With this work complete, the 1928 R52 is finally done, from my point of view. It is far from a perfect restoration, but it is a good representation and it runs and rides well. And so, besides riding it locally and putting about 1,000 miles on it, I also displayed it.

Euro Moto Show

Every year, the BSA Owners Club of Northern California, in conjunction with other British clubs, puts on the All British Clubman Show at the Santa Clara county fairgrounds. However, in 2008, the Vintage Ducati Club put on the inaugural Euro Moto Show for European marques.

As a part of the VBMWMO contingent, we set up a booth for the club and I brought two bikes in the back of my pickup. Martin, my friend from Auburn came over and rode my 1961 R60/2 over for me as well.

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The Legend of the Motorcycle

The big event for me, however, was the Legend of the Motorcycle Concours d'Elegance. One of the reasons I got the exhaust system, and had to complete it pretty quickly, was for this show. I had submited my registration in December and been accepted to the show in January, so I had to make sure that the R52 looked its best by the show's Saturday, May 2nd date, held on the 18th fairway at the Ritz-Carlton hotel in Half Moon Bay.

I had a great time at the show and enjoyed seeing so many other beautiful bikes and talking with some of the owners. The R52 didn't disappoint, either — it fired up on the first kick every time, even when the judges came round.

As pretty as the bike looks, it's not a concours-class restoration. There are numerous small things that prevent it. Nothing that couldn't be fixed, but they are things that don't bother me or are too fussy to worry about. For example, there are a variety of bits that are chrome plated, but anything bright on this bike would have been nickel plated. The spokes on the wheels should be painted black, not displaying dull cad plating. There are a number of bolts that are modern, with strength indications on the heads, and nuts that are not of the right form for this era. As a result, there were no trophies for the R52.

On Sunday there was a 50 mile loop ride from the hotel up to Alice's Restaurant — a famous Bay Area biker meeting spot on the ridge line of the Santa Cruz Mountains — and back around. I'm exceptionally pleased to say that the R52 made it the whole way and was, by far, the oldest bike on the run.

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At the last moment I learned that fellow VBMWMO club member, John Harper of Alabama, was taking part in an event called the California Marathon, put on by the BMW Vintage & Classic Car Club of America. This event had already started out from a resort in Seaside, not even 20 miles from my house, made a 2,000 mile circumnavigation of California, and, when I heard about it, was returning in only a couple days. There were about 50 BMW four wheelers and 4 motorcycle entrants. I rode my R90S up to meet them at their penultimate stop in San Francisco, and then met them the next day in Seaside — riding the R52 there, of course.

It turned out that the other motorcyclists were a couple from Germany and Dave Percival, who has one of the biggest BMW bike collections. The couple rode Dave's R90S and Dave rode an R69S

There was also a German, Herr Mathies Stüdemann, who had shipped his R62 from Hamburg to LA, and he rode it to the start, successfully made the entire 2,000 mile run, and the next day was headed back to the Long Beach harbor to crate and ship his bike back home. The only problem he had was a flat tire.

Herr Stüdeman really inspired me as to what was possible with these bikes. Admittedly, he has made many upgrades and improvements to give his bike greater reliability for travelling, but it is still, in essence, an 1929 motorcycle!

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Finally, I took the R52 out to the annual A&S Cycles Vintage Show. A&S is a BMW dealership in the Sacramento area and they sponsor this show which is run by the Fort Sutter Chapter of the Antique Motorcycle Club of America (AMCA).

It's always a fun time at this farily informal show, and there's a lot to see. It's not a BMW-only event, and there are some very nice old bikes that are there each year. This year in particular there were, for example, a pre war Indian Chief, a better-than-new Harley XA along with a civilianized version, a selection of early Honda Dreams, some nice "flat tank" bikes from the teens and twenties including a Douglas racer and an Ariel belt drive, and a Vincet set up for touring!

The R52 did take Best Vintage German bike, which was nice, and I enjoyed starting it and explaining it to passers-by.