You wouldn’t be stretching the truth to suggest that Scott Rabeler became a BMW motorcycle enthusiast and collector by happenstance. He likely wouldn’t have ended up with a basement workshop and a barn in Sharon filled with eight BMW models, both recent and vintage, had dealers selling other brands been better stocked or shown more interest when he walked in their door. And he certainly wouldn’t have purchased and customized a 1987 BMW K75 model, creating the one-off café creation that he’s been happily riding round the Litchfield Hills since spring.
Eleven years ago, a year before he retired as a high school principal, Rabeler decided to return to street riding after a layoff of two decades. He bought a 2013 Yamaha WR250R dual sport but soon he felt the need for a larger model. So, he went shopping.
When dealers selling other brands either failed to have a suitable model in their inventory or ignored him because of what he rode in on, he turned to the German brand BMW. The 64-year-old Rabeler now owns six classic Beemers. In addition to the K75, there’s a 1952 R67/2, a 1959 R60, a 1976 R75/6, a 1980 R80RT police model and a 1991 R100GS.
His modern BMWs are a 2018 R1200GSA and a 2021 R18. (He also had a dog named Beemer.) He acquired the K75 three years ago during the COVID-19 pandemic from a friend in Salisbury.
“It was in nice shape. Everything worked on it,” said Rabeler, recalling that it came with another 1987 K75 for parts and enough other parts to fill .