BIKE OF THE MONTH

1968 BMW R69US

Congratulations to Eugene Garcin and Mary Wong of Hollywood for winning Bike of the Month with their 1968 BMW R69US. Eugene won a Mr. Pete's Grill T-shirt and hat.

Eugene and Mary have won Bike of the Month three time in the past with other BMWs, in November 2012 with a 1954 BMW R51/3, July 2012 with a 1953 BMW R68, and in March 2014 with a 1952 BMW R67/2. Every bike they bring is a winner.

Today he brought a very rare concours quality show winner. This R69US took Second Place at The 2015 Quail Motorcycle Gathering. The three judges spent 20 minutes scouring the bike for imperfections and only came up with two, an incorrect washer on his rear suspension and incorrect plating on his horn screws. After finding out these two flaws, I almost stripped him from his Bike of the Month award, however it's out of my hands - it is the People's Choice and the people have spoken.

Eugene had owned this bike for a year and it went through a five month restoration by Ziggy Dee, Classic Motorcycles of Oceanside, Calif. It had 20,000 miles on the clock when he bought it, and only 560 since it's restoration. After it's break in, Eugene will ride it regularly and maybe even ride it back to the OC. Here are some great photos of it's restoration: Classic Motorcycles R69US

Only 1,100 R69US models were built and only for the US market. This was BMW's first bike with plunger forks on the front suspension, a significant change for the company. The US model also had no side-car lugs.

With the success of the R69US, in 1969 all BMW motorcycles were built with plunger forks, and the frame was changed significantly.

Thanks Eugene and Mary for bringing it to our meet. See all the photos in our July Gallery.