quickie - snowflakes on R65LS ?

[CaptainSlow]

I'll resist the urge to waffle on as usual and just get straight to the question - will 18" snowflake wheels fit straight onto a 1983 R65LS without any other modification?

Thanks, Sam

[Bob_Roller]

You need different brake rotors, the LS wheels are thicker at the hub than the snowflake wheels .

I'm not real sure, but I think the axles are different .

I checked part numbers on the axles and they are different for the LS wheels and snowflake wheels .

[CaptainSlow]

Thanks a million for this Bob - I was offered a great deal on a pair of snowflakes and was on the verge of buying them - not so good a deal if I couldn't use them!!!

Thanks again, owe you a beer for this ! [smiley=beerchug.gif]

[Justin B.]

If you get a great (steal) of a deal, and they are in good shape, I'd buy 'em as they are only going to appreciate in value.

[Bob_Roller]

There's a difference in rear wheels as well, the LS brake drum is larger in diameter, than the snowflake wheels .

I know you can't make the snowflake brake shoes work on an LS wheel, but I don't if doing the reverse will work either .

I do know the rear axles are different between the two wheels .

I put an LS wheel on the rear of my '81 R65 and the snowflake axle didn't work .

[CaptainSlow]

Great info here guys, many thanks.

It looks like it is do-able, but at a cost. I think there is too much to change to make it feasible at the moment. The killer for me is that I'd need a pair of new front disks (rotors) as well, apparently the regular R65 uses the small offset discs, whereas the LS uses deep offset discs.

I need to get the rear wheel off to see if the crack actually is the wheel or just the paint. Very worrying that it is on both sides of the wheel and all the way around it, at exactly the same point...  

[MR.E]

Sam

I've a pair of wheels in the shed, discs axles everything.
You're welcome to borrow them to see if it does work.

And i don't think i've a need for them either!!

[CaptainSlow]

Wow, that would be awesome! I'd really appreciate that. I'm still not 100% sure the rear wheel is FUBAR'd but it doesn't look good and I'm assuming the worst.

I'll drop you a PM to arrange something  

(That made my day thanks! woohoo!)

[Bob_Roller]

The 'crack' in the wheel, is the result of the LS wheel, termed a "composite" wheel, is a two part cast wheel .

When I get home from work today, that would be 2200 GMT, I'll take a picture of the LS wheel that I have on my '81 R65 .

If this is your only concern, don't worry about it all of these wheels did this .

Here's a service bulletin from BMW on the 'crack' in the wheels .

https://www.bmwmc.net/catalog/2084.pdf

[montmil]

BMW Motorrad must like the duct (gaffer) tape saying,

If it ain't broke, duck it!


BTW, there's a popular brand of duct tape sold in the US that features a duck cartoon character on the wrapper. Those peeps not knowledgeable of the HVAC field commonly refer to duct tape as "duck" tape.

[Bob_Roller]

Here's two pictures, not great quality, but hopefully you'll be able to see if this is what you have on your wheel s .

[Barry]

The original sales brochures for the LS had some drawings and an explanation of the composite wheel construction.

Here's one that mentions it. http://www.beemergarage.com/documents/83r65ls.pdf

And another one with a diagram showing the construction. http://www.beemergarage.com/documents/bmw1982.pdf

[CaptainSlow]

Looks like its a false alarm then! This is a pic of my rear wheel



Looks like it is the join as explained in that brochure (thanks for that!). So I guess the easiest thing for now is just to get my current wheels refinished and get some new tyres on.

I reckon I will go down the snowflake route eventually, but maybe not just now - if the wheel had been FUBAR'd then it would have made sense to go straight to the snowflake conversion, but I want the bike on the road this summer!

So thanks to everyone who helped out with this [smiley=thumbsup.gif] I've learned a load thanks, and it will be put to good use during the rebuild next year   This is a truly great community, thanks everyone!

[bruce_launceston]

As stated you don't need to worry about that 'crack', they all do it unless you have an exceptionally good paint on them.
My 2-pack epoxy black painted wheels don't show the crack but my rattle can painted ones do.
I bought black rim tapes off ebay. They are 7mm wide curved adhesive strips. the 17" ones work perfectly on the 18" LS wheels and bridge the crack that shows through the black paint.

Captain Slow - have a look at the photos I posted in the Trading Post 'wanted to buy- LS rear wheel' section to see what cracks to keep an eye out for on your LS rear wheel SPOKES and I think you can see the rim tape in them as well.

I can confirm that to run a snowflake rear instead of an LS wheel you will need the non LS brake shoes and it seems the non LS axle. If it comes with those it should be an easy swap. Another downside of swapping is that the snowflake rims are narrower than the LS ones.

It looks like your wheels have been repainted to cover chips etc. They would come up lovely stripped and repainted in gloss 2-pack.

[MR.E]

Thats good news then.
Can you not get them powder coated to stop it??