San Jose ,The Ultimate Force

k1300sporscheeater

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Purely out of pondering my life with BMW's back to my youth when as a boy i owned(well,my local RBS owned, and i struggled to pay for) an R100CS,from Edinburgh i used to buy parts from Gus Kuhn,but in those days there was no Touratech or Wunderlich,i remember a glossy black and white A5 catalogue from a company in England,San Jose, The Ultimate Source.They did trick parts for BM's,I remember their caption,"How to make your Beemer a Boomer" 800cc up to 1000cc conversions,fork braces,cylinder temperature gauges and such like.I remember buying from them "Krauser pannier anti rattle rubbers" the same BMW part which was the flywheel inspection grommet .I've googled them purely out of interest and drawn a blank,anyone else remember them or know what became of them?it was all top notch tasty kit.
 
The anti rattle rubbers were just standard electrical blind grommets that poked through the holes on the pannier frames.

Ultimate source were just the touratech of their day. If you see many of their products now they look a little amateurish by today's standards. They did make some good stuff though.

San Jose still had some of their trick airhead parts tucked away on their site the last time that I looked.

Www.flatracer.com have taken to making some of the parts made by San jose
 
I remember getting the Ultimate Source catalogue - full of lovely stuff - I associate it with the BMW Journal and 1980's motorcycling in general, riding my R100RT and K100LT... Nostalgia, eh..?
 
and I recall riding my then very new R100RS down the M3 in the rain to Basingstoke where U/S had a retail point and buying a rather well made alloy fork brace which they fitted for me and which so transformed the handling of my bike that I was able to loop the loop on the way back home.
 
Many thanks to you all who have replied to my query with your memories and thoughts.Schtum,my CS did indeed come from Better Bikes in The Pleasance.I was an apprentice tree surgeon and worked at The Royal Botanic Garden in Edinburgh at that time,i remember my pay being £65 per week before deductions and the CS was costing me £90 a month on a loan.Rose tinted spectacles perhaps,i have had far too many new BM's since ,but the CS stands proud above them all.Metallic black with hand painted coach lines,first aid kit,and a lock in the main frame tube.We used to go to Two Wheels in Dalkeith Road,ride onto the pavement then hang the back end off the kerb to get the rear wheel off for a new tyre,ME77 Rear,ME11Front.Those were the days.
 
k1300sporscheeater said:
We used to go to Two Wheels in Dalkeith Road,ride onto the pavement then hang the back end off the kerb to get the rear wheel off for a new tyre,ME77 Rear,ME11Front.Those were the days.
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I bought a new MZ250 Supa 5 from them in 1980 to commute into Edinburgh on. It replaced my Norton Commando which I'd bought from.....Better Bikes.
I guess George Gunn and Ian McLean might have been in the workshop at Better Bikes when you got your R100CS from them.

Two Wheels have, of course moved to Peffermill Road where they're now Honda and Triumph dealers, having also had the BMW franchise before losing it, a number of years ago. Tony, he of the ginger hair and glasses, recently sold out to his partner of many years and one their sales guys.
 
Yeh,that was the team at Better Bikes,owned i believe by a chap called Robin Worrall.I remember George Gunn always riding around Edinburgh on a smoked green R100RT.There was another guy in the workshop,a mate of a mate, called Jock Madden.I remember going to the launch at Better Bikes of the very first K,an unfaired K100,from memory it was either £3295 or £4295,we came away in disbelief,in shock and horror ,it was rumoured then,early80s,that the new K was going to bring the end of the Boxers.I shouldn't mention it on this halloed site,but i also went to the launch of the then new honda CB1100R at Chatham's in Abbeyhill.Showing my age here.
 
k1300sporscheeater said:
Yeh,that was the team at Better Bikes,owned i believe by a chap called Robin Worrall.I remember George Gunn always riding around Edinburgh on a smoked green R100RT.There was another guy in the workshop,a mate of a mate, called Jock Madden.I remember going to the launch at Better Bikes of the very first K,an unfaired K100,from memory it was either £3295 or £4295,we came away in disbelief,in shock and horror ,it was rumoured then,early80s,that the new K was going to bring the end of the Boxers.I shouldn't mention it on this halloed site,but i also went to the launch of the then new honda CB1100R at Chatham's in Abbeyhill.Showing my age here.
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That would be before Robin Worrall decided to have fish in the Better Bikes shop as well..... :rolleyes:

"Uncle" George only lives about a mile away from me. He fettles BMW's in his garage as a bit of hobby nowadays and I sold him my MZ last year, after it had been "resting" in my garage since 1988.

Ian McLean is, very sadly, no longer with us. We had a wake for him in one of the local pubs here in South Queensferry a few years back on the Saturday of the Scottish Bike Show. Ian had one of the first R80 G/S in 1981 and he was only too happy to loan it to me at the time....a lovely guy and much missed.
 
Your memory is better than mine,i do remember a chap called Ian,but i can't remember his surname,i had dealings with him in the upstairs service department as opposed to the workshop.I remember him as being a tall mousey blonde chap,older than me,im 48 now,but quite a bit younger than George Gunn,is that the chap?what happened to him ?a pal of mine in Peebles now owns a black and gold R100RS once owned by that same chap.Chap? Iv been living in england too long i think.
 
I recall the introduction of the Fish...
I got a Benelli 254 and my Dad got an RT in 1979 off Robin W at the Clarkston Rd, Glasgow branch. Was the other guy involved there John North I think? A 'large' guy?
I had the same experience with the first K100, but at Scotbike when they were in Otago St.
 
Yeah that could have been Ian, although he wasn't that tall - 5' 10" - 5' 11" maybe. He moved to England and opened a bike shop but I think he'd probably spent too many years shoving oily rags into his overalls pocket and he got cancer in delicate parts of his anatomy. He was known as "The Captain" for some reason. I first knew him when he worked for Carrick Motors at Prestonfield Ave in the mid to late 70's. He used to hoon around on an old black AJS.
 
ghiribizzo said:
Was the other guy involved there John North I think? A 'large' guy?
Click to expand...

Well remembered - I'd forgotten John's name. He used to ride a Kawasaki Z750 twin, when they first came out. I remember Ian McLean turned up at my place of work one day on a Z1300 when they'd just been released. We were all a bit overwhelmed by it.
 
Was the Benelli a 4cylinder bike? where i worked in Edinburgh a guy there had a 900 Benelli Sei,6cylinder.Pre CBX Z13 i hope
 
Do either of you remember the old guy known as Jesus who owned West Pier Motorcycles down near the botanics ?
 
k1300sporscheeater said:
Do either of you remember the old guy known as Jesus who owned West Pier Motorcycles down near the botanics ?
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Eddie Koski - I don't remember him being known as Jesus though. I bought a new Ducati 250 Mk3 from him in 1975. Long gone as is the shop.....

I remember his daughter always made eyes at me and probably anyone else in a leather jacket.
 
Yeah - Benelli 254 was only a 231cc four.
West Pier - was it Eddie? Had brand new Jubilee Bonnie and I think a new US -style Bonnie with the Lester wheels as well.
Had tons of spares for Guzzi singles.
 
Nippy Normans supply Touratech, Wunderlich, Desert Fox and many other makes of accessories.
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