1938 BMW R66

 The  R66 BMW was the company's top of the line bike. About 1. 00 were built between 1938-40. Most of them (like anything with wheels) was drafted into the Werhmacht. Of the original 1. 00. it's unlikely that more than a third survived the War-if that. This one was abandoned in Poland after the War. The Poles ground out the original numbers and punched in their own. The original numbers were chemically recovered by the previous owner. with the assistance of an Alabama State Trooper. They are 661397 (engine) and 513656 (frame). The bike was imported by Blue Moon Cycles in 2000 or thereabouts. and at that time it was repainted. rewired . and some external parts were replaced. The new owner had the lower end of the motor rebuilt. and the gearbox overhauled-but as far as I'm aware. he didn't ride it much. When I acquired it three years ago. I had to replace 2nd and top gear. and other gearbox parts. and I sent the final drive to a well-respected vintage BMW restorer to change out the side car gearing it came with for the correct 3. 6to 1 solo prewar gearing. I also replaced the cam and two followers with a regrind by Colt Cams in Vancouver BC. who did an excellent job. The bike now has 6. The R66 is an unusual bike. Its unique long stroke motor has a lot of snap and torque-a good deal more than. say. an R60. which is also rated at 30PS. It doesn't hurt that it weighs 50lbs less than an R60 too. Its handling is sharp and precise. and its brakes are pretty decent for 1938. Its high top gear makes for decent highway speeds-and it just happens to be about the best looking bike BMW ever built. The R66 is now in good. sound running condition. Everything is working (except the horn. but who needs that). There's a small dent  towards the front of the tank on the right. and there are some chips and abrasions in the paint. But it's that rare thing-a 76 year old motorcycle you can ride. with a reasonable expectation of getting where you're going. and coming back. -one of the most capable bikes of any of the prewar bikes by any manufacturer. I've put 6. 47 kilometers on it since I bought it in 2012. There are a number of upgrades for the sake of reliability: 1) a Dynacoil with the conventional points 2)Nicosiled cylinder barrels 3) R69S valves and springs-replacing the original mousetrap springs. 4) an electronic regulator for the generator 5) 1/16" solid copper head gaskets. I've included a photo of one cylinder head with the rocker cover removed. to show the R69S conversion. I'd be happy to answer any questions you might have. or post extra pictures. Feel free to call me at 415 626 6933 for more detailed information.                                                                                                                                                                                                                                      Thank you. nbsp;                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                     Charlie

On Feb-02-15 at 15:23:45 PST. seller added the following information:

After posting this description. I noticed a couple of errors on my part: In the second sentence at the top of the first paragraph. I wrote "was" instead of "were". and at the bottom of the same paragraph. left dangling a part of a sentence "The bike has 6. 2". that I thought I'd edited out. Apparently not. Ebay-it turns out-has a one-size fits all policy about editing descriptions once they are posted and the bidding has begun. So even if your editing improves or clarifies the description. you can't do it. No exceptions. Kind of stupid. but that's Ebay. They don't seem to mind me writing this. though :)

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