OKAirhead Tech Day

[montmil]

The Oklahoma Airheads held their 2013 Tech Day just outside of Marietta, Oklahoma. Shoot, that's just sixty miles north of me. I'm there!

Pretty good turn out with some actual interesting work being carried out. Host Syd Holt welcomed the bunch to his 28x42 shop. Syd's obviously a woodworker as the building was full of oak lumber and tools to craft just about anything. He's also a BMW Airhead so the monster bike lift got some use.



With the opposing flags flying just like at the Red River Football Classic, I was thinking maybe a Texas v OU rumble might break out.



Tech day was definitely out in the country. My ride up and back was through fields of wild flowers and bright green trees. Spring done Sprung. My R100S got quite a bit of photo attention. Gosh. Note the new BMW scooter peeking out the left end of the bike line.



Texas Air Marshall Mike Moon assists with the install of a new ND starter replacing the much heavier Bosch unit in this well used R80PD.



The R-One Lunger is also owned by the PD gentleman. It was scheduled for some driveline work. Huge pneumatic bike lift was impressive.



Of course, there was plenty of lunch prepared by Syd's boss. No one went hungry. Amazingly, two pans of chocolate brownies disappeared before lunch was served! I think I ate, maybe, four... or so.

[MR.E]

That is a nice shed!!
Like the idea of the tech day, but like the look of the r80 more

[Ed Miller]

I see they dumped that oversized gas tank in the trash.  It wouldn't even fit in there right.

I just swapped out my starter yesterday, unreliable Bosch for an Enduralast.  I'm not sure if it's a Valeo or what, but it sure is lighter.   I'm keeping the Bosch to maybe rebuild and for a spare.

[Bob_Roller]

Ed, just curious as to the reason for replacing he starter, has it been giving you problems, or just a pre-emptive replacement ?

[Ed Miller]

Ed, just curious as to the reason for replacing he starter, has it been giving you problems, or just a pre-emptive replacement ?

It's annoying.  After a longinsh ride, usually in warmer weather, the bike won't restart after I shut it off.  Like to fill up with gas before work.  It bump starts pretty easily so long as I remember to turn the key back on.  I rarely ride shorter than 50 miles, so I don't know if it would happen with a shorter ride.

I have tried on several occasions to diagnose the cause, but by the time I get the bike parked, my riding gear doffed, and the seat, gas tank, and starter cover removed, the problem won't repeat.  It cools down enough in the 15 - 20 minutes that it restarts again.  I ruled out the starter relay by the simple method of replacing it with one from Rocky Point with no change.  Both starter relays click when I hit the start button but nothing from the starter.  

If I could get to the components fast enough I would have confirmed that I was getting current to the starter solenoid exciting terminal when I push the starter button, and if so, I would directly jump the two terminals to see if the starter would turn over.  

I never did get around to taking enough time to use a heat gun to warm up components to see if I could get them to fail.  This replacement starter is only $120.  My diagnostic time is worth money to me.

After all that, I haven't ridden the bike to work yet.  I drove my pickup yesterday to haul a bunch of stuff, and rode my bicycle (and bus) today.  

[Bob_Roller]

I had a starter relay give me problems on my'81 R65, the relay clicked but the starter didn't operate .

If I pressed on the top of the relay, I could get it to work, I adjusted the movable arm inside the relay and it worked for another 20 years before finally failing for good .

Another possibility is the clutch interlock switch on the handle bar, mine started giving me starting problems like you mention .

My Guzzi started having the same issue this weekend, relay clicks and no starter operation and no drop on the voltmater .

[disco51]

Monte - just think of the camera time you would have gotten if you had brought one of your r65s!

[montmil]

Monte - just think of the camera time you would have gotten if you had brought one of your r65s!

Next year I'll roll the '81 R65. At least it has a cafe fairing. The 20+ mph headwind while heading north was kinda rough at my 75-80 mph cruise speed.