In 1970, one of the male teachers at my Texas high school bought a new BMW in black.  I was a Honda rider and I thought the BMW was interesting but strange looking.  In 1972,  I was working full time as the Assistant Manager Trainee in the Industrial Issue Department in the new 20 story building of American National Insurance Company in Galveston Texas and attending college at night.  They had a Motorcycle Only Parking area, where I parked my new Honda CB350.  I wore a tie to work everyday.  There was a fellow who worked in the Marketing Department who was a college grad. And he wore a different very slick suit and tie everyday as he pulled in on his new BMW motorcycle.  He was several pay grades and floors above me, but was friendly and we talked about our rides as we walked in the building.  That was when the BMW bug got me.  The next year I quit the insurance company and went full time to the university in East Texas to study psychology.  I went to look at new Yamahas at the local dealer and there was a new orange smoke BMW R90S on the showroom floor.  That image was burned into my brain and I have been a BMW airhead fan since.  I never got a R90S.  But I had a new 1986 R65 BMW and I have a 1986 BMW R80RT.  I still love my Beemer.  Simple yet elegant.😎👍

LOVE the sound of these engines. Agree about the smooth power, if you want high HP, go elsewhere. If you want to ride all day at speed , the airhead BMW is the way to go.

I still have both my airheads, 1981 R100 now done 580,000 kms, with the big valve heads, 40mm Del Orto smoothbores, open breathing, PD factory race cam, single seat, lightened, & all the rest of it. It's fuel consumption can only be described as voracious. This was the bike that bears the responsibility for us be being kicked out of BMW Club circa 2000 for "ungentlemanly conduct, & conduct likely to bring the Club into disrepute"; but love is forgiving. In fact I loved it so much that 12 years after the 1st, I bought a used 1984 R100RS, now 265,000 kms which remains largely stock, with the exception of having promptly ditched the front barn.

Excellent video - thank you very much for making it. In 1986 I bought an R80. I sold it 3 years later when I got posted abroad. Last year the bloke I sold it to contacted me and asked if I wanted it back! It had been languishing in his garage unused for the last 20 years. A friend of mine is a bike restorer and he did a fabulous job in getting it up and running in just the way i wanted it - not showroom condition (I'd never use it unless it was dry) but looking like a well used but cared for machine. Now I'm retired and don't have to commute to London, I use it all the time for pottering around locally with an occasional long trip. I absolutely love it and it's like having an old friend back again .

I've got an R80 I bought new in 1989, 170k on the clock and still going strong. I love it!

Most excellent posting! I'm 72 y.o. and grew up lusting after motorcycles in general and BMWs in particular. My ex took up with a pal who rode a R90s in the late 70s. I decided I wanted one as well. At the time I was spending my free time wrenching and sometimes riding a BSA R3. My friendly BMW dealer set me up with a R100Rt which I initially didn't want as I felt it was a geezer bike. I quickly discovered the merits of the full fairing and clocked over 100k miles on both coasts. I have owned other boxers over the years. One of my favorites was an old 1970 R50/5. In my mind this was the most perfectly balanced bike I have ever ridden, however I didn't really appreciate it at the time. These days I own a Moto Guzzi G5 which I'm trying to love but I keep looking back at BMW boxers. Thanks for posting, great memories!

As a young rider of16,hated BMWs,coz of the snobby old men who rode them!Tried one in my 40s,fell in love with the airhead!I have owned several ever since!But my beloved boxer cup Replika has stayed with me thru thick an thin,Owned since 2006,I still love it!Its the only bike I’ve kept this long!love it!❤️(Btw I’m now 62)

My 2V Boxer experience began 1982 with a 1973 R75/5, followed by a 1978 R80/7 which I rode for one year, followed by a 1979 R80/7 in 1984 which I still ride and is in a very good shape. Boxer for ever!!!

To me it is still unbelievable why the boxer concept is used so few. Hardly vibrations, minimal angular momentum, maximum cooling, cardan drive. Have a R1150GS for many years. Very happy with it.

Great sport touring Bikes and they ran Forever !! 👍

I've owned both the R100RS and the R90S. Both lovely bikes, but the RS' fairing definitely improved the somewhat lacklustre handling.

I’ve got a 1980 R80/7 with S cockpit fairing painted in smokey dark grey with green pinstripes, what a superb machine it’s been and I’ve had it for 40 years now…. Totally awesome

Thanks for the video. I'm heading out of Chicago to the Ozarks next week on an R100RS. I'll make sure I check my plug wires.

Those bikes just look so right!

In my teenage years I was very much into motorcycles but me and my friends could only afford dirt bikes. I remember seeing  BMW motorcycles on the road and thinking they're very strange looking but at the same time being very intrigued by them. Years later I remember riding to the local BMW dealer that was a few towns away and pressing my nose up against the window to check out the bike sitting in the shop. That day the hook was set! A few years later still not having much money in my pocket I had moved up to riding a used Honda CB750. One day when me and my friend were out riding our 750s I got the urge to go back to the BMW dealer. They had a used Alaskan blue R100RS sitting on the showroom floor. It turned out it was the owner of the Dealership personal bike and he only used it for a few road trips. So I took it out for a test drive and when I got back to the dealer my friend that was with me said I had a smile from ear to ear. As it turned out I couldn't hand them my money quick enough as I absolutely love riding this bike!!! This was around the time that the K models were coming out or at least this dealer ( Lenders motorcycle shop in New Canaan Connecticut ) was getting them. The dealer thought that I should take a K75 out for a test ride which I did but under hard braking around 50 mph it had terrible wheel hop.  Back at the dealer and he suggested that I should take out a K100.Got back to the dealer and again could not hand them my money quick enough absolutely love this bike. I ended up putting over 60,000 Mi on the K100 which means the R100 RS was not being used very much. The paint on the frame of the R100RS was starting to fail in places which was showing rust which drove me crazy. So I stripped the bike down and had the frame powder coated and then put it all back together. Even after all that I still wasn't using the bike that much and ended up selling it. Many years later I ended up getting into an accident on the K100 and stopped riding. I'm now 70 years old and I'm looking for a  BMW project bike to work on. If I can find one a R100 RS for sure!

I bought a 1975  R90S in 1976. Riding around London I was often stopped by police wanting to look at the bike. They drove Nortons but were eagerly awaiting delivery of BMWs.

I just recently got the A2 license and my first big boy bike is a BMW R100 GS Paris Dakar that I am restoring right now. I have never sat on a motorcycle that gave me more joy and empowerment, knowing wherever I go, the bike will go without a hitch and even If something breaks, you can buy parts everywhere or even switch between parts from different models.

The amount of after market parts available is astounding:
-new stainless steel exhaust systems from Hattech,
-engine tuning to over 100 horses by MotorenIsrael or SE Performance,
-engine parts like newly designed valve covers or airbox deletion kits by Walzwerk or SE Performance
-new heads and new seat benches by Siebenrock
-offroad tuning and even newly designed tanks by SWT Sports
-different fairings and seats by Q-Tech, SWT Sports, SE Performance, etc.

Even legends like HPN are still building new parts and you can get everything to keep a Beemer running for the next 100 years, it is truly amazing how big the support for these old bikes is.

Had two airheads a BMW f90/5 and a r100rt both great bike expensive wen stuff broke other than that great bikes

I fell in lust with the R90S as soon as I saw it in Motorcycle News and declared to my classmates that I would have an R90S one day.  I was not a typical BMW rider when, at the age of 20, I did but one, brand new, in1978.  All the reviews meantime convinced me that it was the machine I needed - comfortable, fast, shaft drive and utterly beautiful.  I was based in Germany at the time and it was highly practical for the mileages that I was riding.  It was great to pull up outside a bike shop, pop it onto its centre stand, use the standard toolkit to remove either of the wheels in five minutes and take the wheel in to have a new tyre fitted. Mind you, it wasn't flawless; that fairing created a low pressure zone which sucked the lightest of precipitation from the brake disks, up under the tank - which was where the coils were!  Thankfully there was room under the seat for a can of WD40 to be permanently stored.

Yes! I've owned 3 airheads and I'm still riding the '88 R100GS that I bought new when I was only 26. 64 and having Scottie Sharpe do a mechanical overhaul on it, should have it back in a couple of weeks then I'm going on some LONG rides!