I was happy with my R1200GSA minding my own business and had no interest in acquiring another bike, let alone an R80G/S. The Adventure was due for a service so I call into my local BMW mechanic's shop and there in the drive is this HPN, it's in the final stages of being given a freshen up after returning from a trip to ride Russia. It's complete with Penthouse decals and it looks pretty good! Well I visit the workshop a few times over the next few weeks and each time I am drawn to this HPN, man it looks awesome, I stand there just looking at all the details. Dave the shop owner tells me about the bike, the owners trip and plans to take it to Patagonia etc. One Saturday morning there is a tired looking R80G/S on a trailer in the driveway of the workshop. the owner is taking it away, it had been hanging around the shop for a few months while he was trying to sell it. There was a long story attached to this but I wont go into it here. Suffice to say this morning he was trying to convince every guy who came by the workshop to buy his bike as he didn't want to tow it all he way back home (circa 650km), he had to sell and the price was getting sharper. I can be a bit Impulsive sometimes, this was one of them, after starting her up and checking the workshop history I made an offer not really expecting it to be accepted, 15 minutes later I'm signing papers and transferring money. A few words with Dave the Master Tech. and we are thinking HPN replica! That was a while ago and there has been a lot of progress since, though it seems to have taken forever. I live in Perth West Australia, the challenge was sourcing parts and services without the benefit of access to some of the usual European sources. Well I'm happy to report that between us and thanks to Dave's expertise the frame has been prepared locally by an engineering whiz and the mono lever and drive shaft have been extended by Paul Rooney on the East Coast. The parts have been accumulated after many hours spent trawling the net and assembly is about to begin! I have taken a few photos along the way and kept a list of suppliers and service providers mainly because I want to compile a descent history/journal along the way but secondly because others may be interested in how it comes together. Having read, enjoyed and benefited myself from some of the posts on this site, I thought I'd put this story out here and see what interest it attracts. The next step will be to post some starting pictures, explain how 1 R80G/S became 3, then follow the process of assembling the HPN.
Gosh, I have only one '81 g/s in pieces. I guess I can't play. I didn't know I needed three. Looking forward to your story.
This is the HPN that sparked my interest. Having bought my first R80G/S a 1980 model, I went back through all the paper work and discussed the way forward with Dave. He had already done a lot of work on the bike. The frame had been powder coated and the mechanicals had been thoroughly sorted from top to bottom. It was only the cosmetics and the non standard exhaust that needed attention and then it would be a beauty. We got to thinking it was too nice a bike to chop up!, what to do? Dave suggested I hunt around for a suitable donor bike for my HPN and in the interim do up the 80, which I could then sell or keep. So this is where the bug really gets under my skin. I start reading, browsing, net shopping etc. I'm riding the 80 and really enjoying it, takes me back to the buzz i used to get when I first started riding bikes in Africa at 16. Here is a picture after the 80's tank and fenders have been painted. Simon the painter did a great job! Unfortunately I dont have a before picture of the tank and fenders but they were flaking and faded. Now they look brand new. Next installment will be finding the HPN donor bike..
I think this may be the HPN you saw in the bike shop in Perth, I had a French guy send me this photo of his bike that was being loaded into a container in France heading to Australia. He wanted me to build him some pannier frames and the photo of the bike you have has those frames fitted.
Hello Lockyv7 That bike does look similar but the sub frame is black and it has a different muffler so not sure if its the same. But if those are your pannier frames I like your work The bike I saw is owned by an Italian guy and has a white sub frame and a Leo-vance titanium exhaust.
Would the Guys name be Luca, if it is thats the bike. Now i have been back through my old e-mails your right he was Italian, was about 3 years ago.
Yes luca (sp?) is the owner. He would have had to change the muffler for a lower fitting one to clear the panniers. He probably changed the colour of the subframe when the bike had its post trip makeover. My build has not progressed far enough to be at the pannier stage but it's getting close. By the way I have been trying to post more of the story with photos but my posts are disappearing into the ether ?? I will keep trying, it's probably me doing something wrong.
I went looking for a donor R80g/s for the hpn, but there was nothing local and only 2 options on the East Coast the first too pricey the second was pile of junk at an outrageous price . I must have been looking a good 3 months nada! Then I'm talking to a fellow tire kicker at the bike workshop one Saturday morning and he mentions a GS he saw locally when he was out one day. He had asked the owner about it and if he would be interested in selling, apparently it was a maybe. So I get all enthusiastic and then he slips in the fact that this was 18 months ago !! But he still has a name and a mobile number. Good thing it was a mobile, when I rang I found out the owner had recently moved to a town house in Freo and yes he was thinking of advertising the bike. Turns out he had been sidetracked by an old Ducati he was restoring and had bought a scooter for shopping trips so the old girl (the gs) was gathering dust in his garage. I shot down there for a look and there under a sheet is is a tired looking but complete 1983 G/S. Somewhere along the line he has given the tank a rattle can blue paint job and found a strange looking muffler that is steadily rusting away, but despite not having run in several months it started easily from cold, coughed spluttered and settled down into an easy idle Shortly thereafter a deal was struck and I left the happy to be owner of my second R80g/s. She followed me home the next day ... On my trailer and then it was straight down to the workshop. Now be kind she ain't too pretty and wasn't feeling photogenic on this day. You know the light was bad the photographer was average I'm sure you'll understand, be kind....
The next step was to strip down the 83 80g/s and send the frame to Leigh for reinforcing. A mate of mine is also building a HPN, he bought the necessary plates from HPN and Leigh put it together. Leigh cut a set of plates sand blasted my frame and reported that it's actually in great condition. The frame came back and I was really pleased with the quality of Leigh's work.
While this was happening I cut the hubs out of the wheels and sent them for bead blasting They came up nice
My 43l nylon tank arrived from HPN and was off to the painters. I had an idea that the painter was happy to try out. Leave a strip either side of the head stock clear hopefully to act as a sort of visible fuel level indicator. I get the best of both worlds a nice paint job and the visibility of a semi transparent tank to check fuel level on board. This pic doesn't show the fuel strips I'll have to post that later, they turned out great and really discrete. By the way the stripes are painted on then the whole tank is clear coated. The decals are vinyl sourced from a local sign writer. I wanted the decals on top of the clear coat so I can add or change later without being locked in. Now your probably wondering why I've spelt HPN wrong ? I figured the bike wasn't being built by HPN so it wasn't right to put their brand on it. But I do intend to put a high performance motor in it and seeing as the major mechanical work and problem solving behind the build is being done by Dave who's surname stars with M, why not HPM! ...it works for me ;-)
Decided to use a Set of WP50 Extreme forks off a 98 KTM LC 640 Adventure. Dave sourced a set on eBay that came with triple, wheel and brake caliper with rotor. So then send the KTM front and BMW rear hub off to get re built. New wider rims, Heavy duty stainless spokes and the rear hub will be re drilled to offset the rim slightly and allow a wider rear tire. Here they are back from the shop
