OK, who knows Motorsports?

20774 said:

Here are a couple of brochures of the time...
http://www.omnilex.com/public/bmw78/78p1.jpg
http://www.omnilex.com/public/bmw78/78p4.jpg

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HA!!! Nostalgia...
I used to stop at Brown's Motor Works in Pomona CA on the way home from work on a regular basis for my drool session. I would pick up brochures as if I could afford to actually buy one. Bob Brown put up with me. He eventually got me as a customer for parts and service but never one of these new bikes. I ran down in the basement to check in my box of mags and brochures and I still have the brochure linked to above with the Brown's Motor Works stamp on it. I thought that it looked mighty familiar.

535IS, does your bike have slit fairing lowers? I can barley see the split below the cylinder. I thought they were solid until later models (post 1980s??) Any idea when they changed from solid to split?

Dave H
San Antonio, TX

535is said:

Well, there is some information here.

First, folks, it is 'Motorsport' as in the then-current name of the racing division, "BMW Motorsport" (later changed to "M"). Not 'Motosport'; not plural.

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I appreciate your information, but fwiw more that one motorsport is refered to as "motorsports". As in "200 Motorsports were produced".

According to the website you linked, US Motorsports had VINs starting with 616 for the "S" models and 618 for the "RS" model.
Like Bikerfish, the model in question is possibly an "Austrian" bike closed-out by Butler and Smith, both facts of interest to me as the bike I'm researching is badged R100RS, yet has an S fairing.

535is said:

It does not have any stripes on the wheels and it is not pearl white; it's just plain (off-)white. I'm still trying to find out if this is Alpinwei?ƒ as on BMW cars or Polizeiwei?ƒ as on the police bikes. It originally had white mudflaps that hardened and fell off (I have the pieces.).

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According to this website, the Motorsports were "Motorsport White".

http://www.bmbikes.co.uk/schemepages/schemer100rs.htm

Produced in: Polaris Graphite; Startos Silver; Dunkel Red; Alaska Blue; Pearl White; Alaska Blue/Madison; Police White/Bright Minz Green; Gold Metallic; Silver Metallic; Motorsport White; Ocean Blue (Blue Motorsport); Dunkel Blue/Hell Silver. Motorsport Pinstriping: 113 Red; 114 Hell (Light) Blue; 115 Dunkel (Dark) Blue. This list may not be comprehensive. Not all colours would be available in all markets or for all years.

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1978 R100RS MotorSport (original paintwork). Police White/Rennesport Red (Code 133). Taken from The BMW Club Journal, July 1978: Limited Edition R100RS - For the record: During the second week of May, 50 dealers from Britain were guests of BMW in Munich when the white R100RS's with rallysport stripes and white panniers were launched. 150 of them will be sold (and I think by now have been) in Britain at the cost of ?ú3,300 each.

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Extremely nice Motorsport, 535i.

Bigrider said:

535IS, does your bike have slit fairing lowers? I can barley see the split below the cylinder. I thought they were solid until later models (post 1980s??) Any idea when they changed from solid to split?

Dave H
San Antonio, TX

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not sure about other versions, but i can confirm that the 1978 "Belgian Polizei" RS-Red upper fairing & bodywork, Metallic Dark Grey lowers, Gold pinstriping Euro spec'd- had the vented lowers. I believe that the general changeover on the front grills came about around '82 on the RT & RS models.

the change in the lowers happened in 78, 77s reguired header removal to take off the lowers and to do an oil change,(enter the hinged oil filter) grill change in 81 and then back when the monolever rs came out in 88( the grill style is available in primer( around 60.00) riding with either seems the same,but the diode board and mounts seems to do better with the air provided by the grill type.

The interesting thing about the first bike in questionis that it has obviously been modified, the "S" fairing is frame mounted, either with the kit from San Jose or a homemade job usually using a "RS" fairing mount modified to fit the "S" fairing. And I agree those Jan Jose cool covers are distracting to the eye.

dkilmer said:

The interesting thing about the first bike in questionis that it has obviously been modified, the "S" fairing is frame mounted, either with the kit from San Jose or a homemade job usually using a "RS" fairing mount modified to fit the "S" fairing. And I agree those Jan Jose cool covers are distracting to the eye.

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Once again, it may have been a poor choice of pics, or maybe not. I picked it because it was the NICEST Motorsport picture I found on the interwebs. The modification may cloud the picture. OTOH, since the bike I'm interested in, AFAIK, is one of the '78 R100 RS Motorsports with an S fairing, maybe that's important. It would be good to know if the "S Fairing" variants used the RS fairing mount modified to accept the S fairing.

Here's the deal: There were 1369 "616XXX" R 100 S built for the USA

USA models registered
(Within 6162501 -
6163870 (or 6165000)

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There were 1591 "618XXXX" R 100 RS' built for the USA.

USA models registered
Ca.200 for US distribution.
Within 6182001 - 6183592

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Among these, "some" (most sources agree on 200) were badged as "Motorsport", although I have never found a definitive source as to how many of each model were made, or if 200 of each model were made. Anyway, they are pretty rare, regardless. When you take into account that some 25 R 100 RS Motorports were built with "S" type fairings, built by BMW for special order, not modified by owners or dealers, you have what is arguably the rarest of all modern BMW Motorcycles.

This, and $2.50, will get you a cup of coffee at Starbucks, unless you have documentation.

dlearl476 said:

According to this website, the Motorsports were "Motorsport White".

http://www.bmbikes.co.uk/schemepages/schemer100rs.htm





Extremely nice Motorsport, 535i.

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Somewhere I have the paint code and I can use the Glasuit site to compare it to Police White. I once did the reasearch as I was going to paint my 2002tii "Motorsport" colors.

EDIT:

Just found it. The paint codes I got from BMW were:
Motorsport White 083
RennsportRot 133
Hellblau 114
Dunkelblau 115

So that makes it "Police White", as that's the same paint code.

My S variant (S fairing, S badged motor) had the standard handlebar mounted fairing. I did see at least one of the S/RS modles during that time period, and its fairing was also mounted in the standard S fashion- using the fork mounted brackets. My guess is that any frame mounted version was done as an owner's modification.

Bigrider said:

535IS, does your bike have slit fairing lowers? I can barley see the split below the cylinder. I thought they were solid until later models (post 1980s??) Any idea when they changed from solid to split?

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Yes, it does*; and no, I don't.

dlearl476 said:

I appreciate your information, but fwiw more that one motorsport is refered to as "motorsports". As in "200 Motorsports were produced".

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Yes, a plural is 'Motorsports', but a single one of them is not, as an earlier post suggested it might be.

1978 R100RS MotorSport (original paintwork). Police White/Rennesport Red (Code 133). Taken from The BMW Club Journal, July 1978: Limited Edition R100RS - For the record: During the second week of May, 50 dealers from Britain were guests of BMW in Munich when the white R100RS's with rallysport stripes and white panniers were launched. 150 of them will be sold (and I think by now have been) in Britain at the cost of ?ú3,300 each.

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Extremely nice Motorsport, 535i.

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Thank you. And thank you for finding that quote. This is the information I've relied upon to conclude that the one I have is probably one of those 150 ... unless there were more made for the Continent. Its last European owner was apparently a German whose last known address before Akron was Paris - and he hauled his bike to the US with him, so it would be no surprise to me to learn that he'd originally gotten it in the UK.

Last evening, I was finally motivated to call an old friend back in Ohio who had owned a Motorsport RS, bought new. He sold it about 2 years ago to someone near Atlanta (in case anyone knows of a 250K+ Motorsport there) and he opined that the Krausers were an option. While the US brochure doesn't show them (or any frames), this blurb clearly mentions the white panniers that I have, so I will continue to maintain that they were original to this bike.

The Motorsport S is an intriguing piece. Pretty, and certainly even more shrouded in mystery than the RS, it strikes me as something that BMW would 'Motorsport' (comparable to the M3 while the RS would roughly equate to the M6). But I've got enough on my plate keeping up with the Motorsport RS, so I'll be little help from here on. I am always glad to answer questions (if I can) about the particulars of mine.

* Do you mean the side-to-side slots in the front lower fairing or the vertical slits in the side lowers? Whichever it is, yes, mine has them. FWIW, these parts are also date-stamped inside and I believe at least one of the lower sides and the front are original parts.

535is said:

Its last European owner was apparently a German whose last known address before Akron was Paris - and he hauled his bike to the US with him, so it would be no surprise to me to learn that he'd originally gotten it in the UK.

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Speedo in MPH or KPH? I don't know where '78 is on the European Union or USA's aborted metric conversion timeline, but weren't UK bikes/cars of that vintage MPH and Continental ones KPH?
Then again, the original owner may have been forced to change it in order to import it.

The Motorsport S is an intriguing piece. Pretty, and certainly even more shrouded in mystery than the RS, it strikes me as something that BMW would 'Motorsport' (comparable to the M3 while the RS would roughly equate to the M6). But I've got enough on my plate keeping up with the Motorsport RS, so I'll be little help from here on. I am always glad to answer questions (if I can) about the particulars of mine.

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It is. The "lore" is almost as intriguing as the bike. What I wouldn't give to hook up with a former employee of Butler and Smith. Or, knowing the German penchant for record-keeping, someone from the factory in that era.
I wish they had a research dept. like Porsche does.

dlearl476 said:

What I wouldn't give to hook up with a former employee of Butler and Smith. Or, knowing the German penchant for record-keeping, someone from the factory in that era. I wish they had a research dept. like Porsche does.

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BMW does...it's called Mobile Tradition...there was an article on it in the latest MOA News.

Have you emailed Andreas Harz at BWM Mobile Tradition with your VIN? They will check the records and report back whatever information they have on the bike. It might not be much, but things such as build month/year (you already know that), how it was originally equipped, and where it was delivered.

20774 said:

BMW does...it's called Mobile Tradition...there was an article on it in the latest MOA News.

Have you emailed Andreas Harz at BWM Mobile Tradition with your VIN? They will check the records and report back whatever information they have on the bike. It might not be much, but things such as build month/year (you already know that), how it was originally equipped, and where it was delivered.

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The last time I tried that with MT, I got the build date on my R75/5 and the color code, both of which I already knew. I didn't email Andreas, just used the MT web-mailer. I was looking for more in-depth info as the bike was supposedly a euro model with rare police bags. My experience with MT is that it's more "auto-centric".

Thanks for tip, I'll try again.

There is supposedly a "Birth Certificate" one can purchase, maybe $80, that might provide more detail. I've never heard from anyone who has gone this route to see if the $$ provides worthwhile information.

dlearl476 said:

Speedo in MPH or KPH? I don't know where '78 is on the European Union or USA's aborted metric conversion timeline, but weren't UK bikes/cars of that vintage MPH and Continental ones KPH?
Then again, the original owner may have been forced to change it in order to import it.

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It's metric. I ride down the road constantly multiplying by 0.6 in my head to figure how fast I'm going: "OK; 0.6 x 120 = 72 ... plus the 2 from 60 = 74 ... plus the .02 x 20 = 0.4 ... 74.4 ... ah, 75 mph."

140 kph really throws me off.

Motorsports

The metrified speedometer on my Canadian oiler RS is a pain to use in the U.S. I don't know why BMW can't install dual speedo faces for the North American models.

Rinty

rinty said:

The metrified speedometer on my Canadian oiler RS is a pain to use in the U.S. I don't know why BMW can't install dual speedo faces for the North American models.

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All you gotta do is multiply by 1.7 ...

motorsports

I'd have a real good time if I did that!

I don't have a problem with 50 km/hr, 100, 120, or 130. It's the going into towns with a series of signs: slow to 50 m.p.h. , slow to 40, slow to 30, etc....

But to convert to km's in my head, I basically double the miles and knock off a bit, and just hope the "bit" is close to the local gendarmerie's comfort zone.

I'd rather concentrate on looking for kids, dogs, driveways, etc.

Rinty

CC Products Valve covers ???

Me thinks the fancy schmancy valve covers on the original pic of this thread are the expensive CC Products jobs made in the 80's and early 90's.

They were sealed with an O-ring around the perimeter...this allowed metal-metal contact with the head.......allowing better heat transfer. If I remember correctly, Kermit's RS has 'em also..............

I'm lookin' for a pair !!!