I been pushed around, robbed, raped, seduced, entranced, hyponotized, cajoled, sold, bought, transported, stranded, set up, knocked down, kissed, injured and lied to....not bad for my first bike! There are 7 people on the planet that can work on these things...700 with websites.... My wallet's bloody and my knuckles hurt.... It's all true and nobody believes it.... It's a /2, and it's one hell of a story....I'll get around to that part shortly. Here's a start: I think about perspective writing this , as I have none, or I have many. In my case, the title, First Ride not only pertains to the machine, but also extends to the owner, First Rider. Marvelling at the long distance exotic destinations...I read the BMWON monthly,I now have 12 issues. I cannot compare myself to those who've ridden for 20, 30, 50 years, as I've been riding less than 20 months.... I've not witnessed the evolution of the motorcycle, the introduction of on board electronics, the Interstate Highway System, like some of the more seasoned riders. But at 54 years of age, I made the decision to ride. This was diametrically opposed to a lifelong commitment to NOT ride...after all, everyone I'd ever known who'd ridden a motorcycle, had been injured, maimed or killed doing so. After all...there are too many vehicles on the road these days. Lack of driver training, common sense and respect for law, only make motorcycling FAR more dangerous than ever before! Then one day, the spring of 08', gasoline cost $4.35/ gal.in SE NY...hmmmm.....maybe a motorcycle would be a more cost effective alternative? Maybe just a little commuter bike......? The next morning, I receive a call from Cousin Stan...(he's been riding for years}...I think I've located a good bike for you...if you're interested..... Yes I am...let's do it.....and I agree to buy a motorcycle. For economical reasons....(snicker, snicker...) A month later, Cousin Stan arrives from Ohio, with his R69S and my bike, a 1965 R60/2 with 49K, both jammed into the bed of his midsized pickup... The game is afoot... Stan's been riding R Series Airheads for years. Own's several. He knows and has met most of the legends of BMWdom in the US...how could I go wrong if he's recommended this bike for me?... Perspective indicates that ignorance is bliss... And we ride...I am instructed on how to start and make go a mid 60's /2.... Perspective now indicates that little emphasis was put on stopping and controlling a/2, while NOT touring down the road....and I dropped it...at a standstill...putting it on the centerstand...and strained myself several times learning how to pick it up off the ground. The first month was spent terrified of falling over at stop...or slow curves...I did both until learning how to stop and negotiate slow curves and tight spaces. Indeed, how to handle the bike when it's not running. I was too cheap and anxious to take the MSF Course. Perspective now says stupid and dangerous...but I survived. I rode for month's, illegally. I got a learner's permit, but put on a coupla thousand miles alone learning how the bike would react to me...and me to it. I took my road test on the R60...the test giver person was stunned!. "I've never SEEN an older motorcycle...!" In the end she gave me my liscence because she liked the bike...NOT because of my skills...a strange perspective, but typical of NYS... Meanwhile, my new-to-me 45 year old motorcycle is acting like what it is...a 45 year old motorcycle desperately in need of slinger service, electrical overhaul, a ton of TLC, cleaning and fresh tires... So not only am I learning how to ride, I'm repairing the thing as well, often as I'm riding!.... And ride we did...my heart in my throat at all times, not knowing if the oil was going to suddenly cease flowing to the crankshaft, main bearings, because the slingers were full.... But, there was now a NEED to ride....whenever the Sun came out and there was an extra 2 hours...we now went for a ride....some normal activities became secondary to riding...fishing and boating started to take a back seat to riding....I was doomed....I put 5000 miles on "Jezebel" before the New York winter forced us inside...and Jezebel put 5000 miles on me. Inside we go, and tear down begins. I was aware of the necessity, and looking forward to the challenge. I'd been a decent wrench in my younger days...I had 21 VW's before I was 21 years old!...a bunch of Corvairs....I'd always been messing around with airheads.... After all, we're going to clean the slingers, refresh the seals and bearings...and we are good to go! What could go wrong?!.... Perspective now tells me that it was a miracle and a testament to BMW engineering, that the motor ran at all last year. The heads were mismatched and cracked, with 80#'s of compression, the cylinders were shot with broken rings and pistons and every bearing, seal,gasket and the crankshaft had to be replaced... My economical motorcycle has now cost nearly $2/ mile....Oh my! I had fun putting it back together. I couldn't afford to buy the special tools, and ended up making my own... My heart was still in my throat when she fired up, but I quickly realized that the effort and expense were worth it...She and I are reborn... The bike runs very well now. I run the bike every day It is now the end of the 2nd season and we have 10,000 miles on the oddometer. 3 month's ago I suffered a heart attack, and have a new perspective on the value of life and riding motorcycles....I was back riding 2 weeks after my angioplasty...it felt like a fountain of youth... Call it perspective, call it life, call it physical therapy, or call it motorcycle riding..... I've been to 5 rally's, have met a number of gracious, knowlegable folks, and have met the likes ofRay Becker, Mike Friedle, Chris Manzello, Craig Vechorik, Tony Beatty, Chris Simpson, Aldo Santini, Robert Van Vliet, Jason Adams, and hundreds of others who's selfless devotion to this passion have changed and saved my life... And I'm down under $1/ mile....
So the purpose here is to lodge a thread in Old School dedicated to /2's.... and all of the rest of the crazy crap that kickstarts along with it....
Progress? A little background.... 1965 R50/2 bought by my dad and mom in 1967 while living in Hawaii. They paid the equivalent of another seat on the plane to fly it back to the mainland in 1969. Got into Seattle, loaded it up and rode it across the country passing through Sturgis during the rally. According to the stories, the Hawaiian plate got lots of comments. I have pictures of them sitting in my grandparents driveway taking off their helmets. I remember riding on the back of the bike around the yard when I was probably 5. The floats in the carbs went bad and the bike sat until I moved it to Illinois in about 2003. I then tore it apart, got moved to Virginia, and now I am putting it back together with dad's help.
23000 He cleaned the slingers and is lacing the wheels. He wants to go on a long ride the summer after next so she has to be done and rollin' this summer.
The names have been changed to protect the not so innocent.... Sam's in Athens...Zircon is in Statesboro...Carl's in Toledo or somethin'... ...Scheckler... Most everybody I know with one is from Ohio... ..the bike is from Ohio...I've got the title info from the PO's...couple of 'em are still kicking! Sam & Bob keep ridin' 'em from there to NY, New England, and back every year... Thought it might be time to check one out.... One day...they showed up with 3, instead of 2 These guys have been riding these bikes like this for 20 years...
My /2 story starts in the summer of 1971. I was 19 and home from my first year away at college. I was also perhaps the most clueless 19 year old in the history of... well, history! Like many, I started at age 16 with a VW bug. It soon turned into a succession of Corvairs, the last of which turned into a (rusty) Alfa Giulia Veloce Spider. I worked all through HS & college and (apparently) specialized in acquiring things which other folks seemed to want more than I. This conveniently freed me to find The Next Thing. One day, to my mother's complete horror, I seemed to require a motorcycle. Yes! A BMW motorcycle would go back to college with me. See Mom, it's cheaper to operate and insure, and will be much easier to park. So, the Alfa went... somewhere, and I promptly located and purchased a 1966 R50/2 BMW motorcycle. It was delivered by a very curious seller :huh What? Why was it delivered? Because I had never ridden a motorcycle before! In. My. Entire. Life. Yup. No mini-bike, no dirt bike, nothing. How hard could it be? As it turned out, it was a little harder than I had planned for. But, nothing succeeds like <strike>stupidity</strike> perseverance. Soon I was wobbling around the neighborhood as though I knew what I was doing. I soon discovered the Penton Brothers motorcycle shop over in Amherst was a BMW dealer. They also had these really cool dirt bikes called "Pentons". Yup, I learned a lot that summer. In the fall, back at my college dorm, the guy across the hall had a BSA 441 Victor! And we soon met a guy who had a Yamaha TD250 roadracer -and- he let us "help" him at the races! I also met my wife-to-be and that next summer Ginny and I rode the /2 up to Canada and down to North Carolina. The hook was set. Here's a picture of #638206 from summer 1972: _jay
