Although the joke is that most fancy-pants ADV bikes never tackle anything more adventurous than the gravel in a Starbucks parking lot, here’s an old BMW that’s had an even easier life than that! Right now, there’s a 1995 BMW R100 GS PD Classic up for sale, still in the original crate!
How does that happen? Turns out the bike comes with some paperwork from well-known Blackfoot Motorsports, a moto dealership in Calgary, Alberta, Canada confirming the story. That paperwork says the bike came to Blackfoot in 1995, from the Canadian BMW importer. It sat there until 2021 or 2022, and then it changed hands; now, it’s for sale by Brooklyn-based Moto Borgotaro. It’s currently listed at auction on Bring a Trailer, with the sale ending this weekend.
And, that auction is heating up. At time of writing, bidding has reached $41,000 USD, a seemingly astronomical figure for a bike that sold for far, far less back in 1995. Even though the current R1250 GS series is itself considerably more expensive than this R100 would have been, you could buy an R1250 GS off the showroom floor, kit it out with every factory option, and still have a lot of money left from $41,000.
That doesn’t mean it’s not worth it, and the comments section at BaT shows a lot of interest in the machine. From user Motogrotto:
Mmmmmm…40 millimeter carbs…Euro headlight on off switch to save battery during start up…Solid starter cover without the Swiss cheese holes and without the confabulation of hose spaghetti infested…1995 Last year of the carbureted airheads…1995 last year of the R100GSPD…R100GSPD Classic very limited edition…All that in the crate to boot…A timeless time machine.
And these thoughts from user bbass:
For the auction item here, I’d say that if the bike were removed from the crate by the new owner, and displayed in the same context with the crate (I’m envisioning some GS or ADV bike section of a motorcycle museum), then this wouldn’t (shouldn’t?) detract from the unique aspect of the crate+bike, or it’s value.
The bike could then be maintained, and as we all know, it could be re-crated if for some reason that was important for presentation purposes. Over the longer haul, meaning some undetermined years from now, no matter how much we hate to admit it, this bike will undoubtedly require preservation/conservation outside the crate, not just static display inside the crate. This of course, if we are trying to appreciate this for what it currently is, and also trying to ensure that people in the future will be able to appreciate it as the same.
What would you do? Keep this bike crated, or ride it?
See (a lot) more photos and the current auction pricing at BringaTrailer.com.
