Any love for the R80/7

[dm635]

I notice there's only a few that get written about over other models. Was it production numbers or folks of course wanting more powerful R90/100's. I'm happy just having an air head to begin with & it was the R80 that was available. Looked good, rode good, low miles & felt right. It was then I noticed they seem to have the least amount of ownership. The guy I got my bike from also has an R90/6 that he wasn't selling, but that bike has many more miles & doesn't feel as solid as mine. A lot more clunks going on with it. Mine may do the same once it reachs the same mileage.

Just wondering if this is the red headed step child of the air heads or is it something else? What are the pro's/con's about the R80/7 that I'm not aware of? Still, I like riding it & plan on putting the miles on. Would I rather have a 90 or a 100, well yeah. This is just the bike I chose. Didn't really look around much, was aware of this bike for the last 8 years from the P.O. that owned it from '93. Actually, out of his 3 bikes I feel I got the pick of the litter. Due to miles & how much more solid it felt. Mine's a '78. Spending the winter fixing it up after a September mis-hap.

Thanks Dave

[bpeckm]

Not a red-headed stepchild, but it was never built in as great numbers as the R100. The 80 has the reputation of being the best combination of power, smoothness, reliability over the years... I specifically browsed for an 80 for several years and noticed the very-real anomaly between 80's and 100's...

Later 80's became very popular as the 80g/s and 80st, but the monoshock 80 was simply and R80, no suffix at all! The /7's are just not as numerous as the /5 and /6 earlier bikes.

Don't worry about it, enjoy it for the great bike it is! Imho, just put on the peanut valve covers and you have the perfect classic combination of wire wheels, classic engine, good oomph, and great reliability!

Engines: R75 became the R80; R90 became the R100 (in a nutshell, with lots of variations of HP because of emissions, carburetion etc over the years....)

[disston]

I think it's just a matter of production numbers. Fewer R80/7es. They do have the reputation of being the smoother ride, less vibration. A favorite mod is to bolt up 100 barrels and pistons because the cranks balance is better.

[dm635]

Thanks for that. Hoping to hear more. Nothing meant over the red headed comment, Come from a family of red heads. Right now mine is all stock. Will enjoy this baby as is for now. If/when clyinders need attention just may oversize.

[ML WYDELL]

I have a 78 R80/7 and I love it. It has evolved since I bought it and has 3 different seats, hard / soft bags etc. I can convert it into any style I want. Just picked up a R75/7 so we'll see how that pans out.

[bpeckm]

Yowza... adventure-ready!!






That rear hoop looks REALLY sturdy.... cracked me up at first glance....

[ML WYDELL]

Thats for the tractor pull event. She pulls like a two peckered clydesdale.

[dm635]

Thanks again for the comments. I will enjoy this bike for what it is. As long as I'm happy with it is all that matters. I suppose then that it is just a matter of production built. I think that it is around 18K for the /7. It's still a beemer & does what it needs to do. Get down the road nicely & look good doing it. This is my 1st beemer & plan on owning many years. Wife still isn't happy that I'll be keeping it since the accident, but she'll have to grow to understand.

[chasbmw]

Most of the 800 cc production went into either european sales where they were sold as cheaper alternatives to the 1000cc bikes, often fitted with RS and RT fairings or into bulk sales to various government agencies all over the world.

They are slower and smoother than the larger models, and tend to use more fuel.

Mine took me 2 up through north central and south America without any paticular problems

[bmweuro]

Back in the old days I must have parted out 20 or 30 r80/7's because of a bad crank or rod on the left side so for me I never felt that it was as good as the R75/7. The 83 on R80's were all wonderful machines.

[chasbmw]

My r80 after a very long day riding from ariquipa to Puno in Peru, Heights up to about 16k ft, 300kms in 13 hours, all dirt.

[woodgrain]

The only issue if, you want to call it that, is the carb diaphragm being attached to the slide.You can boil it off or pay the price for a new assembly.

Woodgrain

[tdrrally]

Originally Posted by bpeckm

Yowza... adventure-ready!!






That rear hoop looks REALLY sturdy.... cracked me up at first glance....

that's the wind screen i'm looking for and the rear wheel

i'm not sure about , love yet , but i do have a strong like for r80/7 . (was an r80rt but i fixxed it)

[gsd4me]

Originally Posted by chasbmw

My r80 after a very long day riding from ariquipa to Puno in Peru, Heights up to about 16k ft, 300kms in 13 hours, all dirt.

I purchased an R65 mono with one of those screens fitted to it. My hearing was bad enough as it was, but the turbulence behind that bloody thing was so bad my eyes blurred and I ended up with tinnitus. Obviously it worked OK for you, here are a couple of pics that I pinched off the 'net.

[chasbmw]

Those are my photos, boot om pic is in Equador, middle pic in the north of western australia. I sent the screen and panniers from Bolivia where we sold the r80 (for$5000 which was more than we paid for it) to Australia, put it all on a R90/6 and rode that around Australia.

We were 2 up with camping gear and the bike got a little squirrelly over about 80mph and the screen was not too noisy,

My tinnitus was from a Rickman Polaris screen, coupled with a loose visor on my helmet! I think that for screens etc it's getting the screen that matches the rider, so that your head is away from turbulence