R67/3 parked longer then on the road

[copilot001]

Back in the early 70s I bought aR67/3 from a fellow who imagrated here in 1955 from Germany with the bike.He rode it for one season and parked it when the first snowflakes fell and bought a car instead . I bought it from him around 70 or 71 with 4300 original miles on it and never touched with a wrench..Dave Hanigan did the first service wrench work on it.took it to a few vintage rallies in andover, finger lakes and bowling green in Ohio as well as several, BMWMOA rallies when I bought a new 1977 100-7 and more or less parked the R67 in my rec room after carefull cleaning and pickling with 21.000 miles on it.Well this week I got a new battery from Bob,s BMW,cleaned up the points and plugs,poured some ATF/kerosene mix in the plug holes.which was allowed to sit for awhile.
1 litre of 100LL gas from the airport and three gallons of Shell premium unleaded gas, an oil change...tickled the carbs and set the choke and it fired on the second kick..
took a bit to blow the oil from the cylinders but now she runs like a civalised little German watch.
tomorrow I bolt on the side car, a TR500 replicaI built using an original car as a pattern...It,s all steel except for the fender which is glass......Did I mention that I,m a coach builder by trade(retired)
now the problem.....I am also a licensed mechanic, worked on cars and motorcycles all my working life for a living...mostly BMW,s....My grandson who is a computer geek with 10 thumbs would like to get his hands on it to drive it around town...
He can,t maintain it,doesnt know where to get parts, never once got his hands dirty under the hood of anything
this bike deserves better.........any suggestions how to handle this?
PS...he drives like a j--k.....he,s a teenager.....cheers George

[Vin]

What a neat story. Sounds like you have a very nice machine. One thought is to buy him a older Japanese bike and tell him if he is serious he will need to learn on that. Learn to ride well and learn some maintenance basics. Then if he does and it sparks a sincere interest you let him have the BMW. My two cents!

Vin

[miller6997]

I expect the response to your question will vary with the age of the responder. I am also a grandfather, and my response would be that I plan to keep the bike as long as I can ride it, and after that will consider passing it on to the grandson, provided he convinces me that he understands how special the bike is. Give him lots of time to ponder this. Offer him a detailed tutorial on use and maintenance, and a crash course about vintage motorcycles. Give him a gold star if he can shift without grinding. And so on... From your description, it is possible that if you handed it over to him today, it could be trashed in no time.

For the short term, Vin's suggestion to get him started on something simple and inexpensive is a good one.

(Possibly relevant aside: Many years ago, I had a Horex Regina 400, which I allowed a flaky friend (a HD Sportster rider) to take for a quick spin. He blew the transmission in the first half mile.)

[Mike Goldthorpe]

I inherited my dad's R50 - well, he left it with me, along with an old Citroen, in order to keep them running, tested and taxed so they are good to go when he comes to see his grand daughters. Both bike and car have been in the family since 1986 or thereabouts - both were subjected to, ahem, youthful excesses by yours truly. Both survived and I learnt to take care of them - I knew the consequences of serious abuse.
I'd go along with Miller above - start your grandson on an apprenticeship. Can you get a cheap outfit? Ural or the like (you'd want him to learn quickly the art of keeping a vehicle mobile!) would do as they have the same basic architecture and are cheap....at least, the older ones are.

[copilot001]

His mother...my daughter would disown me if I got him a road bike. he does have a dirt bike and ATV on the farm
also my oncologist only gives me a few more months.
not much time really to teach him any road smarts or intrust this bike to him....he,s only 14.

[Vin]

That is very sad news. Over the years my father has given me various tools and other personal things that belonged to his father, my grandfather. I can tell you that those things are treasures to me and they connect me to him in ways that mean a lot to me. Perhaps your grandson will find you in that old bike someday and feel as though you are there hanging on next to him.

Vin

[R68]

...this is a sad story, but there is no way a 14 year old youngster can use/appreciate/maintain an R67/3 sidecar rig; that's a big order even for an experienced vintage BMW motorcyclist! Maybe sale of the rig and a contribution to the boy's educational fund is in order? That's a desirable and rare BMW and should easily bring quite abit...

[Ian R11]

A sad situation and sorry about your problem.

Can you get the bike laid up correctly and stored safely in trust for the next ten or more years? He may be only 14 and all thumbs now, but lots can happen and he won’t be a young guy in time.
Not everyone has a mechanical aptitude, but he may be capable of paying for it keeping in good order some day. I bet it will have more value than money to him when he’s older, my inherited bike is by far my most valued but not my most valuable.

[Peter]

Great Story and I think Ian is correct - park it up, preserve it and leave your grandson all the information, history and reading you can and I am sure over time his passion for BMW's will florish. I suspect we will see him back here on the forum in the decades to come asking advice on how to put life back into this great machine in honor of his grandad. I think you will be proud of how this young man will grow up.

[copilot001]

Family pow-wow this weekend...lots of things to be discussed and decisions to be made.
We,ll see how it goes...