Motorcycles I have ridden

Start out small

I got my motorcycle driver's license last fall. I rode my younger brother Samuel's Honda Rebel (250 cc) for a while. He had overheated it and almost ran it out of oil. Luckily he realized that the smoke that started to billow up around him was from oil leaking out of the motor and burning as it dripped on the exhaust pipe, and he immediately pulled the bike over and stopped. (Luckily this was some time after he returned from his trip from our house, 60 miles north of Sacramento, to visit friends in L.A.) When we got the bike back to our house, it was clear that it needed a bit of determined work, and it was also clear that Samuel wasn't going to provide that work, as he had to be back at Annapolis in a few days. We ordered the parts (main oil seals and some gaskets) through Mike of Cycle Service in Marysville (whose shop I highly recommend), and when they arrived I set about putting the bike together. After I finished, I had a fine little motorcycle to ride! We call it the Mosquito because it buzzes so fiercely. It can do about 75 MPH on the flat if there is no headwind, but that is really too fast for it. If you drive relaxedly (that is to say, nearer 60 than 75 MPH), the Mosquito will get around 50 miles per gallon.

I'll have to stick a picture of the Mosquito in here.

Ozzie's BMW shop

After a few weeks, my Dad and I headed up to Chico. He rode his Honda Goldwing and I (heh) rode the Mosquito. By this time I recognized the deficiencies of the little black motorcycle. A Honda Rebel will get you around, and more economically than just about anything else, but it is quite gutless, not very stylish, needs to be filled up every 150 miles or so due to its miniscule gas tank, and the left footrest vibrates so badly that after riding for a while your foot goes numb, itchy, and otherwise unbearable. I thought we were just going for a ride, but we came into Chico, got off the freeway on Cohasset Boulevard going north and soon arrived at Ozzie's BMW shop.

Ozzie is an old German fellow who loves BMW motorcycles and loves to talk. My dad recommended that I buy a BMW, now that I had learned well how to ride the Mosquito. Of course, a new one would be way too expensive, so we poked around the shop, looked at the ones in the middle of repair out in front, looked at Ozzie's collector pieces (he has one of the first motorcycles made by BMW-- when I get more info I'll post it here), and looked out in his storage containers in the back.

Ozzie has quite a few bikes out in his storage, in various states of repair, and most of them have stories. Of the ones that were even close to rideability, two were in my price range: one was a K75 and the other an R75/5.

R bikes and K bikes

BMW has made motorcycles since the 1930's or so. Their design from the start has used an engine configuration called a boxer twin. This is where there are two cylinders that are horizontally opposed, sticking out on each side of the engine. BMW's model designations for their cycles with boxer twin engines start with R. Some time in the 1980's, I think (I'll look it up later), BMW began to make the K bikes: motorcycles with three and later four cylinders, in-line and laid on their side. These motorcycles were made because although the R series were a great design, it was looking a bit dated, and BMW was losing market share to Japanese manufacturers. Demand for the R bikes continues, so BMW continues to sell K and R bikes.

The K bike up there in Ozzie's storage needed some work. The R bike, though probably 15 years older, looked just fine (except for a goofy-looking fabric seat). Ozzie also priced the K75 higher, because it had a lot of good stuff, notably ABS brakes. The K bike has an uncommonly smooth engine and a more aggresive riding position than the primitive R75. In the end, mainly because of the lower price and the lack of damage, I bought the R bike: a 1971 "short wheel-base" R75/5 with custom (ugly but surprisingly comfortable) seat.

It goes well with the other vehicles of German manufacture at my house: my sister's yellow 1973 VW Bug and my blue 1971 VW Superbeetle (both, sadly, needing major repairs and hence inactive for the long term). In the background you can see my Dad's Jeep and a dead pickup.

BMW R75/5: a Fine Honest Motorcycle

I'm pretty pleased with this cycle. It's my daily ride to work and back. For a while the speedometer, odometer and tachometer didn't work, so I didn't precisely know how fast I was going, but I haven't gotten a ticket yet (and I don't plan to begin). Now that I replaced the instrument cluster and speedometer and tach cables, I can say for sure that it'll do 85 no problem and it handles just fine through the twisties.

Here I am coming in from a ride:

Currently I am trying to troubleshoot an electrical problem. I replaced two burnt wires, and I suspect there is a short somewhere. But the bike runs just fine, although the right carburetor does leak gas on my boot, and it starts very hard when warm, strangely enough.