My 1961 R60/2

This is really the start of my vintage BMW motorcycle interests. After I had been riding for a while, my friend Rick, who had gotten me interested in riding and in BMW motorcycles in the first place, got an odd sort of a birthday present.

We were both almni of the UCLA Computer Club, and another alumnus, Erik Solderberg, gave Rick a motorcycle for his birthday—some assembly required. It was completely disasssembled down to the frame, motor, and transmission. I understood that Erik had taken it apart in 1974 to do some kind of maintenance, and realized that he wasn't going to put it together again. I came over to Rick's place one Saturday and we took apart the carbs and cleaned them up. Other than that, I don't think much ever happened to it. When Rick and Lori moved from the Simi Valley to San Jose, he mentioned the old bike, and I said he shouldn't go to the effort of moving it up there. So, he gave it to me. That was in 1985, I think.

I had the motor rebuilt by West Valley Cycle and the wheels reuiblt by Buchanans, but otherwise didn't do much with it. Really, I had no idea what to do with it. Up to that point I had changed the oil and tuned up my old VW Beatle, but otherwise knew nothing about wrenching. So, it sat in my garage, and then I moved it to Seattle when we went there. It sat piled up in the corner of the garage until, in 1995, I made the mistake of clearing enough room in there for Heather's car. Then she wanted room for the other car, too, and said I had to build that bike or get rid of it.

So I kicked her car back out into the rain, put a milk crate down in its place, and put the frame on top of it.

After about 4 months of putting a piece on here and there, and then removing a bunch of them when I found that something else needed to go on first, I suddenly had an old rat bike that ran. Unlike my gradual entrance in riding, this time the bug bit immediately.

Riding a vintage bike is just an entirely different experience. Whereas, on a modern bike, you're always trying to keep up with the present, on an old bike things just get better the older they are! I rode that R60/2 around for a year and put a couple thousand miles on it, fixing whatever broke and learning more about it.

The next year, I took it all apart again, in some cases further apart than it had been when I got it. I had it painted and pinstriped, had all the chrome bits plated or replaced, put on a stainless nut and bolt kit, and had a bunch of pieces cad plated. Then I put it together and it was stunning (if I do say so myself). That summer I rode it out to the Washington State BMW Riders' rally in Cashmere, WA, and it won both the Best Vintage and People's Choice awards in their judging.

My bike happens to be very early in the /2 sequence. Fred Jakobs at BMW Mobile Tradition told me that my bike was built on December 12th, 1960 for delivery to the US. It's number 336.