Jean's R80G/S
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IVANNA my special R80G/S

Jean's R80G/S

Jean's R80G/S
I ride a 1981 BMW R80 G/S, I bought it as quite EOM G/S. The precedent owners's modifications were only a nice Acerbis windshield, a GS low front fender fixed on a very strong home-made inox fork rigidificator and some mounting brackets welded on the frame.
Steps by steps I changied parts in way to "upgrade" the bike.
My biggest mistake was to change the fork as soon I founded one! So I rode a strange bike with long fork and eom rear suspension during nearly 2 years. Result, a strange feeling on the road :-( (see that on left side pic)


Ivanna's first modifications (made by my BMW dealer AMS-Liège).

BeforeAfter
fork White Power up-side down fork (from an Husaberg enduro bike) with Acerbis "Baja" hight front fender.

Wheel, handlebar, front light/dashboard remain from the G/S, like the stering axle (but this one was modified in way to fit with the Husaberg triple clamps).

Oilcooler (from R100R) in central position.
brake
front brake Custom front brake (F650 brake, Honda disk and "sur mesure" steel braided line) on the left side (vs. origine on the right side).  front brake



Ivanna's second life as HPN bike!.

Finally after years of doubt (did I really need to spend so mutch money for that?), I took my decision: Let's go for real HPN G/S bike. I tried to be reasonnable so I choose the Adventure version but with some request "a la carte".
Now, the main defaults of the G/S (soft "Gummikuh" frame/rear-suspension) are gone! And I have lot of fun riding as on road as off-road.
I dreamed during long time and now I'm happy with my perfect bike for "from-far-away" travels. It's a trustable and funny bike to ride in the twisties.

Conclusion:
If you have the idea to start with a project bike, try to collect all the parts you need and do all the main modifications in one time!!! That way you will not lose time (and money) doing some work twice!

Last info before the details, my G/S was still with no name when I went to visit HPN for the first time. During that visit I had the chance to see lot of terrible thinks, meet all the terrible and friendly people from HPN (thanks again to all of them and specialy to Klaus who spend quite 2 days to made the visit and answering to all my questions) and see "for real" my terrible best friend Hernan (a GS fan from Pilippines met on the net). As I was saying all time: terrible, he said: "You have to named your G/S, Ivanna refering to Ivan-the-Terrible!!!"

Ivanna's puzzle part 1
Winter 1999, time to put the G/S in parts. For that job, my friend Ted came and he was the workshop master! Thanks again Ted! You can see the puzzle on the left side.
23 December, I lost my job but that "small" problem didn't stop me and finaly I'm at Seibersdorf with the parts!
And terrible luck (nice to be lucky after my job problem), HPN people are finishing the 2 wonderfull R900GS-RR for the Dakar-Cairo Rally! Next day, the racing bikes are gone, Ivanna's parts are in the HPN workshop and Ted (who was working at HPN) and myself are back in Belgium for Christmas!
Ivanna's puzzle part 2
4 months later, it's ok, I have the parts back. A long wait but a terrible result visible on the left side. HPN frame number 421, sub-frame with rack, longer rear suspension monolever, bags rack, new mono seat (fluo orange) and rack, rear brake floating came, rebuilded bevelbox,... and a huge WP shock not shown on the pic!
Ivanna as a push bike
Rebuilding time. For that, all the electrical wiring was changed to new parts, I installed a double rear light (the upper one is with LEDs from Touratech in place of the classic bulb and the brake bright light can be switched on in case on fog, a personnal invention).
All the rebuilding job was made by myself but with the help of my BMW dealer AMS-Liège).
Ivanna back on the road... and off-road!
Riding time. After 6 months without bike, it's time to come back on the roads! OK, Ivanna is still looking like a rat bike... but what funny bike to ride off-road and in the twisties! The new dress will comes next winter!
As you can see on the pic, I changed the airbox for the old ronded version. A idea of my friend Bernd! to have more power (and noise ;-) and cheaper air-filter. Other interrest, the relocation of the choke lever gives free place on the left control unit for IMO computer switches.



Main accessories.

BMW R80G/S Paris-Dakar kit
32 liters (8.45 gal.) PD steel tank (BMW part Nr.16111453914 prime coated, Nr.16111453917 with Alpine white painting).
Long range rides, comfort,... and what a nice look.
Remark: no comfort with that PD mono seat ;-)
PD kit
BMW GS PD alu bash plate in two parts :
  • under the engine (BMW part Nr.51472315652 for G/S and Nr. 51472315392 for GS),
  • on the centerstand (BMW part Nr.71609062034 for G/S and Nr. 71609062035 for GS).
  • I don't have the third part (the fiberglass "bra" in front of the engine and the exhaust pipe).

    Pic of Marc A. Nussbaumer's R80G/S.
    Bash-plate
    Sebring 2-in-2 lower exhaust (kit for R80-100GS). Mounted on the bike after cuting few centimeters (the curved end part) of the G/S pipes. Sebring exhaust
    • Round old-style covers of the cylinder heads (for the look) with "oil hole" (in way to let home the very long oil funnel) made by Wunderlich.
    • Aerostich tank panniers. If you test them, you will never ride without them!
    • Roadbook roll box from Acerbis.
    • Cycle computer Sigma.
    • K&N air filter.



    For the futur :

  • Engine check, gearbox rebuilding (with longer 5th gear);
  • A big alu tool box under the seat;
  • Solve the ground clearance problem (exhaust collector box too low and interfering with center stand);
  • A new dress: fairing (copy of my old Acerbis), R80-100R side panel, painting (see drawing on the right);
  • A new dashboard (IMO computer from Touratech)
  • Alu bags (from ???) with Touratech mounting parts;
  • ...
  • And still in projects, lot of nice trips in Europe and other area of the world!!!.
    Jean's R80G/S

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    Updated 26 March 2004