r60/6 r80 ?

[ahutcheon]

To be clear, you are thinking of buying the R75 shown above? If the kiwi dollar is around 50pc of sterling, I'd snap it up. They ain't making any more of these and this one looks pretty good. If it has a gearbox problem eventually then get it fixed. That's the beauty of a classic and half the fun: they are not disposable consumer items.

I'm giving it serious thought, currently trying to make contact with the seller. It's 400km away, so there might be a weekend road trip in my near future to look at it.

If I do buy it, it'll probably have to replace my 1150GS (arcane licensing rules mean that the equivalent of road tax on a 40 year old bike is much more affordable than the way more than a car charges on a more modern bike). Hopefully I could overlap the two for long enough to be sure I was comfortable with the swap. I'm guessing that the R75 would be fast enough for a country with a well-enforced 100kmh maximum speed limit, that it would take me as far down the gravel roads as the GS on Tourances, and that brakes are for people who can't carry corner speed...

 

[Ogmios]

... one of the best bikes ,for me in the airhead range is the R80/7,heavy flywheel,twin shock,one of the best they ever made ...

Same opinion here.
Very good build quality, some nice touches to detail. I'd upgrade to Brembo brakes though.
If i could only have one Bike - it would be either be an R80/7 or an old Guzzi*.
Both are so versatile, carry a load and they're comfy.
Oh the old R80/7 can handle well and go quite fast too.... eventually.

*sorry - i know, it's a quirk - i just cant help it.

 

[Beemerboff]

Ahutcheon, you have most of that right.

On unsealed roads my 75/7 will do everything my G/S will do, even with TT100s on the 75 and EO7s on the G/S.
Although with an Ohlins on the mono G/S it is a bit more relaxed at speed if the going gets a bit rougher.

And if you cant carry corner speed you aint going anywhere fast on a heavy flywheel 750 - these are not brake, point and squirt bikes - you have to ride them like the old 125cc GP bikes - the widest line possible and the minimum possible reduction in speed.

 

[ahutcheon]

If i could only have one Bike - it would be either be an R80/7 or an old Guzzi*.

Fair enough, but even the earliest R80/7 is four years off being cheap to rego (road tax, approximately) here and the same goes for any affordable Tonti-frame Guzzi (lets just ignore the V7 Sport if I'm on an economy drive). And, heresy though it may be round here, I quite like my 1150GS. So I'm looking back to 1973, and that means /5. And they do look "right".

Drum brakes: do they work OK? The retro-fit of a 1974 5 speed gearbox - is that because that year was so bad somebody was throwing the 'box away?

I've enjoyed a Guzzi Convert in the past, so I can do without point 'n' squirt and I can tinker. But is it optimistic to make an R75/5 reliable on a regular basis?

 

[Ogmios]

ahutcheon,
sorry to hear that cost excludes an R80/7 as it was the sole reason i got one.
It was only after riding it for a while that i realised how useful it actually was.
Cant comment further as it's the oldest BMW i've had. I've no experience with drum front and rear brakes and older gearboxes.
Good Luck.

 

[ahutcheon]

ahutcheon,
sorry to hear that cost excludes an R80/7 as it was the sole reason i got one.
It was only after riding it for a while that i realised how useful it actually was.
Cant comment further as it's the oldest BMW i've had. I've no experience with drum front and rear brakes and older gearboxes.
Good Luck.

I guess that an R80RT with the fairing removed is essentially a /7? There's a 1988 one going pretty cheap (the fairing is there, but not on the bike and I'm not sure I'd want it to be), maybe I should ponder whether not having much money tied up offsets the cost of rego...

 

[ahutcheon]

Or is 1988 too late for the Ogmios seal of approval, since that would have the lighter flywheel?

I also have to wonder that a white RT of that era, with high kms, might have been a Ministry of Transport (i.e. cop) bike...

Cheers,
Andy

 

[Posh Pete]

Nothing wrong with the tls front brake if properly set up. Had an R60/6 with a tis Identical to the one on this R75 , rode it for 30 k miles and never had a problem with the brakes. In at least one way, the tls was preferable to disc brakes of the period - no lag in the wet. The gearbox was fine also. Like all BMW boxer boxes, it wa clunky but this simply encouraged a different riding style as noted by one of the posts above : ride the torque and not the revs.

If I was in NZ just now, I'd be beating the vendor's door down. From your pov, what's to lose? If you don't like it, sell it on. Someone will buy it, guaranteed and if a year or so down the line, probably for even more cash. Like I said, they ain't making any more,of them.

 

[Ogmios]

Or is 1988 too late for the Ogmios seal of approval, since that would have the lighter flywheel?

I also have to wonder that a white RT of that era, with high kms, might have been a Ministry of Transport (i.e. cop) bike...

Cheers,
Andy

Me? - seal of approval?!
I'm just another opinionated Tosser.
1988 would make it a very different beasty - not just coz of the flywheel.
There's little touches on the older ones - chrome vanadium adjustable pegs for e.g. - they're a world apart from newer ones in quality.
However,
i've had an early 80's R65 (twin shock / 'small' frame) and a late one too (mono / same frame as the bigger ones) - all good in their own way - just different ride.
As for ex Min of Tran Bikes - Steptoe would know best the signs to look for to i.d. them.