The New And Improved Unofficial R65 Forum V2
General Category => Chit-Chat => Topic started by: Whiskey on November 10, 2010, 02:43:25 AM
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...to pretty much everything. Will is my name (though Whiskey is fine too), I'm 22 years old and I live in sunny Brisbane in Queensland, Australia. I bought my first bike a few months ago, a wonderful 1988 Honda VT250 Spada. I bought my SECOND bike last week, and that is a 1983 BMW R65, which is what brought me to this place.
I thought I'd introduce myself as I'm certain I'll be around here a LOT in the next few months as I tear my hair out trying to resurrect the 65. I am yet to mention that it hasn't run in four years and is evidently a bit the worse for wear. I am also yet to mention that I haven't even seen it yet, the fellow is kind enough to deliver it to me tomorrow morning. BUT it came with a VERY low pricetag, and I've always had a bit of a love affair with BMW airheads and this model in particular, so I figured I'd throw myself in the deep end and see about restoring one.
Wish me luck!
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Good Lord, another crazy Aussie with an R65! How cool is that?
Welcome, Whiskey Will. You may have a bit of freshening to do on your new R65 but they are sturdy old cows. Lots to offer on the rehab but if you can favor the site with just one more post, the admin guys will allow you to post photos of the Beemer.
Give us a look and we can then form some ideas as to what you may want to tackle first, second, third... ad infinitum.
Good to have you with us. Stop by often.
Monte
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Welcome aboard mate.
Buying a bike sight unseen is one brave move mate, but with the resources these boards have you'll be up & running in no time flat.
If you have any questions just ask, the guys on here are a collage of knowledge on our airheads.
As Monte said post some pics as soon as you can, we love seeing new members bikes.
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Thanks for the warm welcome, folks, this is truly the friendliest forum I've ever seen, haha. It's like the exact opposite of the rest of the internet.
Yeah I wouldn't ordinarily buy a bike unseen either, but this one was only 500 bucks, and I'm almost certain I could make that back, if not more, by selling it off in pieces on ebay. With any luck it won't come to that though, the fellow seems like a decent type. Based on the pics I saw on bikesales, I imagine that anything rubber on it will need replacing, the carbs will need a rebuild, the instrument mounting is a bit ratty, and the front headlight is smashed (by the looks of it, during storage, not in a crash). The seat and rear fender aren't stock, they look to come off an older bike. The tank needs a paint job but is otherwise in good nick, and it's only got 40 000km on it, which as far as I'm aware is nothing for a BMW engine. That's pretty much all I know so far... fingers crossed it should be a nice project and not too much of a headache. The one disappointing thing about the Spada is how fantastically it runs, and how complex it is, which makes it sort of unnecessary and impractical to engage in any serious tinkering. I'm very much looking forward to using this bike to expand my mechanical horizons (which at the moment are rather limited).
It will be here at 6.30 tomorrow morning, so I'll post pictures then and y'all can tell me what you think.
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Four years in a shed is just a long weekend for an airhead. Seriously - these bikes seem to tolerate neglect better than just about anything from Japan. Damp can be a killer though, especially for gearboxes (I've been told), but as it's always sunny in Oz that shouldn't be a problem!
Good luck with the restoration - these little Beemers are well worth the effort.
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Welcome Will, sounds like you got a pretty good deal on the bike .
As you mentioned, the 'comsumable' items on the bike, rubber and plastic bits are probably in need of replacement .
Four years sitting unused isn't uncommon with these bikes and it has been mentioned that these are tough machines .
BMW bikes have been referred to as 'farm implements' by a one time not so glorious leader of Germany .
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Welcome Will.
You have begun an interesting journey that hopefully wont cost you too much but will be rewarding......heres where i started the rest is history.
Lou
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OMG, Lou! Don't recall ever seeing Gertie with her knickers down. [smiley=mad.gif]
Monte
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Whiskey, here's a few sites to look over for parts etc..
http://www.realoem.com/bmw/select.do?kind=M&series=248&arch=1
http://www.munichmotorcycles.com.au/
http://www.motobins.co.uk/
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Hey Lou, what did you do/change on your bike, looks the same to me :o
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Hey Lou, what did you do/change on your bike, looks the same to me :o
I see a slap somewhere in you near future..... [smiley=Kick.gif]
Lou
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Welcome Will.....'they' will do all they can to help you out on this forum. I'd help too if you ask the simple questions! Great bunch of gals and guys. When you finish the bike restoration maybe you can get together with some of the Aussie's on this forum for a grand ride about.
Looking forward to the pic!
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Welcome! Not sure I'll be of much mechanical help, as I'm a newbie to airheads myself. But I'm certainly looking forward to following your progress.
Oh, and this post is worthless without pics... [smiley=lurker.gif]
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Haha pictures are coming in good time, I just can't find a god damn memory card.
ANYWAY, I have the bike, and it's in amazing nick for a 500 dollar bike... although it's fairly obvious it's spent the last few years in Central Queensland. It's certainly neglected, but all the parts appear to be in a very decent, resurrect-able condition. Having said that, the bits of the motor I've pulled apart so far are full of cobwebs and bulldust and wasps' nests.
I haven't had much time to look at it properly, but here's a brief rundown of everything I can think of off the top of my head.
- The air filter turned out to be a lump of wool... the remnants of the real air filter are dusted over the base of the airbox... and, presumably, the carbs too. :-S
- Naturally the tank is full of stale fuel which is lovely, and I think it's going to need some serious reconditioning, inside and out. The paint, originally silver, is ugly and deteriorated.
- Steering head bearings are fucked.
- Sidestand is non-existant, centrestand works but is pretty well fucked as well. The guy said there was no stand at all... guess that shows how much he knew about it.
- The seat has been cut in two and reupholstered in a brown vinyl which surprisingly doesn't look too bad. In between the two seat sections he's welded an iron bar to the subframe... go figure (eventually I'll grind that off, or buy a new subframe).
- The exhaust equalizer pipe (I suppose that's what it is... pipe linking the two exhausts) turned out to be a rolled up bit of roofing iron fastened with hose clamps.
- The silencers are in very good condition all over... EXCEPT where they join the header pipes, they have rusted through. :-(
- The front wheel's been sprayed over with crappy silver paint.
- Front fork seals are shot.
- Rear shocks are seized I think, but am not sure.
- Batteries gone, of course, but the electrics work pretty well. Three indicators are blown, but oil light, neutral light, headlight all work perfectly.
SO anyway, here's the first problem we've struck. I tried to compression test it, but the starter refuses to kick the motor over. The solenoid engages but the starter motor won't turn. After running a series of diagnostics, we concluded that the starter motor is faulty. Should I start shopping for a new one, or might there be something we're overlooking?) The engine isn't seized (thank Christ) because we were able to turn the pistons by turning the back wheel while it was in gear.
SO yeah, that's pretty much it in a nutshell. When I find a freakin' memory card I'll post a comprehensive series of pictures for your amusement. It really does look very beautiful, even in its current sorry state. Wonderful bike, I love it.
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You can remove the starter and disassemble it, if you want, probably in need of cleaning and lubrication .
I believe there's a thread about starter refurbishment in the FAQ section here .
By the time you this bike back on the road, you'll learn so much, it will scare you . ;D
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Hey Whiskey,
welcome to the world of R65's
I'm in Darwin, so I'm used to ordering parts via mail.
In Australia I have found Munich Motorcycles in Perth are great for new/aftermarket parts and advice. Discount motorcycle wreckers in Melbourne good for secondhand parts.
Ebay is my other source.
Motorworks in UK often offer parts cheaper than the stores in Oz. And they are fairly quick.
John
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Lou, I see your bike originally came with whitewall tyres :)
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- The exhaust equalizer pipe (I suppose that's what it is... pipe linking the two exhausts) turned out to be a rolled up bit of roofing iron fastened with hose clamps.
Right there is the perfect example of Aussie ingenuity [smiley=thumbsup.gif].
Mate, CANT wait to see the pics of your new steed
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Hi Whiskey and welcome, I've bought some parts from Munich motorcycles and have to say they have excellent service and very fast postage and of course Ebay with the dollar being so good it can work out cheaper.
Good luck with the resto.
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Well, it's taken a while, but here it is. I can't seem to figure out how to post pictures, so in the meantime I've posted direct links to the pics on my facebook page. Let us know if you can't view them and I'll up them a different way. :-)
As you can see, it's all a little worse for wear. The engine covers aren't shown in the photos because I'd already removed them and couldn't be bothered to put them back on for the photos. What do y'all think?
http://sphotos.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ak-snc4/hs1201.snc4/155386_460746066506_689286506_6094346_5947186_n.jpg
http://sphotos.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ak-snc4/hs1160.snc4/150203_460746101506_689286506_6094348_612186_n.jpg
http://sphotos.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ak-ash2/hs564.ash2/148614_460746151506_689286506_6094350_5326234_n.jpg
http://sphotos.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ak-snc4/hs1196.snc4/154826_460746261506_689286506_6094356_7423757_n.jpg
http://sphotos.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ak-snc4/hs955.snc4/74818_460746326506_689286506_6094359_3219786_n.jpg
http://sphotos.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ak-snc4/hs992.snc4/76585_460746416506_689286506_6094363_7713534_n.jpg
http://sphotos.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ak-ash2/hs602.ash2/155454_460746551506_689286506_6094369_3131406_n.jpg
http://sphotos.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ak-snc4/hs1205.snc4/155781_460746601506_689286506_6094372_4726999_n.jpg
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I can't seem to figure out how to post pictures
Click on the picture icon (Top row 3rd in from the left). It will say "Insert image" when you hover over it. This will put some img/img code in your message as shown below
Then click the 1st browse button and navigate to the location of the picture on your PC and click open.
This will put the path to your picture in the Attach 1 box as shown.
If you have a camera with a 10 trillion mega pixel resolution as most are these days you will need to resize the image first so that it will display at a sensible size and also to bring the file size down so that it doesn't fill up the server that hosts this forum.. 640 x 480 pixels is a good size to try and 800 x 600 is probably the max. Most image editing software will do this for you or plenty of free software available like paint.net or picasa.
Give it a try in the Test Zoneand don't worry if it doesn't work first time you can always go back and edit the message. You can even change the picture or resize it if you wish. (http://)
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Mate, looks real good for the price [smiley=thumbsup.gif].
So whats your plan for it, full rebuild or tidy up & a runner for rego etc..
You are gonna have alot of fun tinkering with your R65 (in a good way).
Keep us informed about your progress mate :)
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Bingo, thanks Barry.
Still linked from Facebook, if that's blocked wherever you are I'll upload them to imageshack. :)
(https://bmwr65.org/smf/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fsphotos.ak.fbcdn.net%2Fhphotos-ak-snc4%2Fhs1160.snc4%2F150203_460746101506_689286506_6094348_612186_n.jpg&hash=00e9d33d47e8470d9e0b482680d22c4f66953ea4)
(https://bmwr65.org/smf/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fsphotos.ak.fbcdn.net%2Fhphotos-ak-snc4%2Fhs1196.snc4%2F154826_460746261506_689286506_6094356_7423757_n.jpg&hash=32eea6c810f6068d18a3535fc7913d162ecdb9d1)
(https://bmwr65.org/smf/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fsphotos.ak.fbcdn.net%2Fhphotos-ak-snc4%2Fhs955.snc4%2F74818_460746326506_689286506_6094359_3219786_n.jpg&hash=fb07b6c06fcc840aadf6191aa071452542b50b28)
(https://bmwr65.org/smf/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fsphotos.ak.fbcdn.net%2Fhphotos-ak-snc4%2Fhs1205.snc4%2F155781_460746601506_689286506_6094372_4726999_n.jpg&hash=3e14ff33e123c05d2f4c43ca6bf6d9d8429c681f)
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Mate, looks real good for the price [smiley=thumbsup.gif].
So whats your plan for it, full rebuild or tidy up & a runner for rego etc..
Tidy up and runner for starters, but I'd like to return it to mint condition eventually. I don't have money to pour straight into aesthetics, so I'm going to do that gradually. Not concerned with keeping it at all stock, either, my vision is to turn it into a modern and reliable touring motorcycle with a sort of retro-chic styling. Although, I suppose that's exactly what the R65 was/is in the first place, haha.
I saw an absolutely MINT R100 around the corner from my house a few days ago, it was so god damn beautiful I nearly cried. Really inspired me. Can't wait to get started... although finding the gumption is proving problematic. Have been searching for 'free' copies of Clymer and Haynes manuals for it to no avail (should I admit that? haha), but next paycheque I'll go ahead and just buy them I think. I suppose the first step will be pulling out that starter motor and seeing if it can be salvaged, and recoating the interior of the tank. I've got a long road ahead of me and I've already put it off way too long.
Speaking of starter motor refurbishment, that link in the FAQ section seems to be dead, do you folks know where I might find that info again?