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Strange how we can come to different concusions about the same bikes.
I have had 3 different post '81 airheads & Mrs B still has her '84 built (but '86 registered) R65LS. None have had "granite build quality" being, at best adequate and in some areas deficiant. My first (an R100RS, two years old & 8800 miles at the time of purchase in 1984) was very tired when I moved it on 5 1/2 years and around 40K miles later - worn valve guides, sacked out seat (again - it had veen rebuilt once already) & soggy suspension. It was the only bike that broke down on me while on touring abroad (clutch went). The near new R100GS I made the mistake of buying after I didn't gel with the K100RT that replaced the R100RS was not well finished, uncomfortable, uneconomical & harsh. It depreciated like it had fallen off a cliff as well. The last one was an '84 R100RT bought from a friend at 17 years old with 50K showing (he had owned it from being a year old & 3.5K) - that needed a full rebuild, having many of the same issues as my original R100RS (valve guides, soggy suspension, seat etc). Ran it for a few years and around 15K after the rebuild, but sold it on when I came to realise that I didn't look forward to riding it. Not felt the need to revist BMWs since.
Mrs B's R65LS is getting on for 95K miles now, but it has not been spectacularly reliable either. She wants to get 100K on it (it was 6 months old with 800 miles showing when she bought it in Jan 1987) & I am very much hoping she will the honourably retire it then so I don't have to work on it any more !
I tried the oil heads when they came out & hated the harsh, un-refined lumps with their odd-feeling "funny" front end, truly awful gearboxes & dismal finish. Plus the faired models seeem to be awful to work on, the dodgy greased driveshaft joints that fail scrapping the rear drive housing & swing arm etc. - a motorcycle range that holds no attractions at all for me.
Still that does mean that there will be at least one person who will not be offering you any competition when it comes to buying one (or the other - or both ! ) Simon !
Hope you find something that you want to keep for more than a few weeks (days ?) and ride in your soon-to-be-found free time this summer.
Nigel B.
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