This bike was produced in limited quantities (5963 as I have heard second-hand from BMWNA) and only sold in the US for the 1982/84 model years. According to BMW Motorrad's technical brochure "Servicedaten BMW Motorrader 1948-1991", published 05/1990, shows model R 80 ST US, with S/N starting #6207001, ending #6207980, in production 1982-1984. Tha means only 980 were imported to the US. It is the street version of the very popular R80 G/S. The 1983 R80ST and G/S were the first BMW's to use the radical Monolever® rear suspension. I owned this bike for 16 years and I never grew tired of it. I sold it in February 2000 to buy an R1100R.
For those of you who have one, I scanned the US Owners manual and created a pdf. Click here to get a copy.
This is a dated picture. I have added BMW bags for better commuting purposes. A real must have. It also has heated grips, also a must have (I live in Pennsylvania). Other than the Corbin seat, it is stock. I plan to keep it that way.
Monolever® is a registered trademark of BMW
A cool B&W drawing of an R80ST (20K gif)
To see my Matchless, click here