A special BMW R1100GS: the R3B

The R3B is the first R1100GS that I owned. It is not original at all: I once crashed it, it was declared total-loss, and it got a new life under the hands of Ernst.
It has become a very special BMW R1100GS.

My very first R1100GS: the BumbleBee

Photographer on an R1100GS, in the mountains

Ernst on the Bumble Bee, in the Tatra

Once, after having owned my VX800 for one and a half year, when I was drooling next to a GS at a dealer, thinking that I would never be able to ride such a big big bike, I was approached by the owner who offered me a testride: he said he was certain that I could ride it very easily.

Everybody who has ever ridden on a R1100GS knows that there is no bike behaving better on the road: it steers very easily, and because of the telelever, tight corners on bumpy roads are lots of fun. You can flick it into a corner, and whatever you do (scraping a footpeg or having the back slide away), it always feels as if the bike can handle it (and it does). In other words, when the dealer told me what he would pay for my VX800, I surrendered...

That was the birth of the amazing BumbleBee (bumblebees, according to the laws of aerodynamics, are not able to fly...), my Kalahari-yellow R11GS, love at first sight. I started doing some off-roading, and it behaved amazingly well.

The BumbleBee brought us to Poland, England, and many other countries.

After one and a half year , I crashed the Bumble Bee:-(.

Rat Bike Bumble Bee

The R3B

It was totalled, but we bought the remains, and Ernst rebuilt it into the R3B: the Rat Bike Bumble Bee.

It got the headlight of a Yamaha XS1100, one of the oil coolers of an R1100R, the saddle of a Moto Guzzi California II, and the side panels of a Honda CR250.

Ernst got rid of the ABS, and of the display stuff. That was replaced by an Ixis (and when that didn't work anymore, by a bicycle speedo).

Transdanubia

Just back from the TransDanubia

The R3B has been taken to the Transdanubië, by Pim, who was so unfortunate to loose his photographs). It was specially prepared for the rally, and here is how he returned.

Rebuilt R1100GS between ralley motorcycles

During the TransDanubia

Here is the R3B between its fellow motorcycles during the TransDanubia.

The R3B and me

Is this really the same bike as my bike?

The R3B has become the bike of Ernst, but sometimes I still ride it. Especially in the beginning, it was a very strange feeling, because the bike has really changed. It is really as though the Bumble Bee has died...