I rode a Honda CB400T in 1985, and at the end of the year swapped it for a
1983 BMW R65LS. This I rode for more than 2 years before swapping it for a
Ducati SD900 Darmah. After this I had various BMWs: a R80G/S, a 1985 R65 Mono,
and a R100TIC (the police special R100RT). After selling this I went without a
bike for a year or so, and when in 1996 the itch again rose I found another LS,
identical to the one that I had sold in 1988.
In 2019 I found a 1984 LS in good condition at reasonable price and
purchased it. It took 6 months to sort out the teething issues, particularly
with the carburetion, but it now provides the advantages of identical historic
bikes: I can ride one while I work on the other; I can troubleshoot problems by
transferring components; the restriction to 60 ride days per year is now two
rides per week; and their performance can be routinely compared.
The two bikes are in everyday use. The 1983 model has just over 185,000 km
on the clock and the 1984 model 140,000.
