My story with motorcycles is a bit different, really. I never dreamt of riding one, I had never had posters on my wall whatsoever, on the contrary, I actually found it quite pointless to ride instead of having a car with a decent seat and roof and all. But for no reason at all, I started riding five years ago and I liked it. So far, I did more than 50 thousand kilometers, on two different BMW F650GS'es, a 2005 single and my current 2008 twin.
I've always been good with tools anyway. After a few (rather expected) disapoointments with mechanics, I started doing all my maintenance and repair work myself. It seems that, in time, my interest in wrenching got a bit ahead of riding, as lately I started looking into old bikes. I decided to find a proper bike, old enough, but also in a good enough condition to restore - to take it back to the very day it left the production line. Considering the huge amount of information, documentation, user groups and availability of parts out there, BMW was a perfect candidate for that.
Among all sorts trash with astonishing price tags on the internet, I found what I wanted in the nearby city of Konya. I was on board the 06.50 train in the morning on 31st of December. The previous owner of the bike (actually, his father was the actual owner) was kind enough to pick me up from the train station and we drove to his office. We went down to the parking lot, to see the bike. As he told me, it was left aside for the last 10 years or so, only occasionally being ridden. Still, it took just one kick, and the old engine was running without any hesitation, and with the typical sputter of the single cylinder... After a very brief round of bargaining (that I was never successful with) the 60 years old BMW R25/3 was mine.
The family has owned the bike since 1978. (Can you imagine, you buy a 24 years old motor vehicle, and actually use it for the most of the next 36 years!) As I mentioned, as the time passed, the bike got less and less used, but rather became a part of the family in a sense. I believe it wasn't easy to sell it with all the history.
I already did the arrangements for a rental van the day before, so I could hit the road in the afternoon. Around nine o'clock in the evening, my "new" bike was home.
I don't have a strict deadline, so I'll spend the upcoming months learning, wrenching and spending money for the bike. I'll have to completely dismantle the bike, restore the engine, do a paint job all over and purchase the parts that are missing or not usable anymore. Hoping that this will be a good reference for other enthusiasts and hopefully for my next challenge, I started a blog in Turkish. Then I decided that I will need much more suggestions, support and audience and decided to publish the blog also in English.
Let's see what the time will bring...
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