10/18/2024
Owner Ken Morris restores motorcycles as a way to relax from his demanding job as a pharmacist. He concentrated on restoring /2 and /5 BMWs from the 1960s and 1970s until he saw an R90S and decided he had to have one.
“My grandparents and parents were riders,” explains Morris. “From the time we were very young, they would take me and my brother on rides on the back. Besides several minibikes, my first bike was a Honda 90cc scrambler at the age of 8. As a young teen, I was involved in motocross and desert racing, often night racing three to four times a week. When I got a little older, my brother and I befriended Malcolm Smith and were introduced to Baja California. Malcolm and his son, Alexander, got us hooked for life on the amazing experiences, people, and riding in this beautiful land.
“The problem is, as you get older, it’s not as much fun to fall down, especially at speed, so I started getting into the restoration of vintage and antique motorcycles. I’m a pharmacist, which means that I pay acute attention to detail. I can be obsessive. I have been restoring one or two motorcycles a year now for the last 15 years.”
Morris began his focus on BMWs when he bought a 1969 R60/2, the last year for the traditional black and white tourers from Munich. “I wanted to get it running, but ended up very impressed by the precision engineering and quality, and thus began my first BMW concours-level restoration. My father built VW-based dune buggies when I was growing up, and they have the same dry clutch and horizontal engine as the BMW. My brother and I used to see who could remove and disassemble my dad’s VW engines the quickest when he would bring them home blown after a long weekend off-roading. I guess this love of the boxer style engine has carried over for me today.”
In 2019, Morris met Mark Francois, a fellow BMW restorer who was showing his bike at The Quail – and competing against Morris for the same awards. Despite mutual jockeying for prizes, the two became good friends. “We have the same obsession, although I restore /2s and /5s and he restores R90s. We often share our tricks and learnings. Mark and I accumulated a stash of the original BMW Chrome Clover spokes, which have been very difficult to find lately. We share the stash. Francois knew I loved the R90s and found and offered one up to me. It was in rough shape – the bodywork was either missing or broken.” Ken Morris and Mark Francois collaborated on the rebuild, which was envisioned as a show-quality restoration.
