RT fairings

[thrang]

I've just picked up Bimbo2 in Shorpshire and ridden her back to Cumbria about 160m. She's got a whacking great RT fairing on which won't be there for much longer. Anyway I'm curious to know if anyone with an RT fairing fitted has found they give you a weird sensation of not being quite planted , even though the bike is running true and totally stable.  The only RT I ridden (other than the 8valvers) for any real distances was a shagged out ex police R80RT when I worked for a dispatch company years ago, so I've got nothing to judge it by.

By the feel of her she's running BMW stock front suspension , and the joke OE rear neither of which were much cop to begin with...

Like I said the fairing will be going, (at least until the weather gets crappy next winter when the suspension will have been done) so I'm just curious rather than all worried that I've bought a lemon.

[Justin B.]

I have an RT and I'm not quite sure what you are referring to as "a weird sensation of not being quite planted".  My '95 monoshock RT is very stable but then again I have a Works rear shock on it.  If somebody had put the RT fairing on your new baby cow without changing springs and shocks I suppose handling would be quite "mushy" at best...

[NC Steve]

Justin's got an R65 with an RS fairing mounted, but you might be the first one here with an RT, although someone was talking about maybe trying to fit one up a while back.
No interest in keeping it as an RT? I'd think that would be pretty cool myself, very unique too, especially once you got the suspension all sorted out to allow for it.

[Justin B.]

There were some European cop versions factory fitted with the RT bodywork.

[thrang]

I'm not a fairing fan, as I love the to see the engine so certainly for the summer she's going to be losing the RT. I'm not exactily sure how to describe the sensation which is my its a bit 'wooly' but it was like a slight insatiability, at the front and a rather numb feeling at the front wheel.

I'll have a look on the R65 construction list for the frame number, which should tell me how she left the factory. She's got bremo twin discs on the front, and bing carbs which I think were unique to the 65ls's, but I'll have to look that up.

Mechanically Bimbo1 is fine but tired as she's only done about 50k since I last did the heads , replaced the barrels and pistons. Its just the dammed frame thats gone on her. Since a good second hand frame from Motorworks was around £400 I opted to look for a replacement.

[Justin B.]

Nice looking bike!  I would almost bet that the handling differences you are noticing are more the fault of the PO not compensating for the additional weight, etc., of the fairing in the suspension setup.  Another thing that can cause the handling to feel sluggish is a bigger than stock front tire, that will lead to an understeer condition.  I think the stock front tire size falls somewhere a 90/90 and 100/90 in metric sizes and I usually go with the 90/90.  I have a 90/90 Macadam 50e on the front of the R65"RS" with progressively would front fork springs (7.5w fork oil) and Koni rear shocks/springs and it handles nicely.

If you do any winter riding, or in temps below about 45 degrees, you will come to appreciate the extremely efficient RT fairing after the first ride once things get cooler.  Above 90 degrees, though, you will bake which is why I have a faired RT for winter and an unfaired one for summer.  I rode my RT for one summer here and it was absolutely miserable when temps topped the 100 degree mark.

[nhmaf]

There have been a couple of R65 RT versions for sale near me this spring.   I think
that both of them may likely have had stiffer front suspension/springs as well as
aftermarket rear shocks to better manage the weight and aerodynamic factors.
I'll see if I can find out any more on them and will report back if I do..

The looked pretty nice, sort of like a not-quite-fully grown RT ?!!
 

[NC Steve]

Ok, so now I'm curious. Just how well can an R65 "pull" an RS or RT fairing? Justin, would you care to comment or expound upon the experiences with your own R65RS?
As far as heat, what if the lowers were removed during the summer months? Much improvement, or still too much air trapped "inside" the bubble?
How difficult is it to adapt something like this to a standard R65, and are there many fitment problems beyond finding or fabricating the actual attachment bracketry ?
What's anyone's thoughts on something like this?

http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/BMW-R100RS-R100-RS-FRONT-FAIRING-MIRRORS-ETC-very-nice_W0QQitemZ270110472754QQihZ017QQcategoryZ35606QQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem

Huge major hassle & expense, or not too bad for a do-it-yourselfer?
Better to just buy an RS or RT if you want an RS or RT??

[thrang]

Riding it back last night the RT fairing was rather impressive as it got cold enough after dark to bring up the fog once I got off the M6 at Kendal. The R65 didn't seem to struggle to lug it along, although it did make the engine sound awfully noisy in comparison to my Bimbo.  The fairing got to come off anyway so I can get at the forks and timing chest so the current plan is to rip it off and stick on a standard R65 headlamp bracket etc for the summer as it will make it easier to give her a good once over and tart up.

I was intending on seeing if I could do a deal with Motorworks exchanging the faring for some good 2nd hand parts, but having got up this morning with out a stiff neck after the first 100 mile plus 80mph run of the year I'm probably going to keep it and put it back on come the winter. Now I've got a cart the idea of shivering to work on the bike in winter is not so appealing so its not like I'll be using her every day, but we do enough winter rallys to make it worth while.

I'll try and snap some regular photo's as time and money allows me to do her up. I'm getting married soon so money is a bit tight just now, so I'll probably have to cannabise some of the good bits off the Bimbo, whose half stripped to begin with.  

[Justin B.]

Steve, probably all-in-all the fairing is a wash at cruising speeds but will probably slightly hinder acceleration up to cruising speed.  It adds a bit of weight but it was wind tunnel designed and is quite "slippery".  I have really not ridden the bike that much, other than short 5-10 mile spurts after some maintenance operation so I really can't make an objective comparison.  My wife's '84 seems peppier (I don't ride that one much either) but the 80s, I've read, have the least HP of the all R65s so that may be the majority of the difference.

As far as handling goes, it was really quite sluggish and loads of front dive under braking until the new front springs went on and they have really helped.  It came with Konis so I can't give a comparo between them and the stockers.

As far as installation goes all of the bits are available (or were last time I checked) and I believe they share all of the mounting hardware with the bigger bikes but you'll have to have a friendly dealer do some research as the parts are shown in the US ETK/HTK but no part numbers are given.  The only thing that might be tricky is the instrument mount.  You can saw your existing one in half but it seems a shame to scrap an $80 part.  There is a special instrument bracket for the faired models but the last time I ordered any (about 2 years ago) I was told that before my special-order (they have to come out of Germany) there were only 14 left and I ordered 4 of them.  I may have one extra as I used one on Barbara's '84 when I put on the Quicksilver and I know I e-Bayed at least one of them...

[thrang]

If you've got a specialist second hand BMW bike breakers like Motorworks. Then there a good chance that they will be pretty good when it comes to finding odd parts from other models that will fit. M/works got me a clock bracket that worked fine under the fairing the Bimbo came with when I bought her. The one on her was a homemade jury rigged affair that the previous owner had welded up from a couple of stips of mild steel. It was pretty crappy, although his homemade instrument housing was rather neat.

If you can weld or get someone to weld for you making one shouldn't be hard especially if you can score a second hand instrument housing to make fit over the RT bars. Carefully cutting back the section with the BMW rondle that runs over the bars should do the job. A previous owner has fitted an oil temp gauge  on my new (to me) R65 and the housing is split in the usual places. If I keep the fairing I'll make a mount for it to sit on the plastic or do away with it entirely as I change my oil often enough not to worry about cooking it every once in a while.

Motorbinns are great for new parts, especially out of stock items if you can give them a few weeks, and I think they send to the US so they might be worth contacting as well if you decided to fit a fairing.

[tomthornton]

Hi Group;
I am planning on acquiring an early eighies R65 in the next short while.
Meanwhile I picked up an fairing off a retired 1981/2 R65. Rd headlamp vers.
My understanding is that no factory R65 RT's where shipped by BMW to N. America ?
I think all or most of those RT 65 we see are wearing there big brothers cast offs :)0
All my previous bikes had fairings &  I'm nesh @ 66 and inclined fit one on my next bike.
Does any one have pix of a factory original. ?
I think the one I have bought, but not seen is a UK aftermarket  (more pix please) in white.
I have read the cautionary tales posted here re to need the up the suspention capacity particularly the frt forks to accept the additional load.
All advice  and success stories on what to springs  and fork oil to use gratefully accepted !

TomT Parksville BC Canada

[Justin B.]

Post a pic, or link to pics, of what you have and somebody here is liable to recognize it.

[tomthornton]

Here is the photo of my recently purchased fairing mentioned above. Mounted on the previous owners R65. Anybody recognize it ?
Tomt

[Rob Valdez 79 R65]

 


Justin?