 9 miles . . . of twisty 2-lane, up hill from 7500 to 8800' elevation with the last 2 miles of steeper gravel/dirt road. It was fun to drive-when I could get it to run & got more attention than I wanted when it didn't run.
Rich
last day cj .jpg cj750-5.JPG

Hey Rich, did you sell that CJ750 as a 43 BMW? OR have the title "fixed"? It looked cool though!!

[frichie68]

My first foray into antique bikes-and sidecars was this CJ750 (CJ=Chinese Junk). The title read "1943 BMW", both incorrect. My first ride to get it home was "interesting" but only 9 miles . . . of twisty 2-lane, up hill from 7500 to 8800' elevation with the last 2 miles of steeper gravel/dirt road. It was fun to drive-when I could get it to run & got more attention than I wanted when it didn't run.
Rich
last day cj .jpg cj750-5.JPG

[Rubone]

IMG_0182.jpeg Rubone, I had a 1977 first year ? R100RS in the early 80's and it did everything well but there is something about the clunky old slash 2's I find more appealing. In Steve Jobs biography it mentions he had a slash 2 Beemer installed in the office building foyer as an example of "quality" and hopefully inspiration to employees. Maybe it should have been a Honda ! LOL Of course he dropped a lot of acid

Nice RS Barry! My '80 is a transition model so cast air box, a bit of early and late scattered around it. It is also a big bore kit, ported with light collars, triple valve springs, radilal bearings on the rocker arms, a factory sport cam, lightened flywheel, dual plugged, suspension mods, Telefix and billet top tree, etc. It still is too long and unwieldy with a hinge in the middle if pushed hard, clunky gearbox, but I still really enjoy it.

[PRG]

Howdy chaps,

In the mid 90’s a friend of mine called me, he’d just bought an extremely low mile R69S, I rode out to find the machine in the first 4 images at my Misc. BMW gallery below. His plan was to strip it down and paint it green, he was willing to part with some of it. I bought the hand hammered and numbered Heinrich Fairing which I still have along with its mint set of original 100mm mufflers. Any R69S owner knows how quickly these can rot, they are on mine now. Oddly he kept the lowers and the apron which I couldn’t fit under anyway. It later showed up at Daytona, now a solo, quite shiny in a shade of John Deer green and Akront’s, lathered with stainless to include the mufflers.

https://petergz.smugmug.com/Motorcycles/BMW/Misc-BMW

[grease monkey]

IMG_0182.jpeg Rubone, I had a 1977 first year ? R100RS in the early 80's and it did everything well but there is something about the clunky old slash 2's I find more appealing. In Steve Jobs biography it mentions he had a slash 2 Beemer installed in the office building foyer as an example of "quality" and hopefully inspiration to employees. Maybe it should have been a Honda ! LOL Of course he dropped a lot of acid

[grease monkey]

somewhere in the 40 years since this ad the originally fitted Heinrich ? fairing was changed for the Avonaire on my bike.
Here also is one of the last photos my friend Steve Ciccalone sent me . I understand that Pop Dreyer mastered those Flxis on the track which apparently was not easy but to ride one on the street ?
I would definitely make an exception if I was lucky enough to own this R47 outfit. IMG_6688.jpg IMG_0887.jpg P1050793.jpg

[PRG]

Howdy Robbie,

Looking at that tasty Hoske tank reminds me I paid less for my R69S in 1992ish than a good Hoske cost, an oil pump driven mechanical VDO tach and a pair of mirror/spotlight Hellas. In the late 80’s the bikes were $1500-2000 but the accessories and side cars were expensive. Nothing like an early R100 RS, I rode a first year wire wheeler, couldn’t get the ergonomics/aerodynamics right for my height no matter what bibs I fitted. Got the 1981 R100RT at the link below. Probably should have kept that one, my attitude is totally different now. A good honest simple motorcycle compared to the confounding complexity of BMW’s current offerings.

https://petergz.smugmug.com/Motorcycles/BMW/1981-BMW-R100-RT

[Rubone]

Finally a thread worth reading . Ha, ha, just joking but I do love classic Beemers. Last year I picked up a 1964 R60 with the rare /2 -12 volt option (usually for police bikes) I have yet to investigate how BMW engineered that, most likely nowhere as elegantly as Peter's BTH conversion however it seems to be functioning well. The previous owner fitted a nice Steib s501 but did not attend to the bike's requirements as the bike has alloy rims and solo gearing. The sidecar will be sold. My favourite thing about the bike is the Avonaire fairing. Thanks Peter for posting all that great in depth info on your beautiful R69S. Did I ever mention to you that I did eventually acquire that front number plate for my ss100 ? Thanks for the alert on that as well. IMG_7314.jpeg

Another Avonaire, however a bit rough, and a Wixom Ranger up there too, like the one in the pic!
DCP_4090.JPG slash 2 with wixom fairings.jpg