We can ride for miles and miles and…
Matt’s bought a new bike – he loves it, yet it’s called ‘The Pig’…
IWHAT IS THIS?
n last month’s editorial I mentioned the story
BUT IS IT A CLASSIC?
If you turn up to your local meet on a Harris Triumph T140, which were made up until the late 1980s, you would park in the ‘classic’ area, with the silent ‘nod’ of approval from the locals. But my BMW, which is the same age and designed in the early 1970s, is still an aircooled, carburetted, pre-unit twin, but looks from a totally different era; because it was so good in the first place. ‘Park that over there’…
The RT, both in R80 and R100 versions, is a true classic, as one of the best, if not the first touring bikes ever built (Vincent Black Prince tried). Rain is no enemy unless you stop, power is there for overtakes, the panniers were designed with the bike and not as a tacky afterthought, and yet it is easy enough for most owners to work on. The perfect classic?
No, I’m afraid not. Because of how good it is, the RT just gets overlooked as something that is neither modern and flash, nor shiny and classic.
You can pick up an RT cheaper than the RS or even the naked R100. And as such, the RT is mainly used as a donor for every bearded, shed building wannabe to create some hideous, badly finished ‘cafe racer’ with an eBay brown seat. Oh, the irony of the first practical, wind tunnel-designed, comfortable tourer ever designed, turned into uncomfortable, impractical Instagram art by poseurs.
WHAT’S OURS LIKE?
An ex-police bike could be bad – lots of miles, used daily, not theirs so riders don’t care... or it could be good – regular servicing, always had everything it ever needed. To me, it looks well used, but suffered from being laid up. So I stripped a lot off, gave the subframe a lick of well-known metal paint which is impossible to get a good finish with – never again – got the white paint off the rear mudguard as it was out and cleaned up the electric relays and fuses under the tank. It’s had new tyres as the old ones were so hard they didn’t need air in them, an air filter as the airbox had turned into a rest home for mice, a new battery, which is enormous and a check over.
The main issue, and the reason it had been parked, was the tank had rotted out. Most BMW tanks have some sort of red coating inside, but this one didn’t. So Nev kindly leant me a spare he had, which was the same colour! He then cleaned the old one up, brazed it, then lead loaded the repair and after writing this I’m off to see Ian at Tank Care Products (tankcareproducts.co.uk) to get one of his sealing kits... which we’ll cover in another issue.
Other, less pressing issues are a creak from when you pull away (clutch or final drive?), rear shock is tired, brake pads feel old and the solid brake pipes could be replaced. And the filler cap decided to spin without opening; a common issue. It wasn’t even locked. After a long time with different tools, including a hammer, I drilled the top, tapped it and used an M6 bolt to tighten the outer and the inner together. Not sure what to do next…