Post your Airhead pics

I'm very impressed with the differences between this bike and my R90/6. There are steroids lurking somewhere in the GS.

Back from surgery.... She purrs like a kitten...

BravoFox, Congrats on the return and healing. Enjoy riding again... tp dd50

Thanks man !

From the GOAOMC thread in the main forum. Back when it was just an old BMW . . . and not worth the near 6 figures it is today.

Would love to ride a machine like that with those big wheels and little brakes.

^

...slooooowly and elegantly......

And what's WRONG with that?

Bet she could put some emphasis on the elegant, too.

I’d like to have that old beemer in my shed for sure....

What's with the fat rear tire on the front? Is the fashion or function?
Just aksin'...

Well if you have to ask

It has nothing to do with fashion.

...O.K., ummm... lemme guess, over compensating for the too small front wheel then.
no?

Back in my KLR days, the guys "in the know", were replacing the 21" front for a 19" with fat rubber. Claimed it tracked much better in sand and loose rocks/gravel. That pic, being taken on sand, may be a hint, or not..... tp

Fat Dunlop K70 fronts where the kick in desert racing (sand) when nothing else was available...function...methinks Mr. Jim is being just a little mysterious

Hey! Im currently in Wyoming, headed toward Co, Id, and Ut next week. anyone want to fish / ride? Suggestions on spots to fish??
Josh

It's not a overcompensation like some glorified codpiece

It actually has a purpose, but you have to realize that the bike is a build, not a stock bike. You see there are these modern bikes called supermotos that have a high suspension but run wide 17 rims front and rear for added traction and agility, and I wanted to play with that concept with an airhead

My bike was a 1995 R100R, a lowered street version of the R100GS. I wanted to raise my bike GS height but also run it as a supermoto for added pavement performance. No-one had done one before, but I thought it would be cool to make it into a better road bike and give it more dual sport capability at the same time.

The front forks and suspension come from 2013 DRZ400SM Suzuki Supermotard.

The 2013 Suzuki DR-Z400SM was a reintroduction, an upgrade with a then state of the art USD Showa fork. It was a big improvement over the earlier ones that they discontinued in 2009. I got lucky because I found an unused fork that had been some sort of display. At that time the DRZ400SM was considered the only real true large (substitute heavy) supermoto available from a Japanese manufacturer in the US, and it was the only option for the big fat-laced wheels, wider stickier tires and the improved suspension I wanted.

So that is what I'm running: a Showa DRZ400SM fork, full length, but unlike with HPN style dual sport mods I'm running it with it's stock size motard style Excel 17 wheel. I just setup the fork just like the DRZ guys do, but with a little more restriction on compression to compensate for the weight then raised the rear to get the right rake angle for the correct performance. I have about the same height as a GS in the rear but I'm not running a GS shock, and have a stiffer suspension due to some mods back there. Tire wise the DRZ400SM came stock with a 120/70 R17 front tire and 140/70 R17 rear. I went with a 120/90 R17 front and a 130/90 R17 rear. Running the dual sport 705 Shinkos that all the Supermoto guys were running for their semi-dual-sport use at that time. They have a more aggressive tread pattern then a standard Supermoto tire, but due to it's width I'm still getting a lot of surface contact or rubber on the pavement, with a very good grip on pavement, so the bike feels really solid. I can get the rear to drift a little on a very hard throttle, but I'm running higher compression then a stand R100R or GS and tend to ride aggressively. Dirt wise the tires are pretty good on harder surfaces, on soft stuff the front tends to plane up which is good for straight line, not so good for cornering as they are easy to wash out.

If I'm planning to ride a lot off pavement or just ride in a straight line for an extended period of time I switch it to my 90/90 21 up front on my corresponding 21 rim which I set up specifically for that purpose. The Motrad guys do not do this for some reason, but then again they are riding stock unmodified bikes.

With that wheel the bike feels more like a standard GS or HPN style build. It only takes a few minutes to change. Not anywhere near as agile, but very smooth and stable, probably pretty similar to your oilhead GS.

In fact let me re-frame this in oilhead terms since you ride a R1200GS.

You are probably running a 110/80 R19 up front (even the GS bikes now come with smaller diameter wider tires) In contrast a R-Nine-T runs a 120/70 R17, that is the same stock tire size as the DRZ400SM. Have you ever ridden a Nine-T? From my experience there is a definite difference in the feel of the two bikes. Think of my bike like a R-nine-T with more suspension travel and clearance when run with the 17. When I change to the 21 it feels more like your bike. They both feel good, they both work but the smaller wheel with the wider tire has better performance and feel (it makes the bike feel lighter) on pavement.

So I'm being more conventional then you might think. The fat tire has nothing to do with style or fashion it's part of the larger performance upgrade, using a known setup which creates better handling and allows me to ride the bike harder on pavement, with some increased off road capability as well. I'm a builder and all I do is make things. Even when I buy things new I usually alter them for better performance.

This is not a fashion statement it's all about performance. Form followed function. I came up with this concept and built this bike almost half a decade ago. I bought the bike specifically for this task, and had the build done in maybe a month once I got all the parts. I then took it out and immediately road 600+ miles on my first trip, both on and off pavement, and I have not had to do a damn thing to it since. Last time I adjusted the front fork was the week I built it. That may mean nothing to you, maybe you do not actually build, or think that much about suspensions, but I do.

Three out of my four BMWs have unique one of a kind suspensions I designed and worked out myself, this one actually being the least modified. Most radical suspension mods take a lot of tweaking to get right. This one did not, which means it came out right the first time, and I can't think of any way to make it any better then it is now.

Yes some guys put fat tires on their bikes to look cool. I could care less, I'm not one of those guys.

I built this bike to do a specific task and it does it well. Well enough that I have not had to change it since the day I built it. I don't know anyone who's even made another R100R supermoto, but I love mine, and if I had to only keep one BMW airhead (I have four) this is the one I'd pick. If all you see is a trendy fat tire that's alright, I don't even mind. We don't all enter the shop with the same tools or equipment, but I don't really care if people get the bike or not. For me It's not about the show, it's about the go, and the bike is everything I thought it would be and more.

Water crossing ready

It’s a damn shame we can only “like” once.

Oh, and BTW, it’s “tweaking”.

I was thinking SM when I first saw the pic. The tires and location leaned me more to off roading, because I have not seen a boxer SM before. I'm sure if I google search SM Boxers, there will be a ton of them. Would love to ride your bike, or one like it. One like this perhaps...tp