Motorbike - BMW R80g/s Restoration - Complete

I have a 1981 BMW R80 g/s which I bought in 2001.  After buying it I had it serviced and spent money on it occasionally as the need arose.  I had about 6 good years riding it before things starting going wrong, mainly through age, neglect and tampering by previous owners.

Since buying the bike, it has been periodically plagued with electrical faults.  It went through a phase of cutting out for no reason when warm, not charging the battery, not starting, the list goes on.  It was getting to the point where the frame was starting to get rusty, one of the engine bars had broken its joint with the frame and it had developed a nasty habit of not firing on one cylinder when rolling on the throttle.

With all of these problems, I wasn't confident riding it regularly, not knowing if it was going to get me home, and there was no way I could convince my wife to come with me as she doesn't really like motorcycling when everything is perfect.

This year I was in a lucky position to be able to get it restored completely, from the ground up.  I'd looked around at a few BMW restorers and came across one chap who seemed really good.

I telephoned Phil Kingston from Euro Classics and went though a few questions and answers and then Phil offered to come and have a look at the bike and would give me a quote for what I wanted doing.

Phil and his friend came to visit me from Northampton on 1 April 2010.  They went over the bike taking notes of what I wanted doing, asking what I'd had done already and what problems I had had with the bike.

He told me that he may be retiring soon, so if I was thinking about having it done, I'd have to make a decision soon.  When I asked him when he needed a decision by, he said that he'd got the van outside and could take the bike now.

I made a decision and Phil took the bike away along with a cheque for my first instalment.

I gave Phil a pretty free rein on the bike restoration.  I didn't want it concourse standard, with everything cleaned to perfection, what I wanted was my bike, functioning and able to last me another 10 - 20 years.

I made a couple of visits to Phil's workshop in Northampton to have a look at progress and entered a BMW wonderland.  I was happy that I'd made the right decision after seeing the work he done restoring other bikes waiting for their owners to pick them up.

Phil talked me through issues that he'd had with my bike and told me why my bike had never ticked over smoothly.  Someone had put a sports cam shaft in engine and not done the rest of the work so that it would never have worked properly.  Other modifications had been made to the bike, so that when the frame had been cleaned for painting, missing bits had to be welded on along with a couple of bits that needed mending.

Phil may have encountered a few more problems than he'd anticipated whilst doing the restoration, as the end price was quite a bit more than the original quote, however the results are fantastic.

I now have a brand new looking 30 year old bike.  After saying that I didn't want it concourse standard, to me it is.  It's immaculate.  I had a couple of non standard additions - heated handle bar grips and two spot lights fitted to the engine bars.

Riding it back from Northampton to Nottingham was great.  It felt like it had more power than before, and certainly ticked over smoothly.  Heated handle bar grips should be standard on all things with handle bars, not just motorbikes.

I am really pleased with my bike.  It looks great, rides smoothly and I can't wait to get out and put some miles on it.

Phil's work has been worth the money.  The bike is pristine, he doesn't leave any detail untouched.

I will be posting pictures soon, I wish I'd taken more 'before' pictures so that comparisons could be made.

I'd like to say thank you to Phil and Dinah for their hard work and making me feel welcome whenever I've visited.

My first iPad thoughts

Well, like other's tweets and blogs first impressions are that it is a fantastic bit of kit but difficult to find a use for it.


For a lot of us who have laptops and iPhones we have an expectation of something along those lines. The iPad fits somewhere in the middle and we have to change our mindset as to its use.

This is a totally new medium, neither phone nor computer. My first thoughts are that it doesn't do some of the things my computer does and it doesn't do stuff my phone does, so what does it do that's different. This will come.

When software developers get to grips with it and companies find ways to take our money off us via software, books, periodicals etc., the iPad and its future generations and competitors will be a superb medium for a lightweight, easily portable device, for light weight computer needs as well as web based business systems such as ERP systems, warehouse, stock and ordering systems, as well as the leisure stuff. And we've all seen Star Trek where they're passing on their reports via these flat screen devices!

So my view of the iPad after 12 hours of ownership is that it works smoothly, such an intuitive interface, and like the iPhone, it doesn't really matter what you want it to do in the future as it's a glass screen, all you need is to write software and the device will then do the job.

I'm off to find some fun apps, like the one that turns your iPad into another screen for your laptop. I've always fancied two screens.

I'll blog back soon and update my views, but so far I'm impressed, but I'm yet to find the USP.

I haven't blogged for a while. It all suddenly seems to have got a lot easier with nicer templates and stuff. Also normal formatting stuff rather than html stuff.

Anyway, wanted to promote Mrs. Tufty's work at Life Food and Everything.

I may do this more often now it's easier.