Re: BMW R90S - The Airhead
Posted: Fri Nov 15, 2013 2:58 pm
I rode my first BMW in 1977, a 100/7 belonging to Richard Armstrong, whom some of you guys know. I had a Yamaha XS750 triple at the time, which I thought was a pretty good sports tourer, it certainly made a wonderful noise. I was blown away by the handling and composure of the 100/7 and went into my local BMW dealer, Ongar Motorcycles, and traded in my Yamaha for a new R100S the next day. The dealer had just got back from a dealer/factory rideaway and there was a gleaming R100RS Motorsport sitting outside after I completed the paperwork. I asked for a test ride, knowing there was no way I was going for the RS version, the dealer warned me not to try it, as I would want one. Needless to say the Motorsport was in my garage at the end of the day.
That was the first of 2 R100RSs before I took an R100 to the USA in 1981 to ride to Alaska, then down to Ushaia in Tierra del Fuego, then up to Rio, leaving Argentina the day before the Falklands war broke out. It was a standard road bike, chosen over the R80G/S which had just been released, which may well have been a better bike for many of the gravel roads that we experienced, but even on road tyres the R100 was great to ride in all conditions except mud, loads of which we came across in the Yukon.
When I came back from the USA I joined Ongar Motorcyles in the workshops, later becoming the service manager. I got into modifying BMWs, building a Krauser, a Magni, then a couple of turbo powered R100RSs. I got to ride an awful lot of bikes and loved the R80 and R80RT when they were released. The K100 seemed a great bike when it was released, but was subject to monotonous reliability failures in the first couple of years. I bought one as I was addicted to the extra speed and power, but it never had the character of the twins. I had brief flings with Laverda Jotas and Mirages, 2 days with the most unreliable bike I ever had, a 1977 Bonneville, a wonderful Honda CB1100R, a 1972 Shovelhead Harley then took a rest for 10 years while I lived abroad.
I came back to the UK for a long week end and rented a R1100RS, which I thought was awful with disastrous aerodynamics, and read about the new R1100S and bought one of them instead. I was still living in Tenerife at the time and rode to Le Mans on it in 1999, averaging 99.9 mph over an hour in Spain on non-motorways. When Icame back to the UK I bought an Aprillia RSVR1000 which was way too fast for me, and traded it in for a new R1150GS which I still own 13 years later.
I like BMWs!
Behind me is my mate Colin, who has had that R90/6 since new!
That was the first of 2 R100RSs before I took an R100 to the USA in 1981 to ride to Alaska, then down to Ushaia in Tierra del Fuego, then up to Rio, leaving Argentina the day before the Falklands war broke out. It was a standard road bike, chosen over the R80G/S which had just been released, which may well have been a better bike for many of the gravel roads that we experienced, but even on road tyres the R100 was great to ride in all conditions except mud, loads of which we came across in the Yukon.
When I came back from the USA I joined Ongar Motorcyles in the workshops, later becoming the service manager. I got into modifying BMWs, building a Krauser, a Magni, then a couple of turbo powered R100RSs. I got to ride an awful lot of bikes and loved the R80 and R80RT when they were released. The K100 seemed a great bike when it was released, but was subject to monotonous reliability failures in the first couple of years. I bought one as I was addicted to the extra speed and power, but it never had the character of the twins. I had brief flings with Laverda Jotas and Mirages, 2 days with the most unreliable bike I ever had, a 1977 Bonneville, a wonderful Honda CB1100R, a 1972 Shovelhead Harley then took a rest for 10 years while I lived abroad.
I came back to the UK for a long week end and rented a R1100RS, which I thought was awful with disastrous aerodynamics, and read about the new R1100S and bought one of them instead. I was still living in Tenerife at the time and rode to Le Mans on it in 1999, averaging 99.9 mph over an hour in Spain on non-motorways. When Icame back to the UK I bought an Aprillia RSVR1000 which was way too fast for me, and traded it in for a new R1150GS which I still own 13 years later.
I like BMWs!
Behind me is my mate Colin, who has had that R90/6 since new!
