Saturday, April 2, 2016

Lost One Gained One

Mike is (once again) the proud owner of a 1982 RT100 BMW.  I dropped it off at his domicile after we gathered for coffee this morning.  He and Speedy have been missing it and I just haven't been showing it enough attention or deserved affection.  I pulled up this one's spreadsheet and printed it out for Mike's reference ......exactly 1700 miles on it since he sold it to me back in November 2012. 

Here's hoping that they'll put that many miles on it in one season instead of 3 it took me to get that far.


Rolled off the trailer, it took a bit for the cold-blooded beast to settle into a rough idle.  I'd loaded it on the trailer last night and this morning it was covered in an inch of fresh snow.  Today's nasty NW wind wasn't helping ANYthing to warm up.  Mike had the downstairs parking garage door open and as I rode the still-rich-running German machine to his allotted parking spaces, I saw this interloper taking up what I'd expected to be BMW-space.


Now the word's out on this stealthy secret of Mike's (I never got this memo)  He beat me to sidecar ownership and I'm quite happy about it.  This of course means that a new T-shirt is called for, one that says "If you can read this, she's in the sidecar" rather than ".......she fell off".

Here's the one that took the Beemer's physical space in my garage.  Dad's 1980 GS850 Suzuki that's been sitting very still for more than 15 years.  He and mom had some very good times on this one....




Not sure what I'm going to do with it right now.....I've got time to think about its future.  One thing is certain, it won't see any riding miles in '16.

18 comments:

  1. The big GS is a handsome look'n bike.
    Get'n it road worthy again may require some serious elbow grease and carb clean'n.. but in the end it would be well worth the time. I'm sure it has many " smiles " left in it. :)

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    1. It was my rewarding ownership of a '79 that convinced dad to get this '80. There were just little things....I always liked mine better.

      This one's future TBD.

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    2. your suggested T shirt has been ordered ! :)

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    3. Hope all that arm twisting didn't cause any permanent damage :)

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  2. didn't you put a bunch of miles on one of those
    rmo

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    1. I did, had this same number of miles on in just a few years rather than the 20 years this one ran. My black one took me into Mexico, my 4 month trip to New England, the Maritimes and Newfoundland too.

      Absolutely one of my favorites.

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  3. The Suzuki is a nice addition to the stable. A good trade off for the BMW since it adds nostalgia from your father.

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    1. Brandy it does and yet needs a lot of work. In season that my seem a lot more palatable. Right now?? Uh uh.

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  4. The Suzuki looks quite in good shape, given its age. I guess I'd lose the fairing but other than that a great addition.

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    1. Sonja, it certainly wasn't worn out. All the years of resting haven't been very good for it. My first thought a few years ago was "lose the fairing" but I'll have to find the headlight and nacelle. Almost seems I remember it overhead in the garage but maybe not. There's some sort of threshold for what I'd spend on it, not sure what that might be.

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  5. I wonder how good a tug that Suzuki would make.....hmmmm

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    1. Now that's intriguing Dom. With its gearing and wide powerband, it could be a natural.

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  6. I'd lose the fairing on the Suzuki. I've never liked to looks of the Windjammer though I've never ridden anything that had one.

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    1. I grew up with them Richard and they were actually nice to ride behind. Sometimes buzzy, especially so on some of the Fours. In some ways it's era appropriate, possibly a good enough reason to leave well enough alone.

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  7. I'd keep the fairing, spent many miles behind one and thought they were great, ugly yes
    rmo

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    1. Succinct RMO and I agree completely. I did almost 100K sitting behind them with only fond memories. They were such a big deal when Mr. Vetter came out with them. I had its baby brother on another bike and that was actually much sleeker and yet effective.

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  8. Awesome bike, love reading your blog. Thanks for the post.

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