5
535IS
Guest
Take this as my intro post. 
I am not yet officially a Beemer Guy because I have a Honda to move out before the Airhead moves in. But I just joined 'MOA and I expect I'll be hanging around this particular forum because what's coming is this:
It's 'Motorsport Special' #6088534, dom 1/78, and it's reposing quietly near Akron, Ohio, awaiting my pickup soon. As the '0' in the S/N suggests, it is a Euro-spec model (kickstart, yeah!
), having been essentially abandoned in Akron some 20 years ago. The buyer at that time needed a title and I knew how to get one (legally, in fact). My fee was first refusal when it was time to go. So almost two decades later, he sent me some emails and we made a deal I can't refuse.
As a 'bike guy', I'm kinda' new. Only been riding about 20 years, having started late. My '95 Shadow VLX is only my second, following an '86 Shadow 500. I loved the VLX the very first time I rode one and, in fact, bought the one I rode from its original owner (Divorce can be a wonderful thing - for the bystanders.
) and I've loved it for a decade. Well, except for no weather protection to speak of (I knew that going in.), not enough gears (C'mon, Honda! A four speed?), and only the small soft-sided bags you can sling over the pillion for luggage. Still, I like a narrow-angle V-twin engine with a single pin crank for 'that sound' and it is a stunning looking little cruiser that fools more people than it should into believing it's one o' them 'H-D' things. If this Beemer weren't available, I wouldn't part with it. I got no real interest in going fast without a roof over my head (in the form of my '88 535is) and I hadn't really planned on any significant road trips. But this is a matter of honor as much as anything. Anybody you don't hear from in over 15 years who remembers a promise like that ... even my wife understands, which is rare when it comes to my BMW 'toys'.
Yeah; I go back over 20 years with BMWs and with BMW CCA. Started out with a 2002 during BMWnospaceCCA days and had a handful of partials thereof (I figure I own about 1?¢ of them right now, if you include all the pieces - but no whole car), still have the Bavaria I bought next (cracked block due to an unfortunate Wisconsin 'anitfreeze incident'), and I'm now on my fourth E28 5 Series. It's the car I just don't want to live without - amply evident by my username here. I'm wildly involved in the cyber-group MyE28.com, which I highly recommend for anyone (Bill?) living with one of these beasts.
It came down to this: If I was ever going to have a BMW bike, this is the one it had to be. I've ridden one or two newer ones and wasn't thrilled (But I got a free Victorinox knife!). This is Old School, just like my car. There's not much I can't wrench on myself on an old E28, and I like that even if I don't have self-parking like the new 'No-Brainer' model Lexus. The Shadow's carbs crapped up and I wanted to rebuild them - only I couldn't get 'em out!
The BMW has those lovely Bings hanging out there begging to be rebuilt just for the hell of it. I'm (marginally) more mature, so I not only want to look good while riding, I want to feel comfortable as well. The BMW has two advantages in having that big ol' RS fairing:
I'm mostly past my 'dropping the bike for No Damn Good Reason' days - unless forgetting to put the kickstand down is 'No Damn Good Reason'. But I can usually remember the lesson of that one (The bike falls over.).
So now you're stuck with me for awhile, I suppose. Unless 'MOA has excommunication procedures more easily implemented than 'CCA's.
After I get more comfortable with the forum software, I'll fix my sig; maybe come up with an avatar. For now, though, I'm 'generic' and I gotta go find the Port Washington folks down the road from me. L8R. 
I am not yet officially a Beemer Guy because I have a Honda to move out before the Airhead moves in. But I just joined 'MOA and I expect I'll be hanging around this particular forum because what's coming is this:
It's 'Motorsport Special' #6088534, dom 1/78, and it's reposing quietly near Akron, Ohio, awaiting my pickup soon. As the '0' in the S/N suggests, it is a Euro-spec model (kickstart, yeah!
), having been essentially abandoned in Akron some 20 years ago. The buyer at that time needed a title and I knew how to get one (legally, in fact). My fee was first refusal when it was time to go. So almost two decades later, he sent me some emails and we made a deal I can't refuse.As a 'bike guy', I'm kinda' new. Only been riding about 20 years, having started late. My '95 Shadow VLX is only my second, following an '86 Shadow 500. I loved the VLX the very first time I rode one and, in fact, bought the one I rode from its original owner (Divorce can be a wonderful thing - for the bystanders.
) and I've loved it for a decade. Well, except for no weather protection to speak of (I knew that going in.), not enough gears (C'mon, Honda! A four speed?), and only the small soft-sided bags you can sling over the pillion for luggage. Still, I like a narrow-angle V-twin engine with a single pin crank for 'that sound' and it is a stunning looking little cruiser that fools more people than it should into believing it's one o' them 'H-D' things. If this Beemer weren't available, I wouldn't part with it. I got no real interest in going fast without a roof over my head (in the form of my '88 535is) and I hadn't really planned on any significant road trips. But this is a matter of honor as much as anything. Anybody you don't hear from in over 15 years who remembers a promise like that ... even my wife understands, which is rare when it comes to my BMW 'toys'.Yeah; I go back over 20 years with BMWs and with BMW CCA. Started out with a 2002 during BMWnospaceCCA days and had a handful of partials thereof (I figure I own about 1?¢ of them right now, if you include all the pieces - but no whole car), still have the Bavaria I bought next (cracked block due to an unfortunate Wisconsin 'anitfreeze incident'), and I'm now on my fourth E28 5 Series. It's the car I just don't want to live without - amply evident by my username here. I'm wildly involved in the cyber-group MyE28.com, which I highly recommend for anyone (Bill?) living with one of these beasts.
It came down to this: If I was ever going to have a BMW bike, this is the one it had to be. I've ridden one or two newer ones and wasn't thrilled (But I got a free Victorinox knife!). This is Old School, just like my car. There's not much I can't wrench on myself on an old E28, and I like that even if I don't have self-parking like the new 'No-Brainer' model Lexus. The Shadow's carbs crapped up and I wanted to rebuild them - only I couldn't get 'em out!
The BMW has those lovely Bings hanging out there begging to be rebuilt just for the hell of it. I'm (marginally) more mature, so I not only want to look good while riding, I want to feel comfortable as well. The BMW has two advantages in having that big ol' RS fairing:- It's warm and
- It obscures my fat ass (better looking, at least from the front)
I'm mostly past my 'dropping the bike for No Damn Good Reason' days - unless forgetting to put the kickstand down is 'No Damn Good Reason'. But I can usually remember the lesson of that one (The bike falls over.).
So now you're stuck with me for awhile, I suppose. Unless 'MOA has excommunication procedures more easily implemented than 'CCA's.
After I get more comfortable with the forum software, I'll fix my sig; maybe come up with an avatar. For now, though, I'm 'generic' and I gotta go find the Port Washington folks down the road from me. L8R. 
