I have to admit that I've always wanted an older Beemer. My brother-in-law had a demo bike, a 1000 cc and he let me ride it, a lot. It's handling, braking were impressive. I did not like that you can not engine brake with these bikes, it could throw you down in a turn. On the other hand, the brakes were so excellent, that was easy to overcome. The shifting actually started to hurt my foot after a while, not a god city bike, but with all the torque, it wasn't like you really needed to shift a lot.
With all it's peculiarities, it's what makes it a BMW, and I'd still like to get an older R90 o RS1000 full fairing model. MAX BMW in Ct. had a beautiful one, but the bike was on consignment, and the owner wanted 12K and wouldn't budge. Max eventually gave the bike to the guy. He told me the bike was overpriced, and it wasn't the Silver/Blue I wanted. If I was going to spend that much on a used bike, it would have to have everything I wanted.
Last year I went to purchase a GS100G, with the intention of making a trike out of it (I have a really bad back). The guy sold it out from under me. W had made a deal, and I drove 1.5 hours to get to his house, with my trailer. He apologized, then told me he could make it up to me. He pulled out a 2004 ZZR1200 and it had only 3875 miles on it. It had been sitting in a climate controlled room the whole time. His buddy purchased the bike as his first bike, he was 6 '4" tall. He thought it would be a great 1st bike, and it scared the heck out of him, so he parked it, and many years later, had the local Kawasaki dealership tune up the bike, and his friend sell it for him, he just wanted to get rid of it.
He said he could give it to me for $2200 bucks. I jumped on that deal so fast. I had been looking for a BMW, but you can't get anything at that price. I've spent the last year, mounting Pirelli DIablo tires, NISSIN Brake Calipers and have lowered the suspension 1" (Soupy's Lowering kit). I also designed a new muffler system that knocked 40 lbs. off of the bike. This bike only weighs 40 lbs. more than my '83 GS750ES, and it puts out 145 H.P. at the rear wheel!
I still would like to own a BMW though, but at my age, I think this is the last bike I will purchase. 3 bikes is enough , for me, for now, right BMW, right time, you never know. I still want to make a trike, seeing how that BMW uses an automotive style clutch brings all kinds of crazy ideas to my head.
