I did this a few weeks ago on my 1979 R65. My advice is that having got this far you remove the top nut, separate the yokes, and clean out all the (likely disgusting and solid) old grease that you will find. You can then repack the bearings with a suitable grease (not wheel bearing grease, which won't warm up properly) and tighten down.

I followed the Clymer advice that you have found and after torquing down the top nut it was too tight. It took a few goes backing it off, backing the knurled not off a little, retorquing etc. until it felt right.

Note that the screwing down really tight of the knurled nut, then backing it off again, is especially important if you have regreased the bearings as you need to preload them before backing off to running torque. And I suspect that is what Clymer is really trying to say.

At this point I have the front wheel off, forks pulled to change oil, and the front end ready for adjustment.  I have the top allen bolt loose and was able to crack loose the finely notched adjustment 'collar'.  Based on the effort I can only image it was too tight and the steering felt stiff before I started.  As I tighten and adjust the collar how to I know when to stop?  Right now the bearings are smooth, turning is light, but it's hard to know how to get it set just right with everything off the front end and the dash hanging of the front. 

EDIT:  Think I just found my answer in the Clymer manual.  Tighten the adjustment nut by hand and then loosen until "free play is all but eliminated".  After reading this the bearings were WAY too tight from the PO.

My 1979 R65 needs new tyres for its 18" snowflake rims, if only because the current tires that it came with are over 20 years old.

The Conti Classic Attack by Continental is well reviewed, so my thought is to fit 90/90 R18 on the front, and 110/90 R18 on the rear. My question is whether anybody has done this before, because the 4.00x18 that I took off the rear was tight, and 110 is theoretically is a little wider still.

Does anybody have a 110/90 R18 on the rear of their twin shock R65?

Also, given that I'm not comfortable using the 47 year old snowflake rims tubeless, I'd appreciate experiences of those who have used them with tubes.

For anyone who is curious, this photo shows what the ATE calipers fitted to my (twin shock, twin disc) 1979 R65 look like when dismantled and cleaned as part of my resurrection of the bike.

For anyone in UK, overhaul kits are available from Motorworks https://www.motorworks.co.uk/brake-caliper-repair-kit-bra54809-2.html

Note the very small square section O ring that goes between the two caliper halves.

I couldn't find an official torque setting for the bolts that hold the caliper halves together, so used 30 lbft with thread lock.

It all started with starting issues on my R65. the right side would fire, but it would take a bt of time for the left side to run ok. I ended up rebuilding the carbs over the winter, and also found that the left side ignition leads were crap so I replaced those also. With that fixed it ran a bi better, but the odd starting kept happening.

Fast forward a bit, and now I am getting ZERO compression on the left side. So I pull the valve cover, and I noticed that the intake valve is stuck about 2mm open.

Next step was to pull the heads, and see the issues.

Turns out there was some contact with the piston, and it looks like the intake valve got bent.

So first off, is there a valve compressor you guys can recoomend?
Second, I figure this may need some extra work on the head. Do you have any recommendations for a place? I am in Wisconsin, so local would be ideal.
Third, I am already planning on checking the timing to see if that was the cause. If the timing is ok, what else could cause this?

Thanks

Peter