Where do free Snowflakes come from?

[DucatiPete]

Hi y'all,

I hope everyone's had a good xmas & great new year so far... a mate of mine definitely had a good one:

Back story: Glyn has a very nice cafe'd 850 Norton. Unfortunately, being a Norton, he has to spend more time working on it than he gets to ride - which is pretty boring for some of his ride buddies (like me, for example).
I've been at him for some time to get a real "ridable" classic, ie airhead beemer. Well, just before xmas I was trawling the usual sites for likely candidates for a whimsical cafe or flat-track project I've been thinking about. I came across a crappy pic of a cheap '78 r100s for sale nearby. I was out of town at the time and really had to reflect on whether i 'needed' another bike - which lead to much soul-searching. I came to the conclusion that I really should tell Glyn about it instead of hogging all the bargains myself. So I called him and practically made him buy it - ie "If you don't I will" . Well, he did! And it's a gem, a true diamond in the rough :

Glyn&R100S.jpg (244.98 KiB) Viewed 1870 times

R100S(RHS).jpg (145.96 KiB) Viewed 1870 times

Now to the first point at hand: after 30+ years the bike still has an early, non-reinforced, snowflake front wheel (just how *bad* were these things?):

R100S-FrontWheel.jpg (132.33 KiB) Viewed 1870 times

So, SteveD (in particular) if you're around: I recall you helped Grant with the re-call biz for his front wheel... What's the story?

(If Steve's not around, does anyone else know how you go about getting a replacement wheel?)

I'll post more of the story and pics in coming posts.

Stay cool!

pete

[Major Softie]

You take the whole bike to the dealer. The recall is not done by wheel but by bike. IOW's, if this bike is carrying a replacement wheel and did not originally have a recall wheel, or has already had its original wheel replaced under the recall, they will not replace the wheel. As long as the bike originally came with a recall wheel, then I don't think they even care if this is the original wheel - only that this bike has never had one replaced under the recall.

[DucatiPete]

IOW's

?

[Major Softie]

In Other Words.

Google is your friend.

[DucatiPete]

thanks...

[SteveD]

You take the whole bike to the dealer. The recall is not done by wheel but by bike. IOW's, if this bike is carrying a replacement wheel and did not originally have a recall wheel, or has already had its original wheel replaced under the recall, they will not replace the wheel. As long as the bike originally came with a recall wheel, then I don't think they even care if this is the original wheel - only that this bike has never had one replaced under the recall.

The Major has it spot on.

Looks great btw.

Take the bike to Southbank, and ask at the parts counter. Have the vin available for them to check the recall history. They'll want to inspect the bike of course.

Southbank tried to sting Grant for the cost of labour, but the recall includes the entire wheel including bearings and labour.

He'll need to get the rear one powder coated/painted so it looks "even".

[DucatiPete]

Many thanks, Steve - I'll relay the info...

[SteveD]

SteveD and I sat by that coffee machine sipping many a free low fat, late, mocha with a twist of french vanilla in nice tall glasses while studying the flashy floor stock and trying on helmets for a good few hours one day while waiting for my brand new bedazzling free replacement snowflake front wheel from Germany to be fitted 27yrs after the recall was introduced, we bounced out of the joint and didn't spend a penny.

[DucatiPete]

Further to the above:
It's a '78 R100S, complete but grubby, with the paint showing all it's 33 years.

R100S(LHS).jpg (142.57 KiB) Viewed 1824 times

The PO had it for ~9 years, mostly employing it as a cross-city commuter.

• It's apparently had reasonably regular services in that period - we drained the drive line oils and they looked like honey (NICE!).
  The rear brake fluid is clear and the reservior is clean - haven't had a chance to remove the tank to check the front.
  The disks look like they've been replaced not that long ago.
  It's had braided lines fitted (although the front one's don't appear to be direct replacements for the rubber lines, ie the braided lines go all the way to the calipers).
  The seat cover is nice and supple and the base is in excellent condition - it actually lifts as it should without falling off it's hinges!
  The stands look like they were the most used parts, showing considerable wear and fatigue.
  The pipes are OK, burnt chrome headers and mufflers (of unknown provenance) in acceptable condition.
  Cockpit is also OK: All instruments look good and work! (the pic shows a gps mount, which has subsequently been removed).
  Front end is v spungy; rear end is basically rock solid (due to the Russian shocks!).

R100RS(dash).gif (178.8 KiB) Viewed 1824 times

After a bit of tweeking we got it running beautifully (it's a very willing engine) and it handles acceptably (considering the sorry state of the suspension), the tyres have plenty of grip and tread, and it's got 8 months rego! He's ordered a bunch of parts so we'll be tarting it up over the next few weeks...

R100S(LHS-CU).gif (218.36 KiB) Viewed 1824 times

All-in-all it's a very sweet ride. I reckon Glyn stole it off me - I'm jealous! but such is life... it'll be good to see another airhead being used as it should.

I'll see if i can drag him along to future OZ boxerworks gatherings.

pete

[Duane Ausherman]

While I prefer the R90S, I kept one of those for myself for a time and loved it. That thing was a runner. It would do 2 up at 100 mph easily and still have guts left.

I sold a good friend one and he still has it from new. It now has less than 10 k miles on it and is perfect. He would sell it back to ME, but then reality overcomes me and I just forget about it.

Get those wheels changed out.