Early R65 Front Wheel Recall.

[AH1510]

Hello from the foggy left coast. Over the weekend I read "How to restore your BMW Twin 1955-1985". I am starting a restore of my 1979 R65. My question is about the cast alloy front wheel. Mine is stamped 10/79, so I know it is the orig. In the book on page 135, I read that there were hairline cracks that were found in the hub area. I also read that BMW did a recall to replace this wheel with a newer type . The replacement wheels can be identified by extra webbing around the spoking area next to the hub. All the photos of 1979 R65's on the web show the same wheel I have. Does anyone have one of these replacement wheels on thier R65? Part # on my orig. wheel is 36311238055. Thanks for checking. OLDPAUL. ABC #1510.

[Nice_One_Son]

OLDPAUL,

Where can I get that book from?

I just bought an 81 R65 which needs a resto.

Cheers

[Bob_Roller]

The 18 inch snowflake rims that the R65 has, isn't part of the recall, it's the 19 inch rims on the larger bikes .

[Barry]

+ 1 with what Bob Roller said.  I've never heard of 18" snowflakes being recalled.

If the book got this wrong what else ?

[Ed Miller]

The book is a more general one for BMWs, so they did need to mention the recall.  It would be nice if it specified only 19" front wheels, though.

[AH1510]

Hey Bob and Ed,
                           Thanks. I saw the recall on the web about 19 inch wheels. So one more gray hair will not come out tonight! Now in the same book on page 50 it mentions defective valves for the 1978-1979 models. R45,R65 and R80/7.Seems heads seperated from the stems, and was fixed by BMW. They moved the weld. I haved ordered Oaks Top End Manual. I will have it in hand before I take the heads apart. I like to get as much info. before working on these bikes. That way if I mess up, I only have myself to blame. OLDPAUL.

[Bob_Roller]

One of the moderators here, Rob Valdez, bought a new '79 R65, and I think he had a valve come apart at highway speeds, and destroyed his original engine .

I'm sure he'll fill in the details shortly .

[AH1510]

NICE ONE SON,
                          I found six of these books listed on amazon.com. Starting at $64 ( ouch ) for a used copy, and up to $100+ for new. All photo's are black on white and it is a soft cover book. My wife gave a copy to me for my birthday. I said "thank you dear". Glad I did not ask the price! OLDPAUL.

[AH1510]

Hey Bob,
               So maybe a gray hair will come out!! I found this bike on a local used car lot with a dead battery. Bag racks, but no bags. I was never able to talk to the prior owner as she moved to Indonesia. $1500.00 and less than 20,000 miles. 1979-2008. Thats less than 1000 miles a year.  Runs grate but very fog burned from our salt air.
Worth doing I think. Waiting for a few parts and tools. OLDPAUL.

[steve hawkins]

The valve weld issue was not just for the R65, it was across the entire range at the time.  However it is often attributed as an R65 problem as it was a new model and had thinner stems than those of the larger model.

Some R65's did suffer from it, that is true, but for every occurance I have heard of on an R/45/65, I have heard it also for an R80 or 100.  

Then we move on to valve seat recession and valve deformation etc.

My R65 valves had 94,000 miles on them when I removed them.

Having said all this, when you compare the R65 to any other bike of a similar capacity and age, it is still a very reliable bike, and probably needs half the maintenance or less when compared to a Brit bike.

[nhmaf]

+1 to what Steve H said.   At some point, you will most likely have to replace the valves, guides, and seats in that bike, like all airheads prior to about 1986.   Best option seems to be to go with new BMW parts - there are other aftermarket items out there, but general consensus is that the BMW ones may be slightly better in some ways.   Then it will be good for 100K miles on top of whatever it already accumulated.

The valve stems on the  R45/65 bikes were 7mm as opposed to 8mm on the R80/100.  The R45/65 bikes also rev more quickly and are happier at higher revs than the R80/100, and due to their low gearing, need to rev more.    These factors do put a bit more stress on the valve train to some extent, but the smaller bikes also produce less heat than the larger bikes.   Unless it was severely abused,   your R65 isn't a 2-wheeled moto-grenade.   Just get her all tuned up and ride her, and just keep an eye on the valve clearance.   If it starts closing up again rapidly (say .002" or more in under 2000 miles) then it is time to send the heads out for work.  Anticipate ~ $500 for the cost of parts and labor at today's rates.