Looking to buy an R100s for my first airhead - have a bunch of questions

[patiodadio]

Call Holt BMW for an eye opener on the cost and time line for a repaint.

For sure $$$$$

 

[patiodadio]

I have a friend with a 78 R100S. It has been repainted to metallic red . Nice clean machine, I think he is asking $5800

 

[georgej]

Beautiful bike. That's exactly the bike I have been shopping for. I like the 1977s because of the spoked wheels.

Beautiful .... Something about that bike is just perfect.


mullet
Bend, Oregon

Thanks for the compliment. She's a keeper.

 

[alancoles]

Beautiful bike. That's exactly the bike I have been shopping for. I like the 1977s because of the spoked wheels.
Beautiful .... Something about that bike is just perfect.

mullet
Bend, Oregon

Thanks for narrowing down what period bike it is you're looking for, should assist folks better focusing their advice.

This will give you a good overview of the differenes between the various model years. It will also provide a year+ of reading if you start going through everything available in Snowbum's self proclaimed "messy & verbose website".
http://bmwmotorcycletech.info/models.htm

Keep in mind that with spokes you will need to run inner tubes. Not a big thing, just something to remember.

Regarding parts, most everything is available directly from BMW and what little isn't is almost completely covered by the aftermarket. Three years ago, Max BMW built an R90S completely from new parts from BMW with the exception of 5 parts that are no longer available from BMW but there are aftermarket sources for those parts or the original can be rebuilt.

Don't worry too much about the prices you've read regarding painting the bike. The price doesn't change because it is a BMW, it would be similar costs for any bike, so it is just a matter of what you want. I saw bikes over 40 years ago with $2,000 paint jobs ($10,000 in 2017 $'s). However, I had one of my Norton Commandos painted for roughly $500 2 years ago to a very nice standard and people typically say "that's nice" - not great but above standard, the paint job on my other Commando cost many time that and people saw Wow, so the cost is really a function of the result you are looking for and has nothing to do with a BMW itself (unless you are trying to re-create on of their special editions such as the "smoked" schemes and to a lessor degree the motorsport jobs).

You will also read a lot about this issue or that issue, and those are valid things to be aware of, but don't be put off by them. Some folks jump to the mistaken conclusion that because the BMW community discusses these issues so much that BMWs (as a brand) have significantly more problems than other manufacturers. That is not the case. The reason you see so much written about issues is that the "average" BMW is ridden far more miles per year in it's lifetime and typically has a significantly longer life-span than most other makes.

The great thing is:
most issues are well documented and good fixes have either been done by the factory or the aftermarket
parts are available to a far greater degree than most other makes
airheads are quite easy to work on yourself

A few years ago I attended a Rally that was exclusive to a specific airhead model (the R90S 40th Anniversay Rally). The number of riders that rode their 40-year-old bikes across the continent and back was truely inspiring.

You must be forewarned however, once you start down this road you might get so engrossed that it starts to take up more of your time and interest than you'd imagined, so enter with caution and enjoy. ;-)