A little smoke started it all

 In 2017 I decided I wanted an old BMW motorcycle.

This is a picture of my purchase. A 1978 R80/7 recently painted and running from a local owner in Michigan. At the time it was the perfect year and style from my memories of living in Germany in 1978-1980.

I paid $3000 for it and thought that was a fair price since it looked like new and ran good.

It wasnt until I brought it home and started taking a closer look that i realized how much wrong there was with it.

Yes it ran, and yes it looked pretty, but it had the wrong tires, wrong handlbars, wrong mirrors, worn out exhaust and shocks.

It needed brakes and the dash lights were barely visible.

But I rode it like this for the rest of the year without any incidents, but I never really trusted it for long rides, just to the store and back and short day trips.

Once I decided to bring it back to its former glory, it took 7 more years, countless hours of time (which I quite enjoyed) and almost $6500 (which I didn't enjoy) 😉

The end result is this:

Most of the money spent is on the inside.....

About 4 years ago, after many hours of replacing items to make it more original, I was on a long day ride and noticed my right cyclinder pushing smoke out the tailpipe when hard on the throttle. I thought it was  gas, but after a few more trips, it started getting worse and worse and thats when I determined the rings were bad.

Sadly, it also meant the cylinder was out of round internally and could not be repaired.

This is when the real money came into play.

Without listing a full spread sheet , let me just highlight the categories:

Seibenrock 1000cc upgrade kit, 

New clutch, 

head rebuild, 

carb rebuild, 

new starter,

front brake rebuild, 

master cyclinder rebuild, 

brake caliper rebuild,

new exhuast,

new shocks,

front fork rebuild, 

new relays, 

new handlebars, 

new mirrors, 

new cables, 

new tires, 

new battery,

katdash dashboard upgrade, 

new diode board, 

new electronic ignition, 

all new engine gaskets, 

new oil sending unit,

 new neutral sending unit, 

new coils, 

new side cases and case mounts, 

pinstriping, 

engine protection bars, 

windshield........

and this  is not a complete list, 

there are any small items of rubber gaskets and covers and springs and so on .

All told I am about $7k in not including the original price of the bike.

Was it worth it?

It literally looks and runs like a new 1978 BMW r80/7!

Will I ever get my money out of  it?

NO

But I have alway felt that  I am the caretaker for the next generation, not an owner loooking for a profit.

Is this a model that is highly desired? 

NO

I'm like  the guy that wanted a Charger but ended up with a Satellite sedan. 

Yes its cool, but not one kid ever had one on thier bederoom wall.  

It ended up being a labor of love and a snowball that rolled over me and picked up parts on the way down ! LOL

Will I ever sell it? 

NEVER

Here are some photos of the work done: