zzdcar
Home
/
Reviews
/
Buying
/
For $11,995, Would You Ring In The New Year With This 2004 BMW R1150RT and Hannigan Sidecar?
For $11,995, Would You Ring In The New Year With This 2004 BMW R1150RT and Hannigan Sidecar?-July 2024
2024-02-19 EST 22:10:00

Simon and Garfunkel once sang that the boxer stands alone. In contrast, today’s Beemer is a boxer that will never make you ride alone. That’s because it comes with both a pillion and a space age side car, but will its price mean you’d just as soon leave it alone?

Oh, the body shaming that went on with yesterday’s . That Rayco wide body kit may be a rare item, but according to many of you, that’s the way you want to keep it. Not only did you think it was ugly and its mother dresses it funny, but fully 70% of you thought its price was in Crack Pipe territory, with many noting that a stock 914 at that price would be a better consideration.

I guess the best sort of customizations are the kind you can easily remove without evidence of their ever being there in the first place: temporary tattoos, comic vampire teeth, and in the case of motorcycles, sidecars.

This that you could either leave on, or, after a half-day of wrenching and swearing, you could leave at home in the garage. This makes it like Jack Spratt and his wife: you either have it fat or you have it lean, but it’s hard to have it do both. The sidecar also has a five gallon gas tank and transfer pump to sort of make up for the mpg loss pulling it along will cause.

The Hannigans have an excellent reputation for build quality, and you’d have to marvel at the mounting of a sidecar to a bike that has (a) a low and wide boxer engine, and (b) uses that engine as a stressed member in lieu of a frame. It’s hard to tell from the pics how exactly it’s mounted, but it looks to be clamped in place both just behind the Telelever mount and at the foot peg. The sidecar itself looks to be in excellent shape, and hey, who can tell me what that tail light came off of? Anybody?

The bike itself has done an impressive 113,000 miles, but those don’t show in the pictures. This being a 2004 it has the “Twin Spark” heads, which feature… wait for it… twin spark plugs! That provided better emissions and supposedly a surging problem experienced by owners of earlier R1150s.

Those heads cap 1130-ccs of displacement which provides 95-bhp at 7,250 rpm. The Oilhead twin fronts a six-speed gearbox, but what’s really notable on these bikes is the braking system. These were the first production motorcycles to offer power assist and the ABS-equipped triple disc system is more than a match for the 525-lb bike and probably the sidecar too.

Perhaps an even more impressive statistic in regards to this particular bike is that its present owner is selling it because, at the ripe old age of 93-years young, he’s finally hanging up his helmet. We should all be so lucky as to live so long and enjoy a passion like riding into our tenth decade.

You could get a start on that with this bike. It’s offered by Bill’s Motorcycles Plus, a Salem Oregon sales and service shop. Bill is selling it for the owner - Doc - and is asking $11,995 for the bike and has been maintaining the bike for years and hence has its service records.

What’s your take on this Beemer and a half, and its $11,995 price tag? Does that sound like a solid package deal? Or, is this a boxer that you wouldn’t go one round with?

You decide!

Salem OR , or go if the ad disappears.

Help me out with NPOCP. Click to send a me a fixed-price tip, and remember to include your Kinja handle.

PS:

Thanks for all the great comments and tips in 2015. Have a wicked-good time out there tonight, but be safe and remember to make good choices.

I’d hate to see any of you waking up tomorrow morning with a monster hangover and the pink slip for a non-running Renault Encore with back registration due stuck to your face.

Comments
Welcome to zzdcar comments! Please keep conversations courteous and on-topic. To fosterproductive and respectful conversations, you may see comments from our Community Managers.
Sign up to post
Sort by
Show More Comments
Buying
Bartles & James Bentleys for $14,950 and $29,950!
Bartles & James Bentleys for $14,950 and $29,950!
Double your pleasure, double your fun, double your Bentleys because bets you can't buy just one. A biblical 93% of you invoked your Crack Pipe shaman to curse yesterday's . Today we have a pair of English twins that thankfully aren't the result of royal inbreeding. Frankenstein ran amok due...
Jul 22, 2026
2009 Nissan 370Z: Part One
2009 Nissan 370Z: Part One
The is a seriously high tech car. But unlike other high tech sports cars from Nissan, this one uses that technology to increase driver involvement making it seriously fun to drive. We typically bemoan any attempts to "assist" drivers with any form of computer chip. ABS? That's for girls. Stability...
Jul 22, 2026
2009 Nissan 370Z: Part Two
2009 Nissan 370Z: Part Two
, we told you that the uses technology to boost driver involvement. Let's pick apart the Z's new technological bits, piece by piece. For reasons we don't really understand, the 370Z's styling is strangely controversial. We think it's a hugely successful reinterpretation of the 350Z's basic proportions, now adding references...
Jul 22, 2026
1982 VW Vanagon Westfalia for $13,000!
1982 VW Vanagon Westfalia for $13,000!
Are you looking for a home away from home? Well then, has a VW that will make you one happy camper. Yesterday's brought out the gray poupon in you, garnering a Nice Price majority on both of the mighty blighties. Today, we're going to think inside the box. Double your...
Jul 22, 2026
1972 Datsun 1200 For A Humming $8,000!
1972 Datsun 1200 For A Humming $8,000!
Frankenstein ran amok due to a maniac's brain being plugged into his lag-bolted skull. Today, brings you another crazy transplant that'll let you run mid-elevens. Yesterday's acid flashback to the era of full mustaches and odd-even gas buying surprisingly brought about a 65% NIce Price vote for the lowly $3,000...
Jul 22, 2026
2009 Nissan 370Z: Part Three
2009 Nissan 370Z: Part Three
Should you buy the ? Well, it depends on what your idea of the perfect sports car is and how fast you want to drive. You have two hobbies: driving fast and catfish husbandry. You love sports cars and you're either single or have a significant other prepared to drive...
Jul 22, 2026
Copyright 2023-2026 - www.zzdcar.com All Rights Reserved