The New And Improved Unofficial R65 Forum V2
Technical Discussion => BMW Technical Q&A, Primarily R65 => Topic started by: slickster on September 22, 2011, 01:30:52 PM
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Is the motorrad elektrik charging system worth the $575 I just payed to have sent to me for my 84 r65 ?
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If you didn't have any charging issues with the bike and understand the limitations of the charging system as it pertains to your particular riding style (a lot of city riding), or aren't going to add on accessories that require a high power consumption.
Put the battery on a float charger when the bike is parked in the garage .
I would say that you probably could have done without it .
I've got the stock charging system on my '81 R65, run PIAA40 driving lights, and other than having a set of brushes wear out at about 55,000 miles, I haven't had any issues with the charging system .
I've been asking myself the same question, if and or when something goes bad, would it be worth the extra cost to upgrade to the 450 watt charging system, or just replace the failed component .
From what I've seen here, the rotor and the diode board are the most common failure prone parts in the system .
Replacing each of those is around $100US each, from Motorrad Elektrik .
Looking at it from a financial stand point, you put $575US into a bike worth about $2000-2500 .
Just to show you what know, I put around $2000US into my '81 R65 about three years ago, after putting 85,000 miles on it !!!!!
An average person, would have thrown the bike away, instead of doing what I did ::) .
Nobody ever said owning and riding 30 year old motorcycles makes much sense anyway ;D ;D ;D ;D !!!!!
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Yep, it was. You have improved the quality of the cycle.. My R65 had more lights than a Christmas tree on it. I do believe in being seen at night. I stay off the rural roads at night around here...too many deer. But I found myself coming home on a major highway from Austin...in the dark..... a lot. I was glad to be all sparkly. I also ran a G.P.S. system for getting around in Austin. I was about to add heated hand grips. I like gadgets...and with the extra watts...was limited only by my imagination.
Also...living in a small town .....running errands in the stop and go traffic my battery was always down. I had to hook a charger up every time I rolled into the garage. I tried LED lights, a Gel battery but it was always down. Maybe I didn’t keep it revved up enough.... driving like a wuss as some say. But the bottom line is you have improved the cycle..it is better...safer. You will have more faith in it. Fix it up the way you want to...and enjoy it. I have a box full of lights to go on my R90/6. When I hit the brakes...folks behind me are going to know it. The new sidecar will have two brake lights that also work as running lights..that is in addition to the cycle brake light. And the cycle brake light will be changed over to LED. Then there are two more running lights...and a turn signal that came off a Mack truck. Red neck engineering....or Texas tacky but I be all sparkly at night. If the extra watts keeps your ass from being run over it was worth every penny. Before the extra watts my lights always dimmed when I stopped....but never again.
As Bod said...we don’t make sense anyway...so go for it.
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I agree guys,
Do what you want with the bike and enjoy! I am in the middle of a complete rebuild and will spend around £3.5k ($5.3k) on a bike maybe worth £2.5k when finished!!!!
Who cares, I ain't gonna sell her any time soon, I want to feel safe and go where I want knowing she will get me there and back.
8-)
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+1 on all the comments - it shouldn't be about the money, unless you're doing this to make a living.
I've made some great friends through wrenching and have learned a lot about how things work too.