Click the title or pictures to see more
Mo's bike AKA the BBB project
Mo's bike
How did I get into this ?
A good question , I got neck-deep into the BBB project before I knew it. Mo and me are motorcyclists, both our bikes are BMW's. We love the Bayerisch boxers and we use them on a daily base. At least Mo used to do so. We know each other from work and at the beginning we were just the other guy with the beemer. At that time I drove a 1970 R50/5 , ex- military police and Mo had this bad-ass R1150GS adventure lookalike. At first we talked about the bikes like people talk about the weather.
"Nice bike" Mo said
"Thanks" I said
"It's an old one" said Mo
"1970" I said
Not much of a conversation , that first one, but it became better. One day we we were put in a jeep , and we stayed for a week on a shooting range. I had an aidman's kit on my lap and Mo handled the radio. Because nobody got shot that week , we had time to talk about everything................concerning motorcycles. Mo told me he had an R65 and the problem was it being a collection of spares, two wheels, a frame and a heap of parts. He didn't have a clue how to get started on the damn' thing. "No problem, we'll do it together" I said, "I'll do it for free but mind you, only the assembly , making it run , you have to do yourself". Mo agreed to the deal. The bike was put together, but the standard R65 seemed to lack character, making it a caféracer would bring out the beast inside. This plan never hatched. The sitting position on a racer isn't the most comfortable one. But being fond of the 50's BMW's , we decided to make it vintage. Awesome plan, a bob styled BMW. Circumstances got the R65 sooner than expected in my shed. My ongoing project got shoved aside to make room for Mo's bike . I do the bodywork and the wiring, Mo helps getting everything paint ready,Robby is a full-blood BMW mechanic and he'll take the beemers' guts apart, Robby's dad does the upholstery . But it takes time. Time to search parts , time to make parts, time to adapt parts.
A good question , I got neck-deep into the BBB project before I knew it. Mo and me are motorcyclists, both our bikes are BMW's. We love the Bayerisch boxers and we use them on a daily base. At least Mo used to do so. We know each other from work and at the beginning we were just the other guy with the beemer. At that time I drove a 1970 R50/5 , ex- military police and Mo had this bad-ass R1150GS adventure lookalike. At first we talked about the bikes like people talk about the weather.
"Nice bike" Mo said
"Thanks" I said
"It's an old one" said Mo
"1970" I said
Not much of a conversation , that first one, but it became better. One day we we were put in a jeep , and we stayed for a week on a shooting range. I had an aidman's kit on my lap and Mo handled the radio. Because nobody got shot that week , we had time to talk about everything................concerning motorcycles. Mo told me he had an R65 and the problem was it being a collection of spares, two wheels, a frame and a heap of parts. He didn't have a clue how to get started on the damn' thing. "No problem, we'll do it together" I said, "I'll do it for free but mind you, only the assembly , making it run , you have to do yourself". Mo agreed to the deal. The bike was put together, but the standard R65 seemed to lack character, making it a caféracer would bring out the beast inside. This plan never hatched. The sitting position on a racer isn't the most comfortable one. But being fond of the 50's BMW's , we decided to make it vintage. Awesome plan, a bob styled BMW. Circumstances got the R65 sooner than expected in my shed. My ongoing project got shoved aside to make room for Mo's bike . I do the bodywork and the wiring, Mo helps getting everything paint ready,Robby is a full-blood BMW mechanic and he'll take the beemers' guts apart, Robby's dad does the upholstery . But it takes time. Time to search parts , time to make parts, time to adapt parts.
S2/S6 conversion AKA the ongoing project
I've been working on this one for years, there was always something in the way of continuing work on this bike. Lack of spares, lack of funds, lack of inspiriation, lack of time . It's my first chop-a-bike and it really is my learning project. The engine rebuild was not a problem I had done it before, converting it to oilcooler neither, but finding the parts to do it was harder . Working on the frame to fit an "alien" tank , adapting mountings for the saddle and fenders was a trial and error process. I'm confident this will be a cool bike because it has come , from scrap and scratch to a decent motorcycle-to-be.
IMZ M72 AKA the pink panzer
I knew about this bike for a long time and at first it didn't interest me the slightest bit, but that was before I laid my eyes on it. A collegue of mine always talked about this Russian bike he had and the engine troubles that came with it. He wanted a reliable engine in the motorcycle and was looking to upgrade the engine and electrics. Russian and reliable, two words you better not use in the same phrase. I had a surplus BMW /5 engine and proposed him to switch the engine. Years went by , he didn't buy the /5 engine and he didn't upgrade the original engine. He's more into car restauration, so I guess he didn't want to spend a lot of time or money on the Russian iron. Suddenly one day( four years later) he started talking about selling it and asked me if I was interested. It took him a year to finally convince me to have a look at the bike at his workshop. And then.......lightning struck ,this was love at first sight. He was always talking about Ural and Dnepr, I imagined it to be an ugly dnepr MT-type. But this was a M 72 with plunger frame, fairly complete but with a beat up engine and not in a driving condition. The price seemed reasonable and it move from his workshop to my shed. I've been working on the engine block and I must admit the Russian material does not feed my confidence in its reliability .
So why name it "the pink panzer"?? Well it has the weight of an armoured vehicle and it 's pink.
So why name it "the pink panzer"?? Well it has the weight of an armoured vehicle and it 's pink.