An LS with factory Dell Orto ??

[R65Singh]

This came up on local Craigslist today.  
http://vancouver.craigslist.ca/rds/mcy/5241950350.html

Never heard of it before, would love to know about these carbs on r65ls.  The owner claims that only 275 LS were made with this set up...not sure if it is true on not.  Any experts, please chime in.  

[Barry]

I've never heard this mentioned before either so if his documented evidence is genuine it's been kept very quiet.

You would need to ask someone like Tom Cutter who was on the spot at the time they were being imported into the US.

[Tony Smith]

I am prepared to bet that if you ask for a copy of this "documentation" none will be forthcoming - at least none with any air of provenance about it.

Why am I so confident? Because it would never have been a starter to run up less than 300 bikes with different carbs given how hard BMW and Bing had to work to achieve smog compliance around the world. By 1983 the world and dog had smog requirements, I think that BMW would never have footed the bill to certify emission requirements with an alternate brand of carb because of the cost involved. An argument that Bing was unable to supply carbs is unsustainable as no other model seem to have been affected.

In short, the truth lays somewhere between wishful thinking and fraud.

[marcmax]

+1 to both Barry and Tony's comments. The only R65's I have owned have been LS's and I feel I did a pretty thorough vetting of the models and differences before diving in. I never heard of a Dell Orto equiped factory machine.

[Bob_Roller]

The only BMW bikes that I know that came from the factory will Del Ortos, were R90's in the mid '70's .

[RenoR65LS]

Hello I am the owner of the bike you are commenting on.   When I bought the bike the previous owner gave me a letter from BMW Canada indicating that their records showed some of the R65LS bikes had Dell Orto carbs.  Perhaps BMW is mistaken but I would think they have records of what they manufactured.

[Barry]

Perhaps BMW is mistaken but I would think they have records of what they manufactured.

Nothing is impossible. We already know that BMW sometimes emptied the parts bins resulting in hybrid versions of a bike around the time of a model change. Those bikes contained a mix of old/new model parts and you won't find them documented.  Still Dells on an R65 is a new one to come to light so you can understand why folks were a bit sceptical.

[Tony Smith]

 Still Dells on an R65 is a new one to come to light so you can understand why folks were a bit sceptical.

I remain sceptical.

Why aren't there R80s and R100s out there with factory fitted Dells? They all used 32mm body Bings so if there was a shortage surely it would have affected all models.

There are some strange things out there, and I admit that it is faintly possible but I'd like to see BMW Germany or Del Orto confirm and provide details.

FWIIW my RS has 40mm Bings and you can have a hard enough problem convincing some people that such things exist and they were fitted to 3 entire year's worth of production (1977/78/79)

[montmil]

40 mike-mike Bings on my 1978 R100S. Plus the other "S" model upgrades. Love 'em.

[nhmaf]

Maybe a special Canadian importer brought some bikes in fitted with Dell Ortos, but I am also totally unfamiliar with any R65 models coming to the US with anything other than Bings attached.

I 've a couple books on the history of various airhead models and there is no mention of this in any of them, and it includes quite a bit of details of mid-year production changes, etc.  Even the limited production run MotorSport edition RS bikes were fitted with Bings, and the 1980s emissions requirements would have made a factory variant with different carbs very unlikely.   Still BMW has done bizarre things before..