My 1988 BMW R80 is obviously not an old machine, and it still looks as good as new, despite 42000 miles on the clock. I did not buy the bike brand new, the running in chores were completed by some yuppie who also fitted an RS fairing. The bike had 2300 miles on the clock when I bought it for 40% less than the new price. Despite some snide comments about the newer, mono-shock BMWs not being up to the quality of earlier offerings, I’ve had no trouble from mine, although I have always been scrupulous about regular servicing (easy to do if you buy the service kits).
I had never owned a BMW before so was immediately confronted with the problem of mastering the gearbox action and paying attention to the way the shaft drive reacts. Later BMWs are supposed to have good gearboxes, but if my example was anything to go by the early ones must've been terrible. It did, admittedly. become slightly less agricultural as the miles piled up, but even now a clean, quiet change is not that easy to achieve.
The shaft drive is not that much of a problem. It can lock up the back wheel if you change down without matching revs to road speed - and a few very frightening moments were had in the wet - but the throttle can be backed off in corners without frightening consequences. Gently using the back brake at such moments helps stability.
The BMW does like to be set up on its line and certain combinations of actions can get the soft suspension all twisted up, the machine bouncing all wet the place. Most hard used bikes have modified front forks with much stiffer suspension, something that was done to my machine when the fairing was fitted, but even then it's possible to get the forks down on their stops.
The other side of this suspension is that it makes the bike a very comfortable long distance cruiser. With the excellent wind cheating abilities of the RS fairing it’s just a matter of sitting there and dialling in the speed. I have even done 110mph flat out for an hour without feeling the strain. although the bike feels happier at 95mph. Going much above that speed involves becoming used to a mild back wheel weave which no amount of changing tyre pressures, make or fitting a new shock can remove. It must be down to a weakness in the swinging arm frame, but it has never come anywhere near a wild speed wobble. Metzelers are the best tyres but they become very frightening if you try to use them with less than 2mm of tread.
Vibration is not that great a problem. A horizontally opposed twin has perfect primary balance but a torque reaction through the crankshaft that shakes the bike at low revs and thrums away towards the top end. With the lazy, reassuring beat of the exhaust system it's more comforting than worrying. BMW exhausts, by the way, are not up to the quality of the rest of the bike, mine are already spotted with rust and a bit louder that they should be. A stainless steel replacement is at the top of my shopping list.
Part of the nature of the BMW is that it can thrum along at modest speeds down country lanes without suggesting to the rider that he should scream up and down the gears, not a very good idea, anyway, because of its agricultural gearbox. One aspect that did not impress, even under such mild usage, was fuel economy. The best I ever managed was 52mpg, the worst 34mpg. It has a large petrol tank, thank god, but even so I was often running dry in less than 200 miles, doing better than 40mpg requiring much restraint. I have been told that putting on the older model's silencers helps things but it's difficult to accept such poor economy from such a modestly tuned motor.
Economy aside, I have no qualms about doing high mileages on the bike. The riding position and seat are extremely comfortable tor long distances - l have done 1000 miles in a day and still been able to walk properly. The bike has been ridden both all around the UK and across Europe. Rather than take one or two long holidays each year I tend to have as many as possible long weekends to break up the boredom of the working week - it's the only way I can survive the monotony.
I also change jobs every year or two, so can usually fit in a months break between finishing one job and starting the next. I like nothing more than starting out on a long motorcycle journey, the only sadness when I have to turn for home and head back to boredom city. With a set of panniers packed and more stuff tied across the back of the seat, solo the bike rides just the same. although the addition of a pillion shows up a relative lack of front braking power - the calipers do seize if you don't do a 20000 mile strip down and clean up, but they work just as well in the wet as the dry.
The BMW is the perfect device for long distance cruising because it adapts to the rider's feelings. If I'm tired out I can amble onwards at a moderate pace with hardly any need to touch the gearbox, just letting the ample low speed torque power us along. If I've time to make up, a full throttle charge across the landscape is as easily within its scope. I have ridden faster bikes but none so pleasing to the senses to ride for hours on end as the BMW.
With other bikes the longer you ride the more small things begin to intrude, the more you realise that the nasty buzz at a certain speed, the slight waywardness of the riding position, or the need to use the gearbox to change down to obtain adequate overtaking acceleration, all start to mount up until they spoil the interaction of man and machine. None of that with the BMW, the more you ride it the more you enjoy it.
BMWs can also be ridden surprisingly quickly. I once followed a cop mounted on the police version chasing a youth on a FZR1000 through London. There was no way I could keep up, but what little I did see of the way the police officer hauled the BMW through the traffic as if he was riding a nifty fifty filled me full of admiration. Further down the road. it was indeed revealed that he had caught the culprit who was probably shocked to discover such a modest machine could catch up with his high powered techno-rocket.
Town riding was not that brilliant because the cylinder heads poking out so far always threatened to take off the side of a car. I often ended up sitting in traffic being baked by engine heat where on narrower bikes I would've been long away. That same heat from the cylinders does keep feet moderately warm on cold days. Yes, I have fitted a set of engine crash bars and, no, I have not been so foolish as to scrape the cylinder heads in high speed turns.
Crawling along at walking pace required slipping of the clutch even in first gear to avoid some expensive sounding churning noises from the shaft drive. The flat, narrow bars needed to work inside the RS fairing also tended to strain wrist muscles at low speeds, compounded by the fact that a fair amount of muscle was needed to shove the bike through traffic due to their lack of leverage.
The quaint way the back and rises on take-off was disconcerting at first but now does not bother me in the slightest. The first few weeks of town work were painful but, these days, it takes more than an hour of slow traffic work to induce pain, helped by the fact that most of the controls work with typical Teutonic efficiency.
I did have a spate of rear bulbs blowing but this was solved by connecting an earth lead directly between the battery and the light. The neutral light stopped working for a couple of weeks and then, after its holiday, resumed. The oil light flicks on and off occasionally. as if to remind me to check the oil level, the motor requiring a pint of oil every 400 miles after fast motorway work.
If anything, the motor is running quieter and better than when I acquired the machine, it has this wonderful feel of being bulletproof. I am aware that it's due for a new timing chain at this mileage, but the lack of rattles indicates a lack of a problem. It would not surprise me in the least if the engine ran past 100000 miles without being touched!
John Wilson