1978 BMW R100/7

   My close friend and neighbor Jeff makes a decent living selling software on the telephone from home. As a young man, he raced bicycles off-road and on the velodrome. His hobby now is buying and selling motorcycles. He is good at it.  I  was approached in March of 2021 by a RetroTours client about a friend who had passed away, leaving a barn full of unfinished BMW projects that his widow wanted cleaned out. Jeff and I decided to take on the projects and pooled our resources to make the buy. The treasure trove included a K1100RS, an R100RT, and an R100/7. There was also a Velorex sidecar. None of the bikes ran and the sidecar was completely disassembled and nicely painted to match the R100/7.  
   First up was the K1100. We got it running, sorted, and sold. It brought decent money. Next, the R100RT was stripped down by discarding the massive fairing and making it into a ‘standard’. It sold easily at a crazy low price. The R100/7 had transmission issues that needed attention, along with the usual recommissioning items: new battery, carb cleaning, tires, etc. To prove out the repairs, I put about 400 miles on it and, well, I guess I became smitten.
   
   I sold a red R90/6 about a year ago as it closed in on 100,000 miles. It was replaced with a black R90/6 that was used on numerous tours. There were issues with the black one, but they had been dealt with. The thing is, the brown R100/7 felt so much smoother, lighter, and more modern than the /6’s that I decided I should keep it and sold the black R90/6. This left the sidecar which was assembled and sold. So, in the end, we successfully recommissioned 4 items and found decent homes for them all. The 1978 R100/7 takes its place in the fleet, and I look forward to running it regularly and sharing it with others.
   It is truly a joy to ride! The 5 speed gearbox shifts smoothly and seamlessly. The motor is torquey and propels the bike effortlessly. The oversize fuel tank gives fantastic range, and the broad, flat seat provides enough comfort to make the range totally accessible. Suspension wise, the front fork springs have been upgraded with Progressive springs, and the stock rear shocks work well, though I have a pair of Ikon clickers that I may eventually install. Even the single front disc brake works better than expected.
The bike impresses me mostly by feeling lighter, nimbler, and more modern than the /6 models that I have been running. It feels like the /6 models are classic while the /7 model is of the 21st century, despite being a 1978 model. This bike is very user friendly, and it feels right at home in modern traffic conditions. It is a testament to the advantages of steady design evolution, simplicity, light weight, and German engineering.

  Komm schon, lass uns dieses Motorrad fahren!