You're right...you should have bought one there and then. I've had three other bikes over the years (Triumph Thunderbird, Norton Atlas and Yamaha TX 750, in that order), but I've been riding a BMW R90/6 since 1976. I have nearly 200,000 miles on it. I put an output shaft bearing into it at 130K and it had a valve job about that time as well. Still has the original clutch and cables. Oh....and last summer I rebuilt the master cylinder and gave him a new exhaust system. Other than that, just tires, batteries, gasoline and oil & filters. I think I owe that bike money.

What a beauty. When I was a baby biologist, I rode a Thunderbird. Great handling bike; a real pooch to kick start right after the winter shut-down. To this day, my right leg is twice as strong as the left one...probably from all that kicking. The only one harder to kick than that one was my Norton Atlas 750. GREAT bike but if I didn't get the compression release set JUST RIGHT, that bad boy would kick back and either rap my leg or throw me over the handle bars. Thanks for the ride down memory lane. You might be interested in some of my bike and car photos. Check it out: http://public.fotki.com/LesTension/entropy/