I thought I should reveal to the parish that I am the proud owner of 'Großmutter' aka frame number 6250001.
<a href="http://s1113.photobucket.com/albums/k518/Richard_A/?action=view¤t=Grossmutter_RR3Q_02.jpg" target="_blank"><img src="http://i1113.photobucket.com/albums/k518/Richard_A/Grossmutter_RR3Q_02.jpg" border="0" alt="Photobucket"></a>
The bike is not a prototype in the truest sense, of course, but was the first off the line and recorded by BMW as having been built in May 1980, four months before the presentation to the press in Avignon on September 1st. Whether she was built in Munich (as part of some kind of pre-production series) or the factory in Berlin, I have yet to determine.
I bought her from the 3rd owner in Penzberg, Bavaria in 1997 while I was living and working in Germany in the 90s. The poor thing has been languishing in the back of my garage in the UK since I moved back with all my goods and chattels in 2001, mainly due to my continuing to work outside the UK until recently and having other bike projects on the go.
Hopefully, by posting this into the public arena, I shall feel duty bound to get my act together and start the restoration process. The bike is in reasonable condition, but has had quite a hard life as, I suspect, a works hack and in the hands of the aimiable and, I suspect, very skillfully riding, rocker cover chamfering, Bavarian chap from whom I bought her.
Initially registered officially by first owner BMW Motorrad GmbH on the 3rd September 1980, I would assume that she was running on trade plates prior to that date. I don't know if she was one of the bikes in the press presentation in Avignon, but now I've turned my attention to restoration, I'm going to start doing some research.
In April 1982, she was sold by BMW to a BMW R&D technician who then sold her onto my vendor in April 1984.
I'm going to start a restoration thread in a few weeks and use that to document the process, but I thought I'd post up this contribution to the Monolever thread right now.
Not that I in any way, shape or form would even begin to think that any of you might wonder about the provenance of the bike, but I thought I'd also post a couple of evidential pics to set your minds at rest!
The frame number (that's my Basic glinting in the background, the omega to the alpha of Großmutter, if you get my drift):
<a href="http://s1113.photobucket.com/albums/k518/Richard_A/?action=view¤t=Grossmutter_Nmbr_02.jpg" target="_blank"><img src="http://i1113.photobucket.com/albums/k518/Richard_A/Grossmutter_Nmbr_02.jpg" border="0" alt="Photobucket"></a>
The works plate:
<a href="http://s1113.photobucket.com/albums/k518/Richard_A/?action=view¤t=Grossmutter_Nmbr_01.jpg" target="_blank"><img src="http://i1113.photobucket.com/albums/k518/Richard_A/Grossmutter_Nmbr_01.jpg" border="0" alt="Photobucket"></a>
The engine, by the way, is numberless. It's hard to judge how original any part is on a bike like this, having been owned by BMW and then one of its employees for the first four years of its life, but my plan is to restore it to 'Avignon press presentation' condition, possibly with no electric start (although the press bikes may well have had electric start to avoid embarassing journalists unused bikes with lateral kickstarts).
'twas a deeper bit of water than it looked
)
