Old but Gold

[soofsayer]

Last December I had the crazy idea that what I really needed in my life was another bike so I could pop into town without the size of the GS or the thief attraction of the HP4. I have always wanted a cafe racer style ride and liked the idea of the r9t when they launched. However I wanted to try something out that wasn't going to cost the earth and wasn't perhaps just a catalogue bolt on parts job.

I took some advice on old BMW bikes from Stephen over at Grahams Motorcycles and ended up buying a 25 year old K75 off one of his guys, Bill, as a project for him to get MOTd and ready for spring. Ex police RT. This is what he showed me:

To be honest it was a mess.

We agreed on some work Bill would do on the bike and a date of March 1st was set for delivery.

Of course it came and went with no bike but last Friday it finally arrived.

I'd love to tell you how it handles, but I can't just yet. The starter motor stopped working when we tried to start the bike when Bill delivered it on Friday. Lol. Old school. Should be sorted later this week. I hope.

So it is a work in progress. If I like the girl it will go back to Bradford next winter for more money to be spent. If not it will go to eBay.

I think it'll fit right in.

 

[alex]

Great stuff, glad to see it finally at home . Nice colours, though Jimmy might try to steal the seat

What's the hole in the tank for? (each side) It's not clear in the pics.

 

[Loupe]

Cool bike Soof! I think that will be a lot of fun taking it out for town runs.
The guys have done a nice job restoring it too. The 3 Amigos look good in the man cave :woot:

 

[JimmyMac]

Great stuff, glad to see it finally at home . Nice colours, though Jimmy might try to steal the seat

What's the hole in the tank for? (each side) It's not clear in the pics.

Many a truth said in jest Alex, haha. I think the holes were where the side fairings used to clip into when the bike was an old copper like myself.

Looking good Andy, loving the big chunky tyres.

JimmyMac

 

[soofsayer]

Great stuff, glad to see it finally at home . Nice colours, though Jimmy might try to steal the seat

What's the hole in the tank for? (each side) It's not clear in the pics.

Thanks Alex. I think the holes are as Jimmy said. White is what it was and is what is on the V5, a lazy decision. Bill suggested the seat colour from an old GS seat on a bike in the workshop and I think he got it spot on. The bit on the tank will need addressing during its hibernation over winter, the seat unit itself is beautifully hand made and the rear BMW roundel is embroidered. I will end up growing a long beard at this rate.

Cool bike Soof! I think that will be a lot of fun taking it out for town runs.
The guys have done a nice job restoring it too. The 3 Amigos look good in the man cave :woot:

Thanks Paul. Can't wait to ride it. Bill said the suspension was hard on account of the weight loss so I'm forewarned. Yikes. I'll see if I can live with it until hibernation.

Many a truth said in jest Alex, haha. I think the holes were where the side fairings used to clip into when the bike was an old copper like myself.

Looking good Andy, loving the big chunky tyres.

JimmyMac

Thanks jimmy. The tyres were a bit of a find, they had the look I was after but still great on road, and conveniently in the sizes I needed. I have heard that the really knobbly ones are terrible to ride and handle. Bad tyres with no abs or TC I thought I'd be pushing my luck .

But of course for now I only know how they handle when the bike is being pushed around my driveway.

 

[Budgie]

Looking good that Andy, love the colour mate, it looks like it's pepper white (mini) colour? Will you be breaking into the 1 min 30's on the Tyco trackday with this new beast.

 

[Gazzy]

Great stuff, glad to see it finally at home . Nice colours, though Jimmy might try to steal the seat

What's the hole in the tank for? (each side) It's not clear in the pics.

They're for the tash wax dispenser to attach to.

 

[Flyingscotsman]

Cool looking genuine one-off! Beats the modern retros 10x over

 

[Snow]

So thats 3 bikes i need to keep an eye out for now!! Should be easier to spot than the gs anyway. How did u swing 3 bikes with your missus?

 

[soofsayer]

Thankyou for the comments. I was thinking more of a beard than a tash but that would be easier lol.

How did u swing 3 bikes with your missus?

Lol. My garage, I pay the bills. It's how it is.

I got my first ride on it this evening. Bill and Stephen from Graham's Motorcycles came over earlier to fix the non start issue that took the wind out of bills sails last Friday. Bill had it fixed in minutes so we headed to the pub for a celebratory drink, with a very quick test ride on the way. It needs some more bonding time next week, but the first impressions are really good, better than expected for a 25 year old 3 cylinder bike. I do have breakdown cover .

 

[soofsayer]

Some pictures of the bike build in various states:

 

[soofsayer]

A few fettles this week. Added pillion pegs, carbon wrapped the battery to make it blend in with the bike and plastidip sprayed the front mudguards black to see how it looks before painting. I think it looks better. Having new front springs installed on Thursday as the ride was on the granite side of hard.

 

[FreudianSlip]

Looking very nice - very nice indeed.

 

[Stephen]

The mudguard looks better in black [emoji106]

 

[soofsayer]

A long afternoon yesterday over at Stephen's place having new front fork springs installed and a low fuel warning light (lol). The ride had been really hard and not nice. On the way home I wasn't convinced the new springs had made enough of a difference.

Went out for a blat this morning on some local country lanes to test.

The new progressive springs have made the front so much smoother, along with changes I made to the rear rebound this morning the ride is transformed to smooth and compliant. I was surprised just how much difference tweaking the rear shock by a few clicks made to the handling overall. Every day is a school day .

 

[alex]

Glad you're starting to bond with it

 

[FreudianSlip]

I'm happy you've released Stephen back in to gainful work now - he's got a power cable to build for me ya know.. anyway, I've also agreed that due to delays in fabrication that he's going to put the cable costs on your bill.. hopefully he doesn't get it the wrong way and my ten quid power cable costs me much more for forks/springs/godknowswhatelse

Looks like you've created something that you can both get older with happily

Every days a school day huh - man, am I in trouble - Havent turned up for 30 odd years now - wonder how much detention thats going to cost!

 

[soofsayer]

Glad you're starting to bond with it

Lol. Perseverance. I wasn't thinking that when it died on me 3 times after leaving Stephen's garage yesterday early evening. There were a few heated words said inside my helmet as I turned it around and pushed it up a hill which sounded very much like 'should've got the r9t'. Wasn't far away so managed to get it back to the garage just before they went home, dodgy fuel pump plug, resolved in minutes, the 'joy of vintage' as Stephen's Dad Graham commented .

 

[andyf]

Looks good, but somebody forgot to install the indicators and rear lights...

 

[alex]

Looks good, but somebody forgot to install the indicators and rear lights...

Look at the top of the number plate.