Vetter Owner's Bikes Page 22 Posted April 17, 2011 | |||||||||||||
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An Original Windjammer from 1973: Serial Number 9161 | |||||||||||||
Craig, Here I am preparing my application for Collector's Plates for my old BMW, and surfing your website for documentation to prove my Windjammer fairing is "era correct" for the bike. Well, first, thank you so much for the excellent website, full of all sorts of information! Browsing through the information, I see ranges of serial numbers. Guess I should check the serial number on mine. Serial #9161. I am pretty sure I am a winner! Not sure just how important it is to you to have a higher serial number Windjammer out and about, but there you are. I am attaching a photo. I hope you do not too much mind the mirrors I bolted on. It had some chrome ones when I got it, and I broke one. I see from your website photos the stock configuration has no mirrors. A bit of background, hoping not to bore you. My wife and I traveled from Canada to England to take factory delivery of our new BMW R90/6 in June, 1974. We then toured overland through Europe and Asia as far as Mumbai (Bombay), where the bike went in a box, to catch up with us in Perth, Australia. By the time it got to Perth, we both had jobs, and stayed five years. Returning to Canada 1980, the bike came with us, and has now done North America Skagway to Halifax. I say it has been around the world, because Halifax to London in just water, and that has nothing to do with motorcycles. When we took delivery, I had intended to purchase an Avon fairing. But the /6 was brand new, with a larger diameter headlight than the /5. No fairing in production yet. We went with a standard windshield. Ten years later, back in Canada, I had a gliding buddy with an old BMW, and a fairing he no longer wanted. So at last I had the set-up I wanted all along. I have been tremendously impressed with the Vetter Windjammer. I love the big storage compartments. Wind protection is great. And it was important to me to have an era-correct look. Now, full circle, that era-correct choice will be helpful in getting Collector Plates (much reduced insurance cost). Cheers Bruce Friesen Surrey, BC, Canada | |||||||||||||
Craig says: You are duly recorded as having the highest serial number original Windjammer. Thank you, Bruce, for letting us know where 9161 is today. | |||||||||||||
And yet another pretty Vetter / BMW: | |||||||||||||
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Attached are a few pictures of our bike, a 1978 R100S BMW after restoration a couple of years ago. We kept the original color but added a very light blue pearl on top. We've owned it for over 30 years now and can't imagine not having it around to enjoy. The kids grew up on it and now the grandkids have taken their place. Maria and I love taking it up into the mountains (but she tends to fall asleep now on the long straight roads so I do what I can to keep her awake :-) The new Vetter we're installing is identical to the one you see in these pictures. Here's the short version of why I'm replacing it. Our fairing is over 30 years old and was installed in 1978. It has held up well but I began noticing several some cracks which distracted from the overall appearance and safety. So, I was thinking of repairing it or replacing it. One day while on a ride a pickup truck began following our every turn. He even pulled into the driveway behind us. I figured I had upset him somewhere and the fight was about to begin. As I approached him he said he had a fairing in his garage just like ours and wanted to know if we wanted it. He had tried to sell it but it had been hanging in his garage for 10 years now and we could have it if we wanted it. Once we blew the dust off of it we saw it was in much better shape than the one on our bike so we gladly accepted his offer. It also came with a Vetter radio box so we're in the market for a radio too - any suggestions? I'll send pictures like you suggested once we have it painted and we get it back together and installed. Thanks again. Ken and Maria | |||||||||||||
Craig comments: I really am not current on todays radios. All I know is that they are smaller and lighter with Bluetooth ports and that is good. | |||||||||||||
Posted April 17, 2011 More to follow | |||||||||||||
Reader's favorite pics are vintage images of when we were young, our girlfriends were "sweet young things" and our dogs were pups. Thanks Craig.