Chuck’s provides us with a wonderful collection of bikes, each with a unique history. Well done, Chuck!
1978 R100RS/S
My most recent find form California with only 17K original miles. There’s a lot of “folklore” around about how many of these bikes actually left the assembly line in this configuration but in a recent conversation with Bob Henig at Barber this last weekend he claims somewhere between 13-17 total. Tom Cutter suggests maybe 60 of them and I’ve even heard up to 90 but what I do know is they are FEW RS/S models that are real. Bob confirmed this one is in fact one of the few real ones with PERIOD CORRECT mods from San Jose BMW.
Bike was purchased new at San Jose BMW and underwent all the period modifications. Front fork brace, rear swingarm brace, dual plug heads, top clamp, cam, high comp pistons, etc. All work was done under original ownership of the bike and paperwork supports this. Bike was sold to 2nd owner (who I have spoken with) in 2003 with 13k miles. Sold to 3rd owner in 2012 at 17K miles who parked it in his living room in SF until I purchased it earlier this year. Still had the tires installed from 2010. After a full service, tires, etc it’s by far the best running airhead I’ve ever owned.
1983 R100RT
I purchased this bike with with only 9102 miles from the original owner. The bike spent the last 25+ years on display in his classic car showroom and fortunately was kept in pristine condition. This is such a comfortable and great running bike. His wife owned a 1984 RT that I also purchased at the same time with only 2500 original miles and was PRISTINE!!!! But that has been passed on since. They are both in pristine, like new condition. The RT has become a favorite to ride… so comfortable and easy to glide down any country road or highway and now has 12,800 miles.
1983 R100 Basic
I purchased this bike from the 2nd owner with only 4230 original miles. Owner lived in a high rise in downtown Chicago and was not comfortable riding in city traffic so it sat in storage… for many years. Like the other this bike had sat for many years but kept in good cosmetic condition… in this case all the rubber bits had to be replaced but this has become a fave airhead to ride in warmer weather. In cooler weather the RT gets the call but this thing runs great after some general maintenance and good tuning from Don Beverage.
1987 R80
This is the LOWEST mile Airhead I’ve ever found. This was purchased new for a young girl by her parents in 1987. (have org docs) She road it 2410 miles before parking it and that’s where it sat until I heard about it form their neighbor… cosmetically the bike was really good but unfortunately they left ethanol fuel in the tank for years and it was beyond repair… in fact, I could push my finger through the TOP of the tank it was so fragile. A replacement tank was secured which of course had to be repainted… I decided I wanted to add an S-Fairing to the bike so all body panels got repainted… while technically not a true survivor due to paint it’s still survived being chopped up into a scrambler project… I keep it at my Dad’s who is 82 years old and still rides it regularly… bike now has 4550 miles on it.
