if your bikes 'R reg' it's an ex press bike.

[winger]

Slight technical hitch!!






Just realised two different bikes!!!!

[Red Fokker]

I noticed that one set of pictures in the articles are by Gold & Goose. It used to be possible to buy prints from their archives - did it myself many moons ago, sorry can't remember how I got in touch with them (think it was pre internet). Might be worth getting in touch on the off chance - not many people will have professionally taken prints of their bike

[The Teutonic Tangerine]

That's amazing! .

My Bike R165RRD seems to have been the one used by MCN and

R156RRD seems to be the one used (Abused) by BIKE magazine.

Thanks Guys fast work.

[winny]

That was close. My reg is R158RRD.

Very interesting, I bought mine from Astle (Harveys as it was then), in July 1999 with 9k on the clock. Was told it had one previous owner who had it a year and then decided to swop back to a tourer. No mention was ever made of any other history. Bike dealers...tschhh

TT, where did you see the original link about this story?

Unless anyone comes up with reg 156 or 157, I'll still claim to have the oldest 1100S on the road.

John

[nab 301]

Obviously not mine but from a Jan '99 mag ST4 v R11s V VFR

[The Teutonic Tangerine]

Winny

"Unless anyone comes up with reg 156 or 157, I'll still claim to have the oldest 1100S on the road".


My Guess guys is that that there was a batch of bikes (possibly 10 if you take the sequential number plates)registered for publicity before the launch and that these were all registered on the same day so (so a good chance that R158RRD is also a "Press Bike" as we have pictures of R156, R157 and R165 being used for road tests) lets not get hung about which is the oldest or we will be checking Frame / Engine numbers to see which one was screwed together first. Best to say that we collectively have the oldest S's on the road in the UK. And what a testament to build quality that 10 years on at least two of the pre launch bikes are still on the road.

BTW: Contacted Gold & Goose who took the MCN photos they say the pictures belong to MCN so have written to MCN requesting copies. Also written to BMW Motorrad to ask when they sold the bike on to the public as I have a gap in the history from 24/06/98 until 20/04/01 when the bike appears to have covered only 4300 miles.

[Blackal]

Unless anyone comes up with reg 156 or 157, I'll still claim to have the oldest 1100S on the road.

John

That's all very well.................... but didn't Princess Diana own one of the "press" bikes.........................

Al

[The Teutonic Tangerine]

Whoa! where did that come from?

[winger]

BTW: Contacted Gold & Goose who took the MCN photos they say the pictures belong to MCN so have written to MCN requesting copies. Also written to BMW Motorrad to ask when they sold the bike on to the public as I have a gap in the history from 24/06/98 until 20/04/01 when the bike appears to have covered only 4300 miles.[/quote]

BMW will have unloaded them onto dealers,on rare occasions either the press or the trade buy for them for themselves,you might get lucky,but i doubt if BM have anymore idea were the bike was than you do,apart from which dealer had it,you need to work back through the log book,if you draw a blank i'll see what i can do.

[The Teutonic Tangerine]

I'll look at the paperwork when I get home from work. Most of it's life was with one guy near Southampton but I am not sure(from memory) when he got it. The log book tells me nowt about previous owners and the DVLA website does not seem to offer a route to the info.

I had a reply from MCN and am waiting for a full response from Jacqueline who is the library manager so may be able to get some prints.

[The Teutonic Tangerine]

Winger said:

BMW will have unloaded them onto dealers,on rare occasions either the press or the trade buy for them for themselves,you might get lucky,but i doubt if BM have anymore idea were the bike was than you do,apart from which dealer had it,you need to work back through the log book,if you draw a blank i'll see what i can do.[/quote]

Today I reveived an E mail from BMW Motorrad.

Thank you for contacting BMW Customer Information.

We are delighted to here that you are enjoying your BMW R1100S and that you have managed to track down images of it in the press. We can advise that we too have the bike listed as a press bike and that it would have been lent out to press organisations around the UK for them to test. After every test the bike would have been delivered to BMW Motorrad UK where the technical experts would have serviced and checked over the entire bike. This methodology ensures that the bike is returned to perfect condition before the next member of the press rides it.

We can also advise that the bike would not have been sold immediately after it had been tested, instead BMW UK would have kept the bike for use at shows and exhibitions. This time period also allows the bike to be fully overhauled before being released into the market as an approved used bike. This would explain the low mileage throughout the first few years of your BMW R1100S's life, press sorties are usually short and do not put high mileage onto the vehicles used. This, followed by some time in the hands of BMW UK will have resulted in the very low mileage of which you are still benefiting.

We trust this information is of use and wish you many years of happy riding on your BMW R1100S. Please feel free to contact us if you have any further questions.

[throttlemeister]

Pretty cool!

[The Teutonic Tangerine]

It now seems pretty clear that at least 10 bikes were registered on 16 June 1998 for use as Press / show bikes. So if yours was registered on that date and has the Reg R1**RRD your too ws a press bike.

[Blackal]

If we assume that each of the press bikes was shown no mercy, when out for reviewing...................

................ and uses very little oil between services now -

Going easy in the first 1000 miles - wouldn't appear to be the best way to run the bike in??

Al

[The Teutonic Tangerine]

My service book shows that it had its PDI on 13 June and it's first inspection on 21 June after nearly 700 miles. I am liking to assume that someone at BMW(GB) did the initial 700 mile running in before the journalist where let loose on them. Onteh basis that BMW would want the bikes to be tried out and any mionot faults fixed before they let the jounalists out on them.