New R65 owner

[montmil]

... It rides a little wobbly I'm not sure if its the front forks or the type of tires or what.  The tires are a little dry and the rear is cupped on the left side...

Consider checking the rear wheel bearings. They are tapered roller bearings and required a preload adjustment. If the PO was fond of high-pressure car wash baths for the bike, he may have washed out grease from the rear wheel bearings. The bearing seals are notorious leakers at the 50-cent car wash. The cupped tire could indicate loss of bearings. The rear shocks do not appear to be OE parts. IIRC, the originals had a built in handle for preload adjustments.  

[stockman]

thanks everyone bob, Montmil. I'm having fun with this. I've ridden ti about 130 miles so far after changing all the gear, engine fluids but I have to stop and repack the wheel bearings steering head  and do the forks.  It only has 14,300 miles on it but I'm sure there was no regular maintenance done in the 26 years. Thanks again for the info.

[not-so-fast-ed]

Congratulations on the new R65!  Welcome aboard!

I believe the original factory service manuals are still available and are well worth the money.

Try www.realoem.com with the last seven digits of your VIN.  You'll be amazed at the parts that can still be ordered through your local dealer or several discount BMW parts suppliers such as Chicago BMW www.chicagobmwmotorcycle.com

Enjoy!

Ed

[aussie]

Welcome Stockman!

Congrats on the new purchase - but me-thinks the odo may have been around once before. However....enjoy, and as has already been pointed out several times, please post piccies - we love to look at new machines and be somewhat envious.  

[stockman]

You are the only one to suggest that. But if you saw the pictures which I posted a link to earlier in this thread you might agree. All the numbers match , the seat, tank, and BMW windshield are in great shape. I also have a key chain from a Boston BMW dealer and remember this is New England where the riding season is much shorter than elsewhere in the U.S.
Tonight using the book I pickup up at the local library(which by the way was untouched shows how many Airheads there are around here) I took  the front brake pads out (removing the sticky spider web first) and they looked good about 3/16"thick both even. I put them on a piece of plate and smoothed them out a little with some emery paper. it now stops smoother without the pulsing as bad.  But with the forks diving like they are its still not good. I will get the parts to work on those forks this week if I can. To be continued.

[stockman]

R65 update. I have changed all the fluids.Today I changed the fork oil and installed the new Hagon shocks. Had to wait until my in laws left to finish but I just came back from a short ride and WOW what a difference -no more wobbles takes the bumps nice and straight. Also saw a really nice Doe crossing the road real slow, those extra 6" lights work great.
Tomorrow I'm going to take that caliper apart and see if I can make it work better.  I also need to get the correct size battery, the thing thats in there sits a top the battery plate not inside it .Then I will take it for a longer ride. Any tips about the Brakes would be appreciated. Thanks in advance if you do.

[Bob_Roller]

What exactly is your brake issue ?

[stockman]

When stopping it rolls on and off like a warped rotor. I don't have a dial indicator to check the run out but I can see the rotor has a twist to it. so that must be it. But also I wanted to make sure both pistons are moving. The pads seem to be worn evenly but  by sight I can't detect them both moving against the rotor. I'm also used to the brakes on my Vstrom which are 26 years better. My last BMW had ABS and were just like power brakes on a car as it had a pump to assist(very complicated and (expensive) one reason I don' have it any more. It was an R1200clc. This R65 is what I really wanted in the first place. But anyway what do you think?

[Bob_Roller]

Sounds like a rotor problem, but it's not a common occurrence, I wonder if it was damaged during a tire replacement ?

I don't know of anybody that 'resurfaces' stainless rotors, so you may be looking at a replacement .

I replaced my OEM stainless rotors with EBC semi-floating steel rotors, and along with EBC graphite pads, the wet braking was dramatically improved .

[montmil]

Should you decide to replace the front brake rotor disc, check in with Mark and/or Marco at Re-Psycle in Ohio. They may be able to provide you with a lightly used part at a very fair price. I use 'em and I like 'em.   Monte

http://re-psycle.com/

[stockman]

Great suggestions. Its a really nice day here so i think I'm going to ride it anyway today. I think you are right its the rotor. Thanks

[stockman]

Oh yeah montmil , I remember Denton  we would go there for something when i was a kid we lived in University Park until 1968 then moved to DC. My sisters who are older still live in TX-- Houston and Padre Island. I should make a trip there our Daughter lives in Austin but I'm too content with staying home and playing with the bikes/ fixin stuff.

[Altritter]

Montmil: <I believe the original factory service manuals are still available and are well worth the money.>

+1, Monte; I've decided to spring for one.

Does anyone know the BMW part no. for a 1981 R65? (I'm assuming that the manual editions break down into major, such as 1979-80, 1981-84, etc.) Not having the part no., I can't figure out how to find the realoem listing by topic heading. (Doesn't fit any functional heading in the oem menu.)

[Bob_Roller]

The part number for an original owners manual is :01 41 9 798 291 .

That is supposedly for the entire dual shock model R65 North American version .

I have an early '81 R65 (9th off of the production line for that model year) , and my bike came with a manual specifically for the bikes with contact breaker ignition, not for the electronic ignition ignition bikes that started with the '81 year production .

I went out to my '81 R65, and here is the owners manual for the '79-80 year bikes : 01 41 9 798 098 .

I know there is an LS specific version manual as well, have to wait until I get home from work, to post that part number .

The chapter number is 01, and it isn't shown for the dual shock R65's, if you check realOEM for the mono-shock R65's, chapter 01 (Technical Literature)  does come up .

[Altritter]

Thanks, Bob. What Monte referred to, and what I'm now looking for, is the factory service manual. After much searching I finally got my hands on the original owner's manual. JT