Why are same vintage HD's worth SO MUCH MORE than BMW's ?

[Darryl.Richman]

The burning question I have is;
What genious made the sliders on the side and bottom the same colour as the background. ? Forums for old wads should be old wad friendly.

Your wish is my command. The general theme adaptability built into the forum software is somewhat limited, and a change like this requires hacking into the actual code. (Sure hope I haven't broken anything.)

[saintclair2703]

HEY- Thanks for the new sliders! I can't wait to show off to my friends!



Mr Dean- I like to ride more than show, so some strangness isn't as important to me. I imagine if you made a reasonable fix, smoked it or buried it for a week, then very lightly sanded / burnished the high spots, you'd have a period correct fix.

?

[Darryl.Richman]

I learned some time ago that my knowledge base of old BMWs is far too limited to assess pre-war motorcycles. You have to know a lot more than I do to evaluate an allegedly "original" prewar BMW competently.

Therefore, for my own self-respect, I will not touch one.

I stick with 1951-1969 BMWs, thank you.

Perhaps you saw the book review I did in the last Bulletin about BMW Fotoalbum. This is a really handy book, especially for prewar stuff.

You pretty much have to assume that you will get burned to some extent when you get into a prewar bike. They are very old, until recently parts have been very hard to come by, and there was a war and 50 years of Communism that together really made the survivors pretty awful.

Still, IMHO it's worth the effort when you do finally get to the point where you can ride it. At least I hope so, I've got a decade in my R12... so far.

[Allan.Atherton]

... You pretty much have to assume that you will get burned to some extent when you get into a prewar bike... Still, IMHO it's worth the effort when you do finally get to the point where you can ride it. At least I hope so, I've got a decade in my R12... so far.
My friend Jill here and I rode our R60/2 and R27 to the Bluegrass Beemers rally near Frankfort KY yesterday and saw this R12 (I think). The owner had trailered it and the teepee to the rally from Eastern KY:



I last saw the R12 at this rally a few years ago. I had been bought restored from Blue Moon, trailered to the rally, and the transmission locked up ten miles into the breakfast run. It was trailered back to the rally and then to Guenther Wuest who found the transmission and clutch had been butchered by previous repairs. Blue Moon apparently thought they worked OK, did not do anything with them, and did not ride the restored bike very far. Guenther fixed the transmission and clutch with the right parts, and Blue Moon did compensate the owner.

The bike has run fine ever since, and this year went with the pack on the rally's 70-mile Bluegrass Tour.

[Darryl.Richman]

Siiiggghhhh...

[VBMWMO]

Perhaps this could be an enlightening discussion.

I have several notions but it basically boils down to BMW owners and enthusiasts being their own worst enemies when it comes to truly establishing these fine bikes' actual worth.