The New And Improved Unofficial R65 Forum V2
Technical Discussion => Misc. Technical Discussion => Topic started by: Bob_Roller on May 29, 2021, 11:30:10 AM
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Anyone have any experience with these aftermarket starters ??
The starter on my'02 oilhead makes an unusual sound every once in a while, it's a Valeo starter and they are known for magnet retention failure .
I found starters on the Motorad Elektrik site, a Nippondenso based starter that has been used on light trucks, cost $350 US .
http://www.motoelekt.com/starter.htm
Euro Motoelectic site has one on unknown origin and an upgraded Valeo starter than has the upgrade to prevent magnet separation at significant less cost .
https://www.euromotoelectrics.com/Starter-BMW-R-Oilhead-BMW-STR2-p/bmw-str2.htm
https://www.euromotoelectrics.com/Starter-BMW-R-Oilhead-BMW-VAL2-p/bmw-val2.htm
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No experience with the Nippondenso starter.
I did buy an "Arrowhead" starter for my 1150 when I thought I was dealing with a failing starter. These are a Valeo clone and to my great surprise it was actually put together better, the magnet retention in particular being much better than the genuine article.
The thing was however nearly dry so I greased it up before putting it into service, I also went over the a prefer connections as I didn't like the look of one of them.
Lastly I discovered that you can buy a Valeo rebuild kit from a Moto Guzzi dealer for much less than anywhere else. I will put the Valeo back in one day.
As they were only AU$150 I also bought and Arrowhead starter for Airheads. The reason was that I thought the Bosch starter was havi g trouble starting the 860.
However, the fault in both was my own stupid purchase of an inappropriate battery. Lesson learned!
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Bob - I snagged a Valeo copy off Amazon a couple years back for < $75 and it's worked fine so far in the R100.
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I did see a little information on the two sites that caught my attention .
It states the common starter current draw on a Bosch starter for an R65 is 120 amps .
The current draw for the Valeo starters for the oilheads is 270 amps .
Both series of bikes have the same size battery .
Kinda explains the cold start problems I had with the oilhead with temps in the upper 20's to low 30"s F with the bike sitting in those temps for 16 -20 hours .