B
budamy
Guest
Well now....
My first bike was a Cushman Eagle I received as a present on Thanksgiving Day in 1954. Rode that thing for two years and just about wore it out. Sold it to my cousin for $100 and didn't ride again for 36 years.
My neice had bought her boyfriend a new Honda Shadow 700. (Nice to have a few oilwells in the backyard) When they broke up she said, "My bike, right here, now". It sat there on the side of the carport for three years in the rain. One day she asked me if I wanted it and sold to me for $500. Over $1K later, I had a great bike. I rode that thing from LA to Indiana, North Carolina, Conn and all over Texas, putting many K miles on it. I had been told a few times that that bike, 700 cc, was too small to tour on. Hell, I was comfortable on it, running 70 mph all day long. Problem was that any mileage over 300 miles depended on how much pain in the butt I could stand.
A couple years later, a friend of mine had a stroke that killed the left side of his body with no chance of recovery and asked me to buy his bike....he needed the money so I wrote him a check and went to see the bike. It was a BMW '79 R100 tricked out with Mikunis, Cafe fairing and a big buck suspension system. I rode it home. Compared to the Shadow, I was on tip toes just sitting there so when I got home, I parked it under the port cache and there it sat for 6 months.
I decided to go up to Indiana from LA to visit my daughter living in Fort Wayne. I decided to take the BMW and if I couldn't live with it, I would stop along the way and trade it for something I could ride. I left south LA late in the afternoon and RON in Jackson, MS. Easy ride. Next morning, I left Jackson at 0430 and by 10pm I was in Fort Wayne. Tired, yes, but no pains other than hyperthermia that I couldn't dial a phone.
Stayed two days in Fort Wayne and went along my way to South Haven, Conn to visit my son and on to Fayetteville, NC to visit another daughter. When I got back home, I ordered a set of BMW shocks that lowered the bike by 2".
I stuck two BMW shocks on it lowering it by 2" and it became my #1 bike and sold the Shadow to a friend.
Since then there has been a '82 R100RT, a '95 R1100RS which I still have and it's stable mate, a '74 R90/6 with a Ural sidecar which has become #1 in the stable.
Lyle Grimes finally convinced me to get my 100K BMW badge and I am working on the 200K now. Won't be long.....had a bunch of miles already for the 200K. This year, I have taken the hack rig to San Carlos, MX and last month up to Creed, CO. No sore butts yet and 700 mile days on the R1100RS are normal for a long trip and 550-600 mile days on the hack on long trips.
So I found BMWs because of a favor to a friend and in the end, he was the one that did the greates favor.
Oh well........
budamy
My first bike was a Cushman Eagle I received as a present on Thanksgiving Day in 1954. Rode that thing for two years and just about wore it out. Sold it to my cousin for $100 and didn't ride again for 36 years.
My neice had bought her boyfriend a new Honda Shadow 700. (Nice to have a few oilwells in the backyard) When they broke up she said, "My bike, right here, now". It sat there on the side of the carport for three years in the rain. One day she asked me if I wanted it and sold to me for $500. Over $1K later, I had a great bike. I rode that thing from LA to Indiana, North Carolina, Conn and all over Texas, putting many K miles on it. I had been told a few times that that bike, 700 cc, was too small to tour on. Hell, I was comfortable on it, running 70 mph all day long. Problem was that any mileage over 300 miles depended on how much pain in the butt I could stand.
A couple years later, a friend of mine had a stroke that killed the left side of his body with no chance of recovery and asked me to buy his bike....he needed the money so I wrote him a check and went to see the bike. It was a BMW '79 R100 tricked out with Mikunis, Cafe fairing and a big buck suspension system. I rode it home. Compared to the Shadow, I was on tip toes just sitting there so when I got home, I parked it under the port cache and there it sat for 6 months.
I decided to go up to Indiana from LA to visit my daughter living in Fort Wayne. I decided to take the BMW and if I couldn't live with it, I would stop along the way and trade it for something I could ride. I left south LA late in the afternoon and RON in Jackson, MS. Easy ride. Next morning, I left Jackson at 0430 and by 10pm I was in Fort Wayne. Tired, yes, but no pains other than hyperthermia that I couldn't dial a phone.
Stayed two days in Fort Wayne and went along my way to South Haven, Conn to visit my son and on to Fayetteville, NC to visit another daughter. When I got back home, I ordered a set of BMW shocks that lowered the bike by 2".
I stuck two BMW shocks on it lowering it by 2" and it became my #1 bike and sold the Shadow to a friend.
Since then there has been a '82 R100RT, a '95 R1100RS which I still have and it's stable mate, a '74 R90/6 with a Ural sidecar which has become #1 in the stable.
Lyle Grimes finally convinced me to get my 100K BMW badge and I am working on the 200K now. Won't be long.....had a bunch of miles already for the 200K. This year, I have taken the hack rig to San Carlos, MX and last month up to Creed, CO. No sore butts yet and 700 mile days on the R1100RS are normal for a long trip and 550-600 mile days on the hack on long trips.
So I found BMWs because of a favor to a friend and in the end, he was the one that did the greates favor.
Oh well........
budamy