whatever happened to your old bike?

do any of you wonder what ever happened to your old bike, especially the one you wish you'd never sold?
my first beemer was a silver 1973 60/5 that I bought new from Poke's in Seattle... it had the small tank with no chrome panels on it, very sleek. it was a great ride of course- took me to the s.w. a couple times as well as a daily n.w. year round rider back then as it was my only transportation.
every now and then i just wonder who ended up with it or if it is still around.
tomj

Yep, every once in awhile I come across an ignition key to my '85 GPz900 'Ninja' (Red/Black) the (second) original SPORT/Tourer. I traded it in for my '93 YZ250 and gave up on street riding for a few years. I'm sure someone bought it, whether they killed themselves or wore it our, I'm not sure, they probably got some speeding tickets with it though.

I saw one Red/Silver at the '01 Seattle Bike Show amongst the 'Classic Bikes' and asked myself, why didn't you just keep it.

Amazingly, I just rode 'Threeflys' '06 'Connie' (Kawasaki Concourse) and realised it's the same engine that Kawasaki built way back in 1984. It felt familiar, but toned down and geared up...

It was a fine bike.

All the others went (that I had) to the junkyard, worn out and trashed.

Doc

(I did sell both my newer dirt bikes both YZ250, both new owners were happy with the bikes they bought, I knew one well and he raced it after buying it, the other guy called me once a few months later and thanked me for getting him back out on the trails, with totally radded out Pro-Curcuit built race bike)

I had an 86 Honda Sabre (700cc) with fairing that I loved. Life circumstances forced me to sell it and I practically gave it to a car dealer on a trade.

Fast forward 10 years, and I saw a guy riding it down the street in the same neighborhood I sold it in. I knew it was mine from the unusual stickers I had put on it. I followed him into the parking lot and told him it was my old bike. He thought I was nuts.

I was glad to see it still going. It would be another five years before I got my first beemer.

My first bike was a Kaw 1972 H1 500 triple. I do not miss it at all. If you wanted to go anywhere on it you had to go over it with a fine tooth comb or you would be on the side of the road doing it. The 79 Honda CX 500 was the next best that I had. It need more power for long travels. In 82 I started looking for a new bike almost bought the Honda Saber but looked at the maintenance side. I have always wanted and BMW. New dealer open in the area bought a 1982 R65 that I still have and plan on keeping. I have added and 1975 R90 in 1985 and couple years ago a freind wanted to sell his 1980 R65 I added it to my stable. After working for a Hond/Yamaha Dealer for 5 years as the Service Manager I am glad that I do not what any of the Jap bikes. Do'nt get me wrong the make good bikes. It is just that after a few years parts can be hard to get, alot of dealer may or will not work on them when they are 5 years or older. Some of what I would call minor work can be costly. I think I will stay with my BMW,s. I did get lucky when our local dealer sold out and the new owners dripped the BMW line I was able to buy all the tools. I would still keep my BMW,s.

Don

I wonder all the time...

I know where my first BMW is, it's setting in my garage or being ridden to work every day.

My first motorcycle was a darling little gold Honda CB100. I traded it in to a small town dealer for a Yamaha DT250. I have absolutely no idea what happened to that little bike. I know that the owner of the shop (he ran it out of his garage) was riding it himself for awhile, because he liked to putt around on it. I suspect that it is at the bottom of some junkyard someplace, or leaning against an old abandoned barn out on the prairie of North Dakota.

MINE, too! I know where....

'78 BMW R100/7, 28 years later still in my garage! I ride it every day. I've had countless other Beemers since, but they came and went. Current stablemate to R100 is KLT1200. The R gets ridden more locally! I bought the R on Valentines Day,'78(brand new) and won't ever forget the day or sell it. It will carry me to Vermont this year'06, as it was ridden by me to the Vermont National 'MOA Rally in Rutland that year I bought it in'78....I'm looking forward to the ride, all 8000 miles of it! I'm in CA. Happy Trails, Randy13233 PS;280000 on it now!

I've only ever parted with one bike (I'm on my second one now). It was a 1985 K100RT and I had rescued it from basket-case status and lovingly refurbished it. All it needed was a paint-job. Then one day I lowsided it and destroyed most of the fibreglass. I couldn't afford to replace all that so I started fixing it back up as a cafe-racer (if you can imagine a big heavy K-cafe...). Then it developed the dreaded starter-clutch problem many early K's had. It sat for while, as I was unable to repair it. I then purchased The BatBike and sold the K to a clubmate who muttered something about using for a sidecar project or something, but did say it would sit in his yard for a bit before he got around to it. Oddly enough I never saw or heard from him again, so I can only guess that the bike is still in his yard.

i sold my 75 r90s (the s stands for something). it was pieced together from some /6 and some s parts. it was my first beemer. i learned a lot about airhead electrical gremlins from that bike. the previous owner had "modified" a lot of things. i got to sit on the side of the road on several occassions and think about his choices.

i sold it to a guy from southern illinois (i think that's where he was from). i'd love to know what happened to that bike. maybe someone's seen it?? if he didn't repaint it you'd remember it, its corvette yellow.

the previous owner called it ol' yeller, i called her jugs.
here's a really bad pic.

blake said:

the previous owner had "modified" a lot of things. i got to sit on the side of the road on several occassions and think about his choices.

Click to expand...

ha! that sounds familiar

I sold my R90/6 to a guy in Jersey. one of the Bol d'or red ones, you hardly see any of them, but somone here posted a pic of theirs.

My first street bike was a 67' BSA 250cc Single, Starfire I think. Purchased for $25 from my sisters boyfriend it was not running and I was 13. Within a few weeks I had it going and had to hide riding it from my parents, I still got caught. I sold it to a friend for $350 about a year later. Sometime after that he perished on the bike and it was destroyed. Phil was the live hard die young type and did not survive past his teens.

somewhere on the olympic pennisula lies my R100, although i'm not quite sure where.

My first motorized two wheel vehicle was a Progress scooter. The Progress was a cross between a scooter and a motorcycle; a 200cc scooter with large regular bike wheels. I sold it to a high school class mate. Daytona BMW vintage sold one a while ago. The value has certainly gone up.
First real motorcycle, while my friends were busy buying Hondas and Yamaha Twin Jets. I picked up a nice 1947 Triumph T100 scrambler with original straight open high pipes for $400; stood out from the crowd. In those days straight pipes were OK. Amongst the quite hum of the Hondas and the ring-ding of the Yamahas, the throaty rumble of the Triumph was, should I say, quite manly. Very important to a 19 year old.
In the mean time, I had been eyeing Bultaco's and Ossa's. When Yamaha introduced the DT250, I took the bait and then rode dirt exclusively for many years. The monetary demands of following the enduro circuit required much long distance traveling and competing consumed the motorcycle budget. There were no funds for a street bike.
I eventually moved back into street riding with an R90S and later, the first edition of the oilhead, an R1100RS, next the Bakker, and now the 1150GS.
What ever happened to the old bikes? The drive train from the R1100 was used in the Bakker and it is now in Bob's BMW collection, the others I have no idea.
It's been fun.

Motard

SNC1923 said:

Fast forward 10 years, and I saw a guy riding it down the street in the same neighborhood I sold it in. I knew it was mine from the unusual stickers I had put on it. I followed him into the parking lot and told him it was my old bike. He thought I was nuts.

Click to expand...

Although not about my first bike, this made me think of an experience I had with my first vintage Beemer... is that close enough?

I got a '61 R60/2 as a basket case. I put it together and had a running rat bike. Then I took it apart and restored it. Just after this, I was out enjoying a great Sunday ride on it, and then returned home. As I put the bike up on the stand in my garage, I saw that there was a guy striding purposefully up my driveway. So purposefully, in fact, that he had left the door to his car open, while it stood idling in the middle of my residential street.

Had I cut this guy off, unknowingly? Not that I could recall. I just couldn't think of why this was happening.

Salvatore is an ex-pat Italian, and had always loved the BMW bikes. He had always wanted one of the low, black bikes he remembered from his younger days. Finally, he found a pristine bike while he was working in the US, and bought it.

One day shortly after he bought the R50/2, he was returning home from work when his eye caught sight of *his* /2 riding the other way, past him. He couldn't get turned around, so he sped home, only to find that his bike was still parked, lovingly, in his living room with it's wall to wall champagne colored carpet.

He saw me a couple more times before he was able to follow me home. We talked about our bikes, and I got to see his bike on its home turf. I gave him an extra neverbest petcock that he needed, he gave me an Italian silk tie. Eventually he moved back to Italy, and I think he gave the R50 to his son...

The R75/5

Back in the day, the early 80s, I had a 1971 white R75/5 with the big tank. It had been owned by a BMW car mechanic, but the receipts will tesify that he only worked on cars. I sweetened it up nicely and got it running smooth and strong. I found some black and metal-flake purple Buco tear-drop bags at a garage sale for $10 and color matched them white with an accent stripe the blue of the roundel. I tightened up the suspension, replaced the wiring harness, and lavished on its cosmetics which it took to nicely. I rode it and rode it and never stopped being amazed how trouble free and capable it was. I convinced myself I needed a bike with a 5 speed transmission and sold it to buy a more modern bike (Yamaha XV 920 "Euro")

I saw the white R75/5 a few years ago in the used bike line up at the local BMW dealership. It pained me to see that it had endured a lot of neglect in my absense. (it crossed my mind but I did not buy it back)

Russ

My first bike was a Honda 400F it was a great great bike(1974 I think). Next was a Kaw 900Z1 It was way too fast..Lost my driver lic on the Honda..never got a ticket on thr Z1 they could not catch me. Drive a 1975 R75 now.. i`m a lot slower ...

1973 1/2 R75/5....still have it, it's too good to get rid of.

The Beemer List

#1: '73 R75/5 LWB "Gertie"-My first BMW (1974-83)
Traded to a HD-BMW dealer who rebuilt it and it blew up on its next owner soon after sale and dissappeared from DMV records

#2: '83 R80RT "Enterprise" (1983-86)
Totalled in '86 by suprise left hand turn by car-sold+rebuilt and totalled in '96 again by a suprise left hand turn by a truck. Bones in backwoods of NC,waiting to be reborn.

#3: '86 K75T "MAX" (1986-91)
Totalled in '91 by a judge making a suprise left hand turn (sounds familiar). Rebuilt into a K75RS and lives near Daytona FL

#4: '86 K75T "Sam" (1991-2000)
Rebuilt in 2004-5 after 120K miles. Restored in Greensboro, NC

#5: '63 R75/2 with Steib LS-200 sidecar "Ike & Mamie" (1988-91)
Sold to Bob Henig/afterwards separated: LS200 in NJ, R75/2 in Colorado

#6: "77 R75/7 with Watsonian sidecar "Queen Mary" (1991-present)
Well run and looking for a new owner for it.

#7: '96 R1100RTL "Valdiz" (2000-present) Current main bike
So far.....so good

1967 BSA Lightning 650

This wasn't my first bike (I bought a new 1966 Yamaha twin 100 when I was sixteen) but the BSA Lightning was the one I would dream about, like I would find it in the garage once again or be sitting on it at a stop light watching the familiar vibratiion of the front end. Well, I sent an email this summer to the friends who would know what the email subject "The Bser is Back!" meant.

I tracked down the Bser and was able to buy it back after 36 years! I have had a ball this summer and have put 2000 miles on it . It all started when I got the bug to get a bike again (I had been without one for almost two decades)--I figured a Triumph or BSA ewould be fun. Then I got the idea to see what happened to the Bser. I had sold it in 1971 to do my final year of college (I was married with my first son on the way and needed the money.) I made a phone call to a car dealer in my small home town of Galion, Ohio, who had mentioned the bike to me once. He knew one of the owners and I started with him. He told me who he had sold it to and I finally arrived at the present owner. When I talked to the current owner he really didn't want to sell it, but had not got around to doing much with it for the several years he had owned it. It took two weeks of bugging him, but he agreed to sell it to me for what he had in it. It looks great from 30 feet or at thirty miles an hour and that is good enough for me. The red and chrome gas tank still looks fantastic. One owner had rebuilt the engine and another had put new carbs on--the bike ran better in 2007 that it did in 1971. Riding the Bser this summer got me the bug again and I ran into a 1981 R100RT with only 6500 original miles.

So--The Bser is back! Warm summer evenings I can be found putting around town. Weekends now find me on the BMW piling up some more serious miles.

Happy biking to all of you!

Between race bikes dirt bikes street bikes I have had over 35, that's right I am not sure how many. Any way early on a couple of my old bikes were involved in accidents. With not very pleasant endings. I found that knowing something that brought me so much pleasure led to pain and suffering for others, made me not want to know what happened to them after they passed from my care.