BMW R100GS SCRAMBLER BY IN CLUTCH WE TRUST

The BMW R100GS was first produced in 1987, along with the other GS (Gelände/Straße) BMWs it was one of the original dual-sport motorcycles and was largely responsible for establishing the market niche that now makes up a significant portion of motorcycles sales worldwide.

Fitted with a 980cc twin-valve horizontally opposed twin, the R100GS could produce 60hp at its rear wheel and it could do it all day long – without blowing up, breaking down or spewing oil all over the tundra.

BMW sold over 34,000 before production stopped in 1994 and the BMW R1100GS took over the mantle as the new “big” engined GS, it wasn’t to be an easy task and many still consider the R100GS to be the best of the Gelände/Straße range.

The R100GS you’re looking at here looks rather different to stock, it’s been rebuilt to be a little more focussed on off-road ability and from a purely aesthetic standpoint (in my humble opinion), it’s perfect.

It was built by the team at In Clutch We Trust as a customer order – the client had very specific requirements, he’s an off-road motorcycling enthusiast and he didn’t want a glossy show-pony, he wanted a bike he could take off-road and ride hard.

After acquiring the 1989 BMW R100GS donor bike from a BMW mechanic in Normandy, the full tear-down began. The original fuel tank was deemed too large and a suitably sized replacement couldn’t be found, so an entirely new, bespoke tank was fabricated and bolted into place.

Other parts were sourced from all four corners of the globe, the headlight was found at a swapmeet in Los Angeles, the handlebar and tail light are original vintage Tommaselli units, Beringer brakes and a Beringer clutch replaced the stock units and the exhaust was replaced with a handmade 2-into-2 system that includes some great welding and not even the slightest whisper of a muffler.

The completed bike can now be found out in the countryside being hammered along trails, fire roads and old paddocks, the new owner is delighted with the finished product and I can’t blame him, it’s one of the best looking scramblers we’ve featured in quite some time.

See more here via In Clutch We Trust.

All images by Charles Séguy.

via SILODROME

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MotoGP:Lorenzo et Rossi cinquième et sixième sur la grille allemande / Second row Sachsenring slots for factory Yamaha duo

Les pilotes du team Movistar Yamaha MotoGP n’étaient guère satisfaits de leurs performances à l’issue des qualifications pour le Grand Prix eni Motorrad d’Allemagne, dont ils prendront le départ depuis la deuxième ligne.

Assez étrangement, Jorge Lorenzo et Valentino Rossi ont tous les deux enregistré leur temps de qualification sur leur premier run et n’ont pas pu progresser lorsqu’ils sont repartis sur un second pneu neuf en fin de séance. 

L’Espagnol était resté assez proche de la première position lors des essais libres mais n’a pas pu se montrer aussi compétitif qu’il l’espérait en qualifications et a terminé en cinquième position, à une demi-seconde de Marc Márquez (Repsol Honda), l’auteur de la pole.

« La cinquième position n’est clairement pas le résultat que nous visions pour les qualifications d’aujourd’hui, surtout que nous avions eu un bon rythme et été dans le Top 3 depuis le début du week-end, » a commenté Lorenzo. « Nous n’avons pas pu profiter des pneus neufs en qualifications et le deuxième pneu ne me donnait pas autant de motricité. Je ne sais pas pourquoi mais il glissait beaucoup et j’avais l’impression d’avoir un pneu différent. La course va être très longue, le premier tour sera important parce qu’il est difficile de doubler ici mais nous allons essayer de finir sur le podium. Notre rythme n’est pas si mauvais alors voyons si nous pouvons nous battre avec les autres. »

Son coéquipier Valentino Rossi était l’un des premiers pilotes à sortir de la pit-lane en Q2 mais est rentré aux stands au bout de deux tours. L’Italien a ensuite réalisé deux autres runs mais n’a pas réussi à progresser sur le dernier et se retrouvait en sixième position, à un peu plus d’un dixième de seconde de son coéquipier.

« J’ai heureusement pu faire un bon tour avec mon premier pneu, » a affirmé Rossi. « Normalement on va plus vite avec le deuxième, de deux ou trois dixièmes de seconde, mais cette fois-ci il y avait quelque chose qui n’allait pas avec le deuxième. Je n’avais pas de grip et j'ai eu du mal à ramener la moto au box. Je suis en deuxième ligne et c’est le minimum pour espérer faire une bonne course. Aujourd’hui nous avons bien travaillé sur la moto, ce n’était pas si mal mais ce sera dur demain. »

Movistar Yamaha MotoGP riders Jorge Lorenzo and Valentino Rossi will start Sunday’s eni Motorrad Grand Prix Deutschland from fifth and sixth respectively on the grid.

Both riders had a good start to the sunny 15-minute qualifying session, Lorenzo initially taking second and Rossi taking fifth place with their first flying laps. The Yamaha riders had multiple runs to determine their starting position, improving their times by more than 0.3s from the morning’s free practice.

Both then unfortunately suffered from a lack of grip with their second qualifying tyres, restricting their ability to make a further attack towards the end of Q2.

Lorenzo had a late start to the qualification session in order to get a flying lap in without any traffic. With 11 minutes to go the Spaniard showed his consistency as he rode a sequence of laps into the 1.21’s and clocked a 1’21.526. With six minutes left of the session he came in for a fresh set of tyres to have another go at putting his name at the top of the leading board. Two minutes later he was back on track and able to improve on his time by 0.350s, delivering a session best of 1’21.508 to finish in fifth place.



“Fifth is definitely not what we expected from today's qualifying session, especially because we have a good pace and we’ve always been in the top three during the weekend. In the qualifying we couldn’t take profit from the new tyres and the second tyre didn't have the same traction, I don't know why, it was spinning a lot and felt like a different tyre. It’s going to be a very long race, the first lap will be important because it's difficult to overtake here but we will try to get another podium. We are not so bad in pace so let's see if we can stay with the front guys,” stated Lorenzo.

Teammate Rossi had the opposite approach to the qualifying session. The Italian was one of the first riders to get out on track, but soon returned to the pits after two laps. With 11 minutes remaining he was back on his way and immediately shot up to fifth in the standings with a hot lap of 1’26.651. With five minutes remaining Rossi had another return to the pit box, before quickly heading out for another run. The nine time World Champion was unable to improve his time and will start sixth.

Rossi commented, “Fortunately I did quite a good lap with the first tyre. Usually you can go faster with the second tyre by two or three tenths, but there was something wrong with the second one. It didn’t have any grip and it was also very difficult to get the bike back to the box. I’m on the second row and the second row is the limit for a good race. Today we worked well on the bike, we’re not so bad, but for tomorrow it will be hard.”