Gift horse

In July 1979, the good people at BMW built an R80/7, which at the time was the workhorse of their lineup. Not as high-performing or advanced as the RS (with its wind tunnel designed fairing), nor as sporty as the R100S, not as specialized as the R100RT or the R100T, but bigger than the newly introduced R65. It was a no-nonsense, capable motorcycle conceived to give its user versatility and cover a wide range of uses. They built this particular one to a "full optional" specification having, most notably, twin disc brakes at the front, cast wheels (the infamous early version snowflakes*), the 'S' fairing, side panniers with mounting brackets, and a touring handlebar to name but the most readily apparent upgrades.

It has a bit of a special history to us. For the longest time it was the personal bike of a dear family friend, a keen and intrepid motorcyclist with no sense of danger or personal safety, who took it as far as Scotland and other long voyages across Europe, racking up many happy adventure-filled miles. 

Due to unfortunate circumstances though, the bike ended up relegated outside the back of a hangar, and there it stayed, decaying in the elements for over 10 years at least (my guess is close to 20, judging by the looks of things).

Meanwhile our friend evolved and went through several high capacity motorcycles, including Adventure KTMs, one of which he rode all the way to Iceland. At some point this BMW emerged, and because it was no longer something he would use, he decided to part with it, but because he had such a connection to a machine that took him on so many adventures in his youth, he wanted to make sure the bike would go to a good home, and gifted it to my dad.

He in turn promptly set about tearing it down for a rebuild, and we decided that what we wanted for this particular bike was to keep it as close to stock as possible, including its somewhat faded appearance, to honor its provenance. 

It has obvious patina, a word I'm not fond of as it's just a fancy way of saying "damage", but it's acceptable damage for what is really a neat, matching numbers bike that's over 40 years old and whose mission going forward will be to tour in comfort and to be highly practical, useable and reliable.

This is going to be a slow project, I suspect many moons will wax and wane before it's ready to ride once more, but rather than wait until then and write up the whole thing in one go, I though it would be better to go by chapters, as it were. So, buckle up!

*There was a factory recall for 19″ front wheels, as some could crack under hard use. Thankfully the wheel on this particular motorcycle appears to have been replaced with the reinforced type. More on this in a future post.