What’s a rare 1930s vintage German BMW doing in a 21st century Boss Hoss dealership in Harbor City, CA? That’s the question we asked Victor Vert owner of California Boss Hoss Motorsports. “I had gone up to Don Whalen’s place to look at an Indian Four he had restored and had up on eBay. I just love all kinds of motorcycles but when he opened the door to his garage he literally opened a whole new world for me. While I have 153 motorcycles here at the store for sale, and although I do own an 841 Indian military bike that has been civilianized, I just hadn’t been exposed to motorcycles of that caliber before. I went just to look at one bike and left owning three including a ’27 Harley JD, a ’22 Cleveland and the ’31 BMW. For me they are true art forms, better than anything I could hang on the wall.”
Victor’s first indelible motorcycle impression was formed seven years old, riding on the back of a Cushman scooter. He stepped up big time. His very first bike was a Triumph Bonneville.
“I couldn’t even ride it and had the owner bring it to my mother’s garage ,and he popped it up on the centerstand. I used to sit on it every day and go through the motions. Then one day I took it off the stand and rode down the driveway and out into the street with my Mom watching. I have never ever forgotten the adrenalin and the Nirvana I experienced and I’ve been riding ever since.”
Victor’s very passionate about the Boss Hoss. After his first test ride he literally couldn’t sleep at night. At this point he announced to his wife Shelly that he was getting into the motorcycle business, and as they say the rest is history. He was thinking just a little motorcycle boutique but couldn’t find a location due to zoning restrictions but then found a small bike shop, Marty’s BMW in Carson, that after 29 years was closing up. The plan was to sell just Boss Hoss motorcycles and have one employee. A year and a half later Victor moved into an ex- Alfa/Porsche/Ferrari dealership situated right across the street from California Harley-Davidson and near Pacific Yamaha. Ten months of renovation followed for the 10,000 sq.ft. facility that now keeps five mechanics very busy working on an eclectic group of motorcycles.
While Victor has also owned a successful tool and die and metal fabrication business for the past 25 years, his new facility celebrated its grand opening on November 10, 2007 offering a wild spectrum of high-end machines including Boss Hoss, Big Dog, Big Bear Choppers, Ultra, Ural sidecars and most recently the radical Traverston as well as the 124-cubic-inch Intrepid. And we’re talking about every model and colors of each so the menu is vast and satisfying on all levels. Victor also attends all the local and major bike and hotrod shows and you can easily spot him. He’ll be riding his 502 cubic inch Big Block Boss Hoss. He laughs and says, “I’m a Boss Hoss guy and feel very insecure on anything smaller.”
You could say that Victor lives life large. It shows on his showroom as well, one that will benefit from his growing bike collection that now numbers five as he’s also acquired a 1946 Indian twin all of which you can enjoy when you pay a visit to Harbor City and California Boss Hoss Motorsports. More info at 866-912-2488 or 310-784-1300 or log on to www.californiabosshoss.com.
Beem Us Back to 1931
Since most of us weren’t putting around in 1931 we need to see what was happening in the world to gain some perspective on the BMW R11/2 seen here.
Tracing motorcycle history can lead you down some strange paths. Sometimes it seems like déjà vu. In January of 1931 eight U.S. Marines were killed in an ambush in Nicaragua. Pope Pius X1 denounced birth control. Malcolm Campbell’s racecar set a 245mph land speed record at Daytona Beach. Bela Lugosi starred in “Dracula” while Boris Karloff cranked out his “Frankenstein.” The first televised show in Japan was a baseball game. On May 1 the Empire State Building officially opened as the world’s tallest structure. It cast a long shadow but not as dark as the one just then being cast by Mussolini’s fascists in Italy and Hitler’s Nazi Party in Germany.
Munich-based BMW (Bayerische Motoren Werke aka Bavarian Motor Works) dates it founding to March 7, 1916. First involved in building aircraft engines, it then added cars in 1929. However, their first motorcycle appeared several years earlier in 1922 when as a subcontractor to another company called oddly enough the Otto Factory they started producing a bike called the “Flink” (translated to “Quick”) not exactly a great sounding name for a motorcycle, in this case a none too popular 148cc two-stroke. BMW then bought out Otto and entered the motorcycle business. At the time BMW’s chief aircraft engine designer, who by the way had no use for either cars or motorcycles, eventually came up with the now famous “boxer” engine. (He also added his love of aviation via the BMW logo, a stylized propeller, although others attribute it to the official colors of Munich.)
BMW would soon begin making motorcycling history both for bikes of record speeds and as the standard of quality street machines. At the Paris Motorcycle Salon show in 1923, BMW unveiled its all new motorcycle design, the 498cc R32. (As for the BMW tradition of using letters and numbers, not exactly romantic designations, the “R” stands for Rad, German slang based on the word motorad or motorcycle.)
The two-cylinder opposed engine was called a “boxer” because the layout of the horizontal pistons looked like two fighters punching away. The R32 utilized a sidevalve design because of the relatively poor quality of gasoline at the time as well as a cost saving measure although overhead valves were already known to be more efficient. The cylinders were however aluminum alloy and thus advanced over most of the competition. Other advanced features included a wet-sump recirculating oil system through a geared oil pump, most other bike manufacturers relying on the total loss system. These features would transfer over to the R11/2 as seen here when it appeared five years later. BMW would retain this basic design for the next 46 years, up until 1969.
Using their aeronautical design experience, BMW employed a single carburetor fit with two internal slides, one for each of two cylinders. But it was the placement of the engine that was most revolutionary, rotated 90 degrees from the norm of the day so that the cylinders benefited from direct air flow and subsequent cooling. (This design had previously been used by the British Sopwith Company, also of aircraft fame, in a motorcycle called the ABC.) While bikes of the period used chain drive, this layout also permitted BMW the use of shaft drive (first seen back in 1907 when American Glen Curtiss incorporated the feature into his speed record setting 8-cylinder bike.) Shaft drive permitted quick and easy tire repair, most helpful considering the puncture producing roads of the era.
An added benefit of the layout was the incorporation of “unit construction” for the three-speed transmission bolted to the crankcase with its clutch and flywheel, a compact, “slimming” design. (It would take Britain’s Triumph some 40 years before it got around to unit construction.) While all these technological features weren’t “firsts,” it was the first time that they were all packaged together to produce an elegant and most advanced mass-produced bike of the times. It was the sensation of the Paris show, a design that would stand the test of time for the six decades to follow.
The 733cc R11/2 model seen here first debuted in 1928 at the London Motorcycle Show. The bike featured the distinctive new pressed steel, and torsionally stiff, frame, its sidevalve engine producing a modest, though smooth 18 HP. The R11 replaced the previous R63 but gained a weight disadvantage and thus decreased performance thanks to the new, beefier “Star” frame that added 15 lb. However for the first time a motorcycle featured front and rear floating wheel spindles, complete and reliable lighting equipment, horn and speedometer, fully ready for road use.
Additional upgrades included the replacement of the timing gears with a quieter running chain, flexible drive shaft couplings and air filters for the carburetors.
However sales of the new bike slumped due to the world wide Depression precipitated by the New York Stock Market Crash of 1929. (A brighter note of the times occurred on September 19, 1929, when BMW factory rider Ernst Henne, wearing a wild aerodynamic helmet, became the fastest man on earth, on a motorcycle, when his supercharged BMW clocked 216 km/h (152 mph).
The R11/2 continued in production through 1934. This particular 1931 model was delivered to the U.S. for an American customer and has resided here every since. Its restoration was completed by Jim Watson of Fredricksburg, Texas who spent several years meticulously restoring the machine, including traveling to Germany for direct research on the project. Literally every nut, bolt and washer is correct to the original machine. (Watson has previously restored a 1912 Pierce that scored a remarkable 99.5 points in the national Senior AMCA competition, as near perfect as you can get. As fellow master restorer Don Whalen once observed, “Only God has the 100 point restoration and he doesn’t show it very often.”)
Watson kept incredibly detailed notes and photos of the project, compiled in a ring binder that went with the bike to Victor Vert, the bike’s new owner. The notebook also contains Watson’s copious written communications with other owners of R11’s around the world. The original owner’s handbook was also included.
The seven-year restoration was indeed a labor of love and sadly his last. In 2005, just after the R11 was completed Jim Watson was out on a bike setting up the road course for the first National AMCA Ride in the Lone Star state and hosted by the Tejas, Texas AMCA Chapter. He was apparently killed by a hit and run driver though no resolution of the incident has yet occurred. A section of that run was named The James Watson Memorial Route.
Bench Mark Works: Putting the Gleam and Beam Back in Your Beemer
Classic BMW Connection
One look at the Bench Mark Works logo tells you two things, well, three things. One, the Sturgis, Mississippi company caters to vintage and classic BMW motorcycles; two, they’re in the “fossil” restoration business, and three, they’re the T-Rex of all things Beemer related.
You can’t miss the shop, appropriately located at 3400 Earles Fork Road. Replicating the company logo, there’s a dinosaur skeleton sitting astride a 1966 BMW hoisted atop a 15- foot pole in the driveway. It’s a mandatory “Kodak moment” when any Beemer rider rambles into the neighborhood.
The “iron horse paleontologist” behind the enterprise is Craig “Vech” Vechorik and the man behind the voice you’ll encounter when you dial his free technical hotline for BMW’s circa 1925-1970s. That’s a half century of constant refinement and innovations and a lot of stuff to remember. Fortunately Vech’s got a colossal memory…and a matching inventory while his personal collection ranges from a 1925 R52 to a 1976 R90S.
“Like I tell everybody, if you have technical questions…how do I take this apart or why is it doing what it’s doing…just call,” says Vech with his distinctive St. Louis meets Mississippi accent. “I offer free technical advice to everybody and that’s not just because you’re buying parts from me.” There is a method to his semi-madness. After listening to Vech’s eloquent brand of downhome build-a-better-Beemer observations, you’re prone, and rightly so, to peruse his Web site for the parts you needed.
Seizing the moment we mention that we’ve just acquired a 1966 R50/2 that’s been sitting for 13 years, the gas in the tank turned to very aromatic shellac. Vech begins a list of recommendations, caveats and anecdotes. “When you take the carb apart, pay close attention to the floats because with time the brass floats crack. If you see little vertical lines on the sides of the brass floats, throw them away, because if they’re not leaking they will, and you’ll end up with a shoefull of gasoline.”
To prevent this and similar problems, Bench Mark Works offers about any part you can imagine, and then some since Vech has come up with innovations of his own, for instance, an easy-pull clutch lever gizmo (that’s also easy to install). Not only is Vech literally a treasure trove of information and helpful suggestions regarding your project, the Bench Mark Works website is a vast smorgasbord listing not only parts, but also a small encyclopedia of articles that take you by the hand and lead you step by step through a number of service and installation procedures that make preserving and enjoying your bike all that easier.
Back to our ’66 R50 project bike. When we asked Vech if it was a good idea to switch from the vintage BMW stock 6-volt to a 12-volt electrical system, he replied, “It would be if you like to see at night. Or you could have someone run in the front of the bike with a lantern.” Vech’s formulated a better way by helping to design of a 12-volt/200-watt alternator that replaces the stock 6-volt 50-watt generator. It arrives complete with a built- in diode board and voltage regulator as one-piece unit. It’s a bolt-on deal with no wire changes needed.
“It will take you longer to change the battery and bulbs than to install the upgraded alternator,” say Vech who also took it one step further. To keep the vintage and very stylish Bosh headlight and reflector, he had halogen bulbs made that incorporate an incandescent base that fits right into either a 6- or 12-volt bulb holder, so you don’t need to buy a different lens and reflector. Bench Mark Works also offers a 400 watt alternator that replaces the somewhat feeble stock 180-watt unit found on /5 models which means you can add accessories like a heated vest and driving lights.
If you happen to own a very early BMW from the 1920-'30s and need parts in the unobtainium category, fear not, Vech has got you covered thanks to a long time relationship with master machinist and master problem solver Bob Davis who can fix or fabricate about anything you can shake a stick at. “About 30 years ago I was riding through Mountain Home, Arkansas when I came upon an Indian inline four and had to stop, and that’s how I met Bob. Like they said in the movie “Casablanca,” it was the beginning of a beautiful friendship…and a lot of beautiful pre- war BMW parts for our customers.”
The Bench Mark Works Web site, besides an 86-page downloadable catalog, features a wide a gallery photos displaying the bikes they’ve restored for customers and bikes that Vech and his wife Elaine ride themselves, Elaine having rebuilt her R50’s engine herself. “Vech’s got my bike running so well that I can use my hand to start the bike with the kick starter. Plus you can ride it all day long at 70 mph, if you were wanting to.”
You can also personally meet Vech and Elaine during their annual Antique BMW rally every April when Beemer fans from hither and thither (even Europe) gather in “that other Sturgis,” the one located in Mississippi, situated in a triangle about 2 ½ hours west of Birmingham, two hours from Jackson and two hours out of Memphis.
“Enthusiasts and customers gather here in the yard. We have a swap meet, people kick tires and lie, sip a beer, and we ride en masse to lunch and dinner,” says Vech. “Last year we had about a hundred of us moving as a small herd.” That would be a large herd considering Sturgis, MS has a population of about 232. And yes, it’s also home to the “Little Sturgis Rally” that last year saw some 32,000 bikers crowd into the little town during during August. The Bench Mark Works Rally takes place on a somewhat quieter venue with a bevy of elegant old BMW’s gliding through the local lanes, Vech amongst them.
Asked which of his BMWs was his favorite, Vech replies, “My 1936 R17. They only made 434 between 1935-37 It’s an overhead valve 750 and it will go right at 100 mph. It’s a screamer.”
For more information contact:
Bench Mark Works USA
3400 Earles Fork Road
Sturgis, MS 39769
Telephone/FAX: (662) 465-6444
Toll-free order line: 1-800-323-7102
Hours: Monday-Friday 8-5 central time
Technical advice from Vech Mon-Fri 1-5 Central Time: (662) 465-6444
Online store: http://www.benchmarkworks.com/store
Craig Vechorik email: vechbmw@aol.com
