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On a mountain in White Haven, this is the Beemer in its purest form.
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In the early spring of my (first) sophomore year of college, Dad went to a motorcycle show that was being held in King of Prussia. He found a left over BMW R65 at the booth of a local dealer in Norristown, which has been gone for years now. He thought that would be a great bike for me, so he had me come over for a look. It was a neat bike, but I was a little apprehensive. Being a cocky teenager, I was a little hung up on going from a 750cc motorcycle to a 650cc. I went to the dealer for a test ride. When I felt that torquey boxer engine under my saddle, I was in love. I came back and signed some papers.
When I got home I called my dad and told him the news. He thought I might have been a little hasty. He took me to a dealer up in Sellersville, which has been gone for years now. They had a left over BMW R80/ST. It was a little bigger than my current mount. I liked that. But it was also a very unique bike. It was an 800cc boxer. Although it had the bigger engine than my CB, it was a very lean motorcycle. It was a street bike, but had some unique features. It had higher ground clearance, an elevated exhaust, extended travel in the front and rear suspension, and it was a shaft drive with a single swing arm and monoshock. It had even more torque than the R65.
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This is me, my mollet and my Beemer out side my house in Millersville. |
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I was in love; so was Dad, I think. The salesman there in Sellersville was more than happy to call the dealer in Norristown to tell them the deal on the R65 was off. I detected an air of “nanny-nanny-poo-poo” in his voice while he made that call.
That was my final semester at Eastern College in St. Davids, PA. My first little journey was to a friend’s house in White Haven, PA. It was there that I took the Beemer on my first off-road adventure since I sold my Honda XL 250. It was a rugged trail that ended at a ledge above a steep boulder-laden mountain side overlooking the beautiful valley. At this point I was pretty sure that the Beemer and I would be getting along pretty well for the next several years.
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Just a couple of friends out for a good time, leaping out of a dry creek bed in Millersville.
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My second sophomore year was my first year at Millersville University. Despite the fact that I always lived off campus at Millersville, for a few years the BMW was my only mode of transport. This was fine with me, although during the snowy days it was a bit inconvenient.
My Beemer became well known on campus. I worked at the dinning hall, so it was frequently parked next to the bike rack there at Gordonier Dining Hall when people were coming and going to eat. It was often parked outside the industrial arts building, Osbourne Hall, and I could sometimes be observed leaping the Beemer out of a dry creek bed in a field behind the Student Memorial Center. Best friends.
I was very popular with the young children at the church that I joined (and still attend).
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Believe it or not, the boy on the bicycle closest to me is now an officer with the Ephrata, PA police department. |
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I often gave rides during church picnics. At one house where I lived with a family from church for one summer, the children that lived in that row of houses would chase me down the little alley behind the houses.
That Beemer accompanied me through some drastic life-changes; my second sophomore year of college, my junior year, and both of my senior years in college. During the summers, Dad and I continued to take big tours together. That may have been a secret motivation for me to take my time in graduating college.
We rode to Maine, the Canadian Maritime Provinces, the Canadian Rockies and the Great Smokey Mountains. My graduation trip was planned. We would take the ultimate North American motorcycle tour; Alaska. But a change of plans meant that my old friend would accompany me on a different ultimate adventure; my wedding! That was the end of my big tours with Dad, but the Beemer stayed with me through more of life’s adventures, including two of my four children and years of commuting to and from work 110 miles a day.
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The Beemer met an untimely demise. I broke the main shaft in the transmission. The expense of the repairs was far more than I could handle, so I sold it for what I could get for it. So long old friend.
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