Barn-Find Beemer (sort of)

I didn't really need another project right now, but some bikes you just don't pass on. Especially not one you've been cultivating the lead on for a couple years.

This all started about 3 years ago when I was catching up with a long-time friend of my Dad's. He collects tractors, cars, radios, pipe organs, cameras, etc but I never knew before that he was into motorcycles. He was checking out my bike at the time and telling me about all the places he had been on his BMW bikes over the years. While we kicked around stories he mentioned an odd bike in his shed. A BMW with a volkswagen engine in it. The story was that he'd bought it about the time he stopped riding bikes, some 15-20 years ago. He ran it around his property a few times, but never bothered to tag it, and it was relegated to the barn fairly shortly never to be touched/started again. I was intrigued and told him I'd catch up and come over sometime and see it.

A year and a half or so went by and we hadn't seen each other again until I randomly caught up with him. He asked if I was still interested in seeing the bike. I hadn't forgotten about it, but I didn't have a garage at the time and wasn't going to take on a project like that, but I told him I'd see him soon. I got his number that time, though, and his eMail address. About 8 weeks ago I finally got a meeting set up to dig through his stuff and see this bike. It was in the back of an unlit barn, covered in boxes and blocked in by other bikes, but from what I could see I knew I needed a better look atleast. So 3 weeks ago I spent a good chunk of a Saturday helping him extricate the bike for pictures. Here's what I found.

For starters, this is the yard in front of this particular shed (one of several):


In addition to the 15 or so VW's left he parted out and scrapped another 21 he said. There's a shed full of VW engines and parts. There are also a number of Mercedes cars piled up and a building full of Mercedes engines and parts. Parts everywhere. My kinda guy.

When I got there on Saturday we started with the tour of the place. Besides the cars you can see, and the several dozen tractors not in the pics, here are some of the fun pictures.

On "the terrace" which is a lean to on the back of one barn were these two bikes. A 1961 or 1962 R50/2 BMW:


and a 60's R69S parts bike (those are his high socks, not mine):


In the corner of that picture you can see some of the stacked Mercedes car engines. Below the bikes, packed in between several tractors, was this 37 Mercedes car:


So that more or less sets the tone of the place, but it is one of those hordes you'd have to see to understand. The bike I came looking for was in this unassuming barn:


Opening the sliding doors that don't have sliders yet (he's only been there for like 30 years) I found this collection:


My camera decided to turn-off the antishake and I didn't know it until I got home, but you can't see the bike in this shot anyway. It's behind the silverwing on the left, under some boxes and a sheet. The bike on the right is his special bike. A 1960's R69S that he rode everywhere. We pulled it out first to make room to work in there (it's not for sale, I tried):


After we dragged the silverwing, stuck calipers and all, from the shed we revealed the BMVW for the first time in well over a decade.


Here's the BMVW out in the daylight:



I was kind of blown away with the quality of the work done on this conversion. The frame was stretched atleast 4" to fit the extra two cylinders, and BMW's don't use round frame tubes (oval) but I couldn't find any evidence of the work. They must have used pieces of another BMW frame to do it. Too cool. I know car-engine'd bikes aren't everyone's thing, but this is the classiest one I've seen. I had to have it. Here she is about to be unloaded from the trailer:




I can tell you this, I'm not changing hardly anything on the bike. The 80's aircleaners have to go, in favor of something older, and I'd like to make the turn signals a bit less obtrusive, but other than that all I want to do is make it run. The patina on it is great. Work's gonna be slow on it for now, I do have other bikes and projects that I need to finish first, but I wanted to share the barn-find pics with you guys. I need to get the engine loosened up, free up all the cables and controls, and preform the standard BMW maintenance that hasn't been done on this bike ever (like taking the trans out and lubing the input splines, crucial on the old airheads).

No idea how it'll ride, but damn it's a conversation piece isn't it?