1970s & 80s BMW R100Rs. Yay or nay?

[Yamahardman]

Lately i've developed a raging hard-on for one of these, and am seriously considering saving up for one, to blat around on, on a regular basis, and on long trips.

Any experience and/or info on one of these would be great! Especially views on reliability.

But not to beat around the bush, a key question for me (that i would greatly appreciate being answered) is how many rpm's does the engine pull at 100km/h, in top gear, and if so, are they strained feeling rpm's?

My gb's sprockets are stretched out and cant be stretched any further and it pulls around 4000rpm, but it feels strained, and I feel mean for making it do that for over an hour.

In short, id like to know whether or not the r100 is a nice big lazy 1000, good for going on long trips.

[Motu]

My riders handbook gives maximum permissible rpm for my R65 as 7650rpm, and maximum continuous engine speed as 7300rpm. They are not high revving engines, but like to be working in the upper rev range. An R80 is doing about 3,750 at 100kmh, an R100 would be less, and it will do it all day, everyday.

[Yamahardman]

Thanks for that! My gb pulls like a freight train between 3k and 4k but it feels out of breath anywhere after that, (it's a 600cc with an xr head on it, so maybe the cam profile isn't suited for huge revs?) Are they unwieldy bikes, being a flat twin, or does being flat twin make it really stable and not so unwieldy?

[Voltaire]

I have an R90/6 can easily tour 2 up, and can lanesplit even with panniers.
Post 81's have nicer gearbox action.

[Paul in NZ]

They are good solid bikes BUT they are getting long in the tooth and do have some well known foibles... A rabid BMW owner will never mention them as they are considered 'normal' to them.. (for example, we were out on our similar age Mk2 LM Moto Guzzi one day when it was admired by BMW man who told me that he always admired them but couldn't handle the inherent unreliability... Later he told me he had rebuild the beemers gearbox 5 times and the rear drive 3 times - go figure)

In the right hands they will do big miles effortlessly but they are aging and have been thrashed by many not so careful owners so if you get a good one, GREAT if you get a dog, project time...

[Voltaire]

They are good solid bikes BUT they are getting long in the tooth and do have some well known foibles... A rabid BMW owner will never mention them as they are considered 'normal' to them.. (for example, we were out on our similar age Mk2 LM Moto Guzzi one day when it was admired by BMW man who told me that he always admired them but couldn't handle the inherent unreliability... Later he told me he had rebuild the beemers gearbox 5 times and the rear drive 3 times - go figure)

In the right hands they will do big miles effortlessly but they are aging and have been thrashed by many not so careful owners so if you get a good one, GREAT if you get a dog, project time...

I only have 3 so probably not rabid enough, like any machine they need to be maintained and if you thrash them they won't last as long.
Saying that I run a 900 in the classic racing and its done 40 odd races limited to 7500 rpm, and the only thing that has broken is the ring gear came off the flywheel. Had the gearbox out and back in about 60 minutes.
Won the over 500 series due to finishing 20 out of 21 races, I'd like to thank Guzzi, Triumph, Ducati and Norton reliability for making this possible.
They made lots of them, many still in service doing high miles, and easy to get bits for.
There is no thick book called BMWology either.
rant over..
Now when my parts arrive I can carry on with my 18 month Guzzi Monza project

[F5 Dave]

Lately i've developed a raging hard-on for one of these, a. . .

Really? That's like saying Helen Clarke is a bit of alright & you'd give her one I mean she ran the country for a while, to a fashion but. . .

[nodrog:Me]

Who the fuck would want an ugly old slow piece of BMW shit?

[Yamahardman]

Really? That's like saying Helen Clarke is a bit of alright & you'd give her one I mean she ran the country for a while, to a fashion but. . .

phew, don't get me started on helen clarke, what a fox! haha the name alone makes my loins tremble, hahaha!

[Yamahardman]

Who the fuck would want an ugly old slow piece of BMW shit?

The same guy who buys a hell unreliable 70's two stroke designed with a ruler and a square, and a mongrelised single that sounds like it's going to blow to pieces once its crawled over the ton....

MEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE EEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE EEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!

I did some profile stalking, and from the bushes I spotted someone on a Suzuki of some GSXR description.

All I will say is, each to their own!

[gammaguy]

greeat bikes but FFS get it checked out before buying ESPECIALLY the gearbox,final drive and charging system

Some earlier BMW had the stator as a rotor and the rotor as a stator(those who know will know what I mean)and this was not always reliable

apart from that they are lovely old girls like a wet hairy and smelly dog that snuggles up to you on a cold night.But you still love them

[Voltaire]

Who the fuck would want an ugly old slow piece of BMW shit?

wot he said...

You might need to put Glad Wrap over the keyboard before viewing.

[Motu]

I talked my brother into getting an airhead - he got an R100, and hates it. I had one over 30 years ago...and hated it....now I'm old I love my BMW.

[Yamahardman]

wot he said...

You might need to put Glad Wrap over the keyboard before viewing.

Those stainless headers look sharp in that photo of 146, they've turned that delightful gold colour, probably with A touch of blue right where the pipe meets the head (my gb has stainless headers and a stainless trumpet, i love it, lol) I really like how the bmw's sound too, that distinctive boxer sound with a good measure of carb slurp, haha.

[Yamahardman]

I talked my brother into getting an airhead - he got an R100, and hates it. I had one over 30 years ago...and hated it....now I'm old I love my BMW.

I'm 21, and I have a general disdain for modern bikes. Its like you've got 4 main catagories to choose from/ 4 main typecasts to fit into when you buy a new bike.

1. Supersport/ Sport- skin suited, graphics helmeted, younger person
2. Adventure Tourer- older person riding a swiss army knife of a bike
3. Motorrad- crazy hooligans
4. Cruiser- cruiser rider/ 1%er prospect/ 1%er

Id love to be able to get something with the styling of 70's roadster, with the go of a modern sportbike, the sound of something lumpy, light handling, versatile and able to just tick along at 100kms.

Hence the want of a bmw r80/100, it ticks most of those boxes....