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Re: Workhorses and Survivors

Posted: Thu Apr 13, 2017 8:03 am
by Mello
Great looking job Dave :clap: These bikes are getting very collectable.
I believe those bar end indicators are hard (expensive) to come by these days.

Re: Workhorses and Survivors

Posted: Thu Apr 13, 2017 9:48 am
by daves79x
Thanks! The Hella signals are readily available, but as you said, pricey. Complete set-up (signals, wiring, switch, relay) runs about $375 US.

Dave

Re: Workhorses and Survivors

Posted: Sat Apr 29, 2017 7:28 pm
by NobleHops
daves79x wrote:Some of you may find my latest project interesting: a '59 R50. This was a bike-in-a-box that took a year and a half to restore.

Dave
Yoicks, how did I miss this!!??

OUTSTANDING as ever Dave, the bike looks amazing. Great job.

Re: Workhorses and Survivors

Posted: Sun Apr 30, 2017 7:02 am
by daves79x
Thanks for all the kind words guys! I should mention that all the bare aluminum you see on the bike was vapor blasted by Nils. There is no better way to clean aluminum and no better guy to do it than Nils. Have about 150 miles on the bike now and it is a real hoot to ride. Perfectly capable in modern traffic, but better on back roads.

Dave

Re: Workhorses and Survivors

Posted: Mon May 08, 2017 4:48 pm
by wyly
daves79x wrote:Thanks for all the kind words guys! I should mention that all the bare aluminum you see on the bike was vapor blasted by Nils. There is no better way to clean aluminum and no better guy to do it than Nils. Have about 150 miles on the bike now and it is a real hoot to ride. Perfectly capable in modern traffic, but better on back roads.

Dave
this doesn't have quite the vintage as your ride Dave but I just saw this at the IFK show, very clean/functional 7250

Re: Workhorses and Survivors

Posted: Tue Apr 17, 2018 7:50 pm
by PeterE
Used this to commute to work for the last 10 years before I retired.

Re: Workhorses and Survivors

Posted: Sun May 09, 2021 10:55 pm
by Irishman1
daves79x wrote:
Fri Apr 07, 2017 8:28 am
Some of you may find my latest project interesting: a '59 R50. This was a bike-in-a-box that took a year and a half to restore.

Dave
Just perusing through posts and saw this BMW restoration... beautiful bike Dave! Well done

Re: Workhorses and Survivors

Posted: Mon May 10, 2021 7:20 am
by daves79x
Thanks! Here is one I just finished - a '55 R69. Very rare first-year model.

Dave
IMG_0730.jpg
IMG_0740.jpg

Re: Workhorses and Survivors

Posted: Mon May 10, 2021 11:02 am
by EMS
A "Resurrection" rather than a "Survivor".

Here is one. used to be a "Workhorse" and is now a "Survivor"

Re: Workhorses and Survivors

Posted: Mon May 10, 2021 1:39 pm
by Syscrush
Wow, love it EMS.

Years ago (like 25 years ago, before car/bike people started getting interested in patina) I was at the Steam Era show in Milton, ON where they have steam-powered stationary and traction engines (aka tractors) and related machinery on display. The restorations were meticulous, but during the parade on the fairgrounds the thing that drove the crowd nuts were the unrestored machines. I remember one tractor that was still running at over 90 years old - the announcer's term for it was "still wearing it's workin' clothes", and that term has always stuck with me.

I love modified bikes, I love restored bikes, but they can only be original once - and there's something extra-special about something that wasn't just locked away but that saw regular duty and kept coming back for more.

A buddy of mine has an unrestored '72 350T and I got to take it for a spin when he was having trouble getting it to shift and wanted a second opinion. Literally nothing about that bike appeals to me, it's not something I'd ever want to own myself, I'd never go shopping for one. Riding it, it was grossly underpowered and the brakes and suspension sucked. But I couldn't help but love it a bit, felt a bit emotional at the thought of all of those moving parts still moving after almost 50 years.

Re: Workhorses and Survivors

Posted: Mon May 10, 2021 1:51 pm
by EMS
Yes, Phil! That's the "American Pickers' " credo. "Rusty Gold" as Mike Wolf says.
I used to own a 1971 HD FLH with a sidecar. The rig was unrestored and had the original, faded paint. I also own a 1973 Kawasaki H1 which is unrestored, except for the fuel tank, which was replaced with a take-off (not NOS) at one time.

The original idea of this thread was to show real "workhorses' and "survivors". Bikes that have been worked on the road hard all their life and still are. Not collector or museum pieces. I could bore you with pictures of those for two weeks...

Re: Workhorses and Survivors

Posted: Mon May 10, 2021 1:53 pm
by Jeff Bennetts
Found three days ago, bought for $200, not mine.
114CBE10-28D3-43A3-931A-6E051806DEBD.jpeg
48B6C14E-EBC4-4BE3-BA3D-54B64E37FE4C.jpeg

Re: Workhorses and Survivors

Posted: Mon May 10, 2021 2:08 pm
by cross
daves79x wrote:
Mon May 10, 2021 7:20 am
Thanks! Here is one I just finished - a '55 R69. Very rare first-year model.

DaveIMG_0730.jpgIMG_0740.jpg
That's beautiful Dave!

Re: Workhorses and Survivors

Posted: Mon May 10, 2021 3:11 pm
by EMS
Jeff Bennetts wrote:
Mon May 10, 2021 1:53 pm
Found three days ago, bought for $200, not mine.
114CBE10-28D3-43A3-931A-6E051806DEBD.jpeg
48B6C14E-EBC4-4BE3-BA3D-54B64E37FE4C.jpeg

Wow! That survived really well. Brings back great memories when we rode around on Zündapp, Hercules, Kreidler, DKW and old NSU. BMWs were out of reach..