Tonis
Member
I will preface this post with the comment that I do not profess to have any real mechanical skills. This is not meant to be a “how to” thread. It’s meant to share photos and ideas on my work on an old motorcycle I have that I plan to modify over the (hopefully very short and mild) winter. Many members of this site do have significant experience and knowledge when it comes to this sort of thing and I hope to tap in to this information pool so please feel free to express your ideas and suggestions as they are welcome.
Here’s my 1987 BMW R80RT monolever as I first saw it in an ad on Kijiji in Ontario:
And when it arrived:
It sports a rather ungainly Hannigan fairing, a Reynolds back-rest, and modified low and narrow handlebars. It had about 66,000 kms, originally came from Quebec and was on its third owner. This is how it most likely looked when it was new:
I was delighted when it finally arrived after having it shipped down by Clarenville Movers. Spring riding revealed that it ran strong, sounded great, shifted nicely, and stopped well thanks to the twin disk Brembo brakes up front. The tank had a small dent and a rub from the old fairing (don’t know what happened to it) and one of the cylinder head covers had a good scrape on it from hard cornering. There is a small oil leak from the left hand cylinder head gasket that I am keeping an eye on. The seat was quite comfortable but I was not fond of the narrow bars and the fairing was just not to my taste, nor did it function real well. So after a little fiddling I came to this:
I removed the fairing and backrest (for sale if anyone’s interested) and installed a headlight that came with the bike. I added new turn signals and a small wind screen. Also a set of bar end mirrors. The handling was improved after the fairing was removed and I got a lot of positive comments on the bike when riding around, especially at stop lights from other motorcyclists and drivers through rolled down windows. The boxer was a joy to ride; something about these motors really appeals to me. Gee calls the noise “aviation-like” which I think is a good description. The motor is torquey and will easily do the ton on the highway. I noticed one evening that the rear tail light was not working (brake light was) and that the gauge lights did not work. The electrics definitely needed attention. I think I put about 1500kms on it over the summer which brings me to the next stage.
Here’s my 1987 BMW R80RT monolever as I first saw it in an ad on Kijiji in Ontario:
And when it arrived:
It sports a rather ungainly Hannigan fairing, a Reynolds back-rest, and modified low and narrow handlebars. It had about 66,000 kms, originally came from Quebec and was on its third owner. This is how it most likely looked when it was new:
I was delighted when it finally arrived after having it shipped down by Clarenville Movers. Spring riding revealed that it ran strong, sounded great, shifted nicely, and stopped well thanks to the twin disk Brembo brakes up front. The tank had a small dent and a rub from the old fairing (don’t know what happened to it) and one of the cylinder head covers had a good scrape on it from hard cornering. There is a small oil leak from the left hand cylinder head gasket that I am keeping an eye on. The seat was quite comfortable but I was not fond of the narrow bars and the fairing was just not to my taste, nor did it function real well. So after a little fiddling I came to this:
I removed the fairing and backrest (for sale if anyone’s interested) and installed a headlight that came with the bike. I added new turn signals and a small wind screen. Also a set of bar end mirrors. The handling was improved after the fairing was removed and I got a lot of positive comments on the bike when riding around, especially at stop lights from other motorcyclists and drivers through rolled down windows. The boxer was a joy to ride; something about these motors really appeals to me. Gee calls the noise “aviation-like” which I think is a good description. The motor is torquey and will easily do the ton on the highway. I noticed one evening that the rear tail light was not working (brake light was) and that the gauge lights did not work. The electrics definitely needed attention. I think I put about 1500kms on it over the summer which brings me to the next stage.
