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My father’s BMW

Some of my earliest childhood memories are of riding with my dad around Unity in Maine on his motorcycle. My father was a high school shop teacher and often took on carpentry jobs during the summer months, and he would ride back and forth to these jobs on his 1954 BMW R 51/3. My brothers and sister and I looked forward to him returning home to our family’s camp at the end of the day, as he would often take one of us for a ride on the back roads around the lake.

It was always a treat to spend some time alone with dad. I remember putting our helmets on and then watching dad push the plungers on each Bing carburetor to let a little gas in, then kickstart the engine.

When I was little, he would put me on the seat in front of him, and as I got older, I got to ride on back, and Dad let me make the hand signals. With no panniers on the bike, if we brought lunch, I’d have to hold it on the seat between my legs. Sometimes we would even get to go “into town,” which meant a 15-mile ride to the small town of Clinton to check on our house there. It was only by chance that my dad had the BMW in the first place.

William Bowen, an uncle on my mom’s side, was stationed in Kassel, Germany, in the late 1950s while serving with the U.S. Army. Uncle Bill had ridden and raced motorcycles before his days in the army, and in the spring of 1958, he bought the 1954 R 51/3 from a German man who spoke very little English. Uncle Bill spoke very little German, so after finding someone to translate their negotiations, a deal was made. Supposedly, both of them thought they made a good deal after they agreed upon a price of $175. When Uncle Bill bought the bike, it had a Steib sidecar attached to it, but Bill didn’t purchase the sidecar. Uncle Bill loved the way the BMW ran, and with his fellow soldiers, he spent much of his free time over the next 16 months touring Germany.

Uncle Bill took good care of the bike while in Germany, and when he was scheduled to return home, he knew he wanted to bring the BMW back with him. It cost $150 to crate the bike, another $150 to ship it to New York, and then another $125 to ship it to Portland, Maine. Once the bike reached U.S. shores, Uncle Bill didn’t have any way to pick it up in Portland, so my grandfather borrowed a company truck and brought the BMW home to Benton, Maine.

Uncle Bill rode the R 51/3 around Maine until 1961, when he started school in Portland. As a student, he found that he didn’t have time to ride it and needing money for school, he sold it to his sister and her husband (my parents) for $200. I was born a couple years later, and this bike has been in my family all of my life.

This brings me back to my history with the R 51/3. My dad regularly rode the bike for the next 20 years, and he and my mom liked to ride it around Maine taking short rides to the coast, Rangeley, or just exploring back roads. Dad also used the bike for commuting to work, and it was last registered in 1979, about which time he purchased a Honda 750 for pleasure riding and subsequently put away the BMW. The black BMW sat in the corner of our shed for many years, and though dad thought he might restore it someday, years passed and with his work and family commitments, the BMW sat and gathered dust.

In 2004, I asked dad if I could restore it, and I brought it to my home in China, Maine, and rolled it into the basement. Shortly after, a freak winter storm blew down my airplane hangar and destroyed my airplane, and the BMW restoration was put on hold once again. In 2011, once the hangar and plane were rebuilt, the restoration of the R 51/3 finally began, 32 years after it was last ridden.

To begin the restoration, I stripped every part from the bike down to the frame and started to figure out what I’d gotten myself into. When I started searching the internet for parts and information on this model, I discovered a group of BMW enthusiasts. Through that group, I was referred to Chris and Barbara, who live and work just a few hours from me in Barrington, New Hampshire. While my ultimate goal was to ride the bike again, with a busy job and not enough free time, I am doing what restoration work I can and am taking advantage of Chris and Barbara’s expertise to help complete the job. Every time I talk with or visit them, I learn more about these beautiful bikes, and I gain confidence in the work I’m doing.

Once the restoration was completed, I often reflect on my time working on the bike. I also think about the 54 years that this beautiful BMW has been part of my family, and appreciate the workmanship of the BMW brand.

I’ll never forget the day when my dad, Uncle Bill and I got together to tickle the Bing carburetors and then kickstarted the bike as we had so many years earlier. Listening to that distinctive BMW sound brought back the same amount of excitement we last felt 50 years ago.