Ever daydream about a cool bike barn find? Well, here’s something way better. Up for auction this week on Bring a Trailer is an immaculate 1995 BMW R100GS Paris Dakar (PD) special edition “Classic” that’s been sitting in a time capsule, aka its original crate, since it left the factory nearly three decades ago.  

With two days left in the auction, the bike’s current high bid is $42,000. And yes, that seems like a lot, but there’s a good reason behind its value.  

This bike was destined to be a collector’s item when it came out in 1995. By that time the R100GS, which had replaced BMW’s four-time Paris Dakar winning R80/GS in 1988, had gained a lot of traction in North America. Yet the year before, the R100GS had been unseated as the flagship model by the groundbreaking R1100GS, the first fuel injected GS, first change to four-valve per cylinder and the first time oil was employed to assist cooling BMW’s famous flat twin.

This means the crated 1995 R100GS was a very special bike even back then. It not only represented the last of BMW’s super simple carbureted airheads, it was also part of an R100 limited edition program that sold alongside the fuel-injected R1100GS through 1996. 

We can assume it’s for that reason the dealer who purchased the unassembled bike in 1995, Blackfoot Motorsports in Calgary, Alberta, Canada, kept it crated. And there it sat on display in Blackfoot’s vast showroom for decades. 

So yes, it’s a kilometer model, but don’t worry, this Canadian unit has a new New York title, thanks to its current owner, Peter Boggia of Moto Borgotaro in Brooklyn, the seller listed in the Bring a Trailer auction.

The R100GS was powered by our modern water-cooled 1250cc GS’s 980cc air-cooled ancestor, which used 2 valves per cylinder to put forth 60 hp and 56 ft-lbs of torque. It was one of the first models to employ BMW’s paralever rear suspension system. The brakes were a standard-at-the-time single hydraulic (Brembo) disc front and drum rear. The sealed shaft drive transmission used 5 speeds. As for the PD variant of the R100GS, it was the equivalent of today’s “ADV” option, with a larger (6.3 gallon) fuel tank, crash protection and hard bags. 

Other features mentioned in the auction listing include a fairing with a tinted windscreen, hand guards and heated grips, headlight grille, fuel-tank storage compartment, two-up seat, and both center and side stands. The 21-inch front and 17-inch rear Akront alloy rims are fitted with Michelin Radial T66 X tires that still look fresh in the accompanying video. 

The additional “Classic” designation for this crated beauty adds Avus Black finish with silver graphics, chrome touring case mounts, chromed engine and tank guards, as well as the “classic” round valve covers. 

Rare bike dealer and current owner Peter Boggia speculated in an interview with bikebound.com that only 70 of these R100GS PD Classics bikes were built in 1995, and describes finding one in a crate a true oddity. 

We did however find that Bring a Trailer had another black 1995 R100GS PD Classic on its virtual auction block in 2020. This one with “several scratches” on the front fender but only 29 miles on the odometer sold for $21,000. 

Which brings us to the conclusion that what makes the current auction item remarkable and potentially worth more than twice the price is the crating. That it has basically been untouched and empty of fluids since it left the factory in 1995, sealed in a wooden time capsule and promising all the personal gratification of owning an absolutely virgin vintage adventure bike. But its perfection is also its downside, right? 

And therein lies the quandary of this particular Bring a Bike Auction. Do you ride it or does it live on forever as a showpiece? In many ways that GS PD Classic with 29 miles and a few scratches would be an adventure rider’s dream come true. But if the buyer does plan to fire up this untouched gem, Boggia says he’d be happy to assemble it for the cost of fluids and a battery. “It would be a pleasure to be the first mechanic to touch her — it’s a piece of history.”

Another interesting feature of this bike is the odometer reading of 99,985 kms. Evidently at the time the BMW factory set the odometer backwards so that it could read all zeros after a short dealer break-in run was complete.

And even  if you don’t care to bid, watching the walk-through video supplied by Boggia is just as good as visiting this bike in the private collection or museum where it’s likely to land. 

Photos courtesy of Peter Boggia

Author: Jamie Elvidge

Jamie has been a motorcycle journalist for more than 30 years, testing the entire range of bikes for the major print magazines and specializing in adventure-travel related stories. To date she’s written and supplied photography for articles describing what it’s like to ride in all 50 states and 43 foreign countries, receiving two Lowell Thomas Society of American Travel Writer’s Awards along the way. Her most-challenging adventure yet has been riding in the 2018 GS Trophy in Mongolia as Team AusAmerica’s embedded journalist.