I'd got to the point after 11 years of riding MZs that I was beginning to consider buying something different. Something a little more rubust and able to get me places in relative comfort and with miminum effort. As mentioned elsewhere I've fancied a Beemer for some time, but circumstances meant that Mastiff was the right bike at the time I had the right money, so an R100GS was out. A year later, with the Skorpion up for sale (I stopped using it once I'd got the Mastiff) I was beginning to think seriously about getting a BMW, and began looking at R65s and R80s, mostly at the GS's. Asking around for advice, I had a word with a lad I worked with as for what to look for. It turned out he was going to sell his R100CS. It was really out of my price range, but a deal was struck as it saved him the expense and time of advertising it. I became the proud owner of a one of BMW's finest.

What I got for my money was a smoked red/black 1981 R100CS,  as new similar to the example in the picture above but with cast wheels. At nearly 21 years old it had gone through a few slight changes. The fairing and rack were missing, but it was fitted with a Krauser K1 pannier system, featuring the plastic frame and 'drop-back' rack which allows the seat to be raised. The speedo didn't work (but started again after not so long), the horns just clicked, and the seat foam had sagged. All things that could be fixed. A box of not so useful spares was also included, mostly used parts, although there were a few spares lenses and an alloy Krauser frame and fitting kit too.

First jobs to get it on the road was to fit new horns as those fitted had suffered from standing on a drive way for a while. Whilst it was in the workshop I decided to clean the brakes, improve the mounting of the pannier frames and fit new plugs and airfilter. I took a trip to Motorworks in Huddersfield and bought a clutch lever and bushing as the old one had worn through into the lever! I also bought a set of BMW pannier frames, to provide am even more stable mounting for the panniers and some GS handguards to keep the winter cold off. A small flyscreen was purchased from a local bike shop to take away some of the wind blast.

The first rides out showed just how relaxed the Beemer can be. It may only have 70bhp on tap, not a lot for such a large bike, but the engine is all about torque and has no trouble in any kind of traffic. The brakes were much better than I was expecting, despite being fitted with original BMW disks at the front, which I'm told aren't the best, especially with the weight of the bike. Tickover was a bit ropey but there were other jobs to do to the bike before I tackled the carbs. The first long runs showed that some of the rubber seals on the bike were past their best. The rubber boot on the clutch lever at the back of the gearbox had cracked and was allowing gearbox oil to leak. This was obviously an easy fix. What would be harder was the 4 rubber seals at the bottom of the pushrod tubes. This meant stripping down the cylinder heads and barrels, which sounds a troublesome job, but is made easier as it's a pushrod engine, so no timing chains to mess about with. Once this job is done then the valve clearances can be set and work on the carbs can be done.