Now a Two Motorcycle Owner

As some of you probably saw as a foregone conclusion, I did end up buying the 1987 R80 Beemer I posted about before.

She joins Maria, who'll be in the shop for at least the next two weeks they tell me. The insurance guy ran late at a previous inspection, now he says he won't be at the beemer dealer till Monday! I am starting to get a bit less enthusiastic about Progressive's responsiveness or lack thereof.

However, since I now have a "spare" motorcycle, I can keep getting my riding fix. : )

Tried on several brands of helmets today, Shoei, Arai, HJC and all of them did not fit my head correctly. Rather, my chin tended to touch the chin bar on all the helmets that fit the rest of my head! At this rate, I'm going to end up buying another KBC FFR flipup helmet! I never realized I would have such an issue switching helmet brands!

I hope to find a KBC dealer tomorrow and be done with helmet replacements.

On the ride home today from the fruitless helmet search, I realized how bad a habit I'd gotten into in terms of using brakes to slow down. On the R1150RT, with its powerful linked ABS brakes, stopping was just a matter of using the front brake lever and applying appropriate pressure. Well, on a barebones and older motorcycle like the R80, you have to use both the front and rear brake levers to come to a smooth stop without locking up either wheel!

It's a lesson I'd learned in the BRC: Basic Rider Course and now will have to relearn with the R80. I've been spoiled by the more modern brakes on Maria, it's time to start braking the right way and continue to do so when I get Maria back. Irondad, feel free to jump in with your instructor hat on!

Here's some pictures I took of the R80, no name yet for her, something Germanic to be sure but nothing's really come up.....






The R80 specification sheet I found online says the R80 has five gears, I never had to go above 4 and then only briefly while commuting today! She has a 7k RPM redline and I never got close to it as I rode.

I removed her small windshield, aftermarket, since I thought it detracted from her looks. I want all the air I can get hitting my mesh kevlar gear to keep cool if possible in the coming months!

I plugged her to the battery charger as Pete recommend I do on a nightly basis. Her small alternator only puts out 280W which is not much when compared to Maria's 700W so there will be little electrical farkling of this motorcycle!

I must also remember to turn off the fuel petcocks when stopped or apparently she could leak gas! She carries less oil than Maria so the need for oil checks will be each time I fill up at the very least!

Still, simple as she is, I think she's going to be a great commuter bike for the late spring and summer seasons here in Colorado. Maria will be my cold weather commuter with her big fairings and windshield.

Bought her with 61,643 miles on her odometer. But Pete said he'd had to have the odometer/speedometer fixed so the mileage reading was innacurate. He believed it was closer to 65k miles. However, I can only go by the odometer readings I have now.

I am to change the oil every 3k, valve lash checked every 5k, major service every 10k miles. I also found that since I still run dino oil on Maria that I should be, according to Pete, be changing the oil every 3K and he believe final drive/transmission every 6k service! Doh!