New to me...

[montmil]

My 1978 R100S is total gloss black powdercoat. Looks snazzy.

Fortunately, I was not the one who paid for it.

[Billmc]

...

Did you get the rear shock spring sorted?

Its off and I'm checking it out. I believe the setting ring at the bottom of the shock was at minimum because when I rotated it to the 1st notch the looseness went away.  Seems to have good compression and rebound. I will wait on making a replacement decision until after reassembly and road testing. Any idea on factory 'style' replacement?
I'm a 3-daughters-in-college penny pincher, and I don't want to spend more for a new performance shock then I did for the whole bike.

[Billmc]

Thanks for the replies and as always, as in most forums, lots of differing opinions.
I'm leaning toward gloss black mainly because of the Gulf Coast environment it will be living in. Just easier to keep clean and to shed the salt air/vapor mix. But I am going to shoot a few places with satin to see how that looks first. I really can' tell what the factory did 30 years ago because everything is dulled, rusty or faded.
Dovetailing on that, the front forks were painted black from the boots down and up to the tree. When I power washed them, most of the paint came off exposing somewhat oxidized aluminum. I will finish the stripping of the paint with chemicals and elbow grease, clean the aluminum and then evaluate weather to repaint or polish.
Any thoughts? I'm not hung up on total originality. I'm even thinking about changing from the Polaris Silver body to black or Alfa Romeo red to match my car....

[Billmc]

3 months later and I have a "refreshed" R65! I'll post picts later but in the mean time, any idea why I have an over full with "butterscotch" driveshaft housing and transmission?  I popped the fill caps to check them and the diff housing was almost empty but with clear fluid, the driveshaft housing and the transmission overflowed with watery light tan fluid. I drained them all and flushed with new and then filled with the correct type and level but just wondering how those two areas became water logged? Could that much water get in through the clutch cable cover?

[Bob_Roller]

If the bike gets rained on a lot or washed, it doesn't take much water getting by the rubber boot that covers the speedometer cable to contaminate the oil .

I replace the boot every 2-3 years, the desert heat here is tough on rubber parts .

My R65's rarely get washed and even more rare that they are out in the rain, haven't had this issue since '94, before that, I couldn't figure out how the water was getting in there !!!!!

Clear coating your paint job may lengthen it's life, my '81 R65 has a clear coat from the factory and still looks pretty good 37 years alter .