From the
sublime to the techno-bastard
Guido has finally bought a Bimm, an exercise which turned out to be much harder
than expected…
Okay, so I’ve
finally gone and done it: bought a BMW, that is. It’s taken years of trying,
and a couple of missed opportunities, but there it is – an Ecco Engineering-modded
1979 R65 with, I suspect, R80 internals. It sits in the shed, polished up nicely,
awaiting a meeting with the rego folk on Thursday.
It’s actually my third attempt at buying a Bimm and probably not the last.
The first was narrowly missing a very nice used K1 – remember them? Released
internationally in 1989-90, they were based on a 16-valve K100 powerplant and
had a somewhat weird boxy look. Rather like a racing Volvo with a couple of
wheels missing. Appearances were deceptive, as they were a lovely thing to ride
at the time. I suspect the surreal styling killed them off.
Failed attempt number two was a shot at an R1150GS. For reasons which remain
a mystery, I got the cold shoulder and bought Mac the Valk Interstate instead.
Yep, I can see what you’re thinking – how in hell do get from an overpowered
stick insect of a rally bike to a gothic full-blown tourer that has its own
postcode? Well, oddly, they perform similar functions, albeit in very different
ways.
So much for the justification, which I admit sucks. Though having followed (and
advised on – gawd help us) the pre and post-buying adventures of countless
readers over the years, this bizarre swing between two (often more) apparently
completely unrelated motorcycles is far from unusual. Give me a dollar for every
time a punter has made noises about buying a nice, sensible, mid-range cruiser,
and then gone and bought the biggest, hairiest sports shark on the planet and
I’ll have enough to organise an early retirement at my own private racetrack.
The yet-to-be-named Bimm has a bit of history. It was owned by MT staffer Janette,
who was given it by her husband Kim – best known as Mole in rally circles.
His mate Wombat (or Jeff) had it for a while, too. Both the latter are no longer
with us, and motorcycling is much poorer for it. Kim was a gentleman, talented
raconteur and cook, who did some wonderful columns in a bike mag (Australian
Rider) I all-too-briefly steered some years ago.
So the R65, which has been fettled back to roadworthy standard by an ever-generous
Spannerman, has landed in our shed and is more of an inheritance than a purchase.
Spouse Ms M Snr – who really had every right to question the addition of
yet another motorcycle to the fleet – merely shrugged her shoulders in
a resigned way and wandered off to find a decent glass of claret. It was an
admirable response, but took all the challenge out of acquiring yet another
machine.
Meanwhile bike historian Trevor Thomas got wind of the new toy and kindly ratted
through his collection of motorcycle literature (which, if you’d seen even
part of it, you’d understand is an undertaking of heroic dimensions) and
sent down colour photocopies of the original brochures. The generosity of motorcyclists
never fails to amaze me.
Our next task is to track down the semi-retired Gyro of Ecco Engineering, so
we can work out what’s in the engine – which I have to say is exceptionally
crisp for its type. Gyro has had a hand in a classic Bimm racer that’s
currently causing mayhem locally and will be best remembered by some folk as
being the tuner/part-owner of the legendary Syndicate superbike raced by Andrew
Johnson.
A couple of brief rides suggest the Bimmer and I are going to get along just
fine. It’s a little agricultural by current standards, but is thoroughly
enjoyable when you’re in the right frame of mind. It’ll be useful,
too – we needed a loaner bike for visiting guests and it will do just nicely
for the morning commute in between those duties.
Now that I’ve finally tasted success and realised that, with a little persistence,
BMWs really can be purchased, we’re looking at brighter horizons. That
new techno-bastard K1200 R naked has “take me home” written all over
it…
Guy "Guido" Allen
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