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Cruising with K Bikes | Bruce's Flock of 1980s BMWs

Bruce's Fleet of 1980's BMW K Series Scooters

I rode up to Ithaca, NY this weekend with my girlfriend to visit some old friends from my childhood that I hadn't seen in a while.  Dawn and Bruce actually live in Cortland, and they kindly offered to let us stay for the weekend and show us around some of the cool sites in Ithaca.

I remember Bruce was a serious motorcycle rider, but I had forgotten what a serious devotee of two wheeled vehicles the man was.  In various states of disrepair or dis-assembly, his garage currently houses at least 3 BMW K series bikes (two K100s and a K75) from the 1980's.

 On each of his rides, which he affectionately designates as his "scooters", he has more acquired than 150,000 miles per moto.
 The K Bikes have 3 or four horizontally mounted pistons, with easy access to the fuel-injection system or the crankshaft assembly, though this is an extremely rare need, due to ambitious 80's German engineering.
 Even the single-sided swingarm attaches the rear wheel to the crankshaft and the rear drum brake with only four bolts, making putting the rear wheel on a ten minute job, not the hour-long futz-fest it takes on a Ducati.
 Extraordinarily sturdy and barely in need of maintenance, Bruce's K bike was ready for the road after half an hour, and we took a quick jaunt over to Ithaca Falls and Taughannock Falls, to the Ithaca Farmer's Market (below) and finally to Ithaca Beer Company.
© 2014 Tigh Loughhead

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