This is one of those crossroads in life. Several years ago I sold my fantastic 95’ Ducati 900 SS SP and bought two BMW’s from a shop in Iowa. One was a R60/5 that I turned into a neat little Café Toaster bike and sold a few years later. The other was a 1977 R75/7. Surprisingly a comparatively short lived and rare model, as they transitioned to the R80 in the /7 line. The old bike ran pretty well and only needed some small items repaired or replaced. I got some correct bags and just basically rode it. I always marveled at the smoothness and, all you need with nothing you don’t, character of the bike. It undoubtedly has arguably the most balanced and smooth Airhead motor coupled with the lighter flywheel of the /7’s. This makes acceleration and shifting smoother, by comparison, to other models. True Airhead boxer bliss, and I’ve owned several, /5/6/7 and 60,80,90’s, and one oilhead R11RT. A couple years ago I traded it to a co-worker that needed something to fiddle with. He is a real stickler for making things “right” and this old bike really filled the bill for him. I wanted something sort of like my old Ducati, modern performance with some good brakes and sound handling, but maybe less maintenance hassles. I ended up with Steve’s 2002 Buell X1-W. Just last week O’l Steve bought another little Sportster to convert to a Café bike, having reached a point with the R75/7 that he seemed satisfied with. In his ownership he’d rebuilt the carbs, ignition and some other wiring, throttle, Speedo/Tach, a bunch of stuff I can’t remember, plus installed a new set of Metzlers. He offered to sell it back to me for about the same I sold it to him. Now a man seldom has chances in his life to redeem his past choices, this seems to be one of those times. How can I not take advantage? I could keep this thing forever, enjoying the patina and character, simply keeping it in sound repair and enjoying it. Why not?
Posted on: Fri, 02 Jan 2015 22:56:35 +0000
Trending Topics
© 2015