A toast to success
As a 13-year-old watching the film ‘Easy Rider,’ little could Jim Thompson have imagined that five decades later, he would be following the same wheel-tracks of ‘Captain America’ across the USA, or that during that trip he would become the owner of this month’s test bike. The machine in question is a BMW R75/5, which rolled off the production lines in 1972, and one known by aficionados of the German marque as ‘The Toaster’ – a nickname given to the bike due to its likeness to the classic Dualit product.
West Country enthusiast Jim was on a lengthy trip from Peru to the USA with his friend Ben Mitchell on a pair of lightweight 250cc Yamahas when he came across the BMW at a dealership in Ocean City, Maryland, in 2017. With over 100 BMs for sale, Jim – who is always on the lookout to add to his eclectic collection – was spoiled for choice, but after several hours a deal was done and, along with a 1961 R27 single, a 1969 R50 and an early Moto Guzzi Ambassador, the Toaster was bought, crated up and later that year shipped
