Need Advice on 79 R65

[Jeff_Hildreth]

I am new around here, not new to bikes or BMW.
I have owned 50 plus bikes, 11 were BMW and one was a 1986 R65.

I currently do not own a bike but am looking.
I have always liked the original R65 and have recently come across an all original excellent condition 79 with a verified 25K original miles.

I spoke with the seller this evening and oddly, I know the original owner. He sold it because he is 6" 5" and the bike was simply too small. The current owner has had it for 20 years. The bike has been used only as a local commuter. The only repair done was a carb overhaul a year ago.  Other than that, simple and frequent servicing.

The asking price is $2500.. comes with a very unattractive excellent condition Luftmeister fairing, not installed

The basic question is the value.  Value.. not just price.  I am concerned about possible failures due to age and availability of parts.
I can handle the maintenance and repairs.

Also, is there a possibility another disc can be added to the front.. possibly the LS Brembos ?

Any cool mods that can be done for rideability and or aesthetics..

Any one ever GS'd  one of these ?

Thanks for any help.. glad to have found this site.

[nhmaf]

Welcome !

For a bike that is in very good and street-registered condition. $2500 is a good price.  With such low mileage, it is more likely that "soft" parts like rubber brake lines, grommets, boots, seals, etc. are the more likely things to be in need of attention.  It is also important that bearings and splines are serviced if they haven't been in a while - grease hardens and rust forms on exposed bare metals bits - if there is no documentation that the clutch and driveline splines/rear hub splines have been cleaned and greased, I would definitely do this soon - I have personal experience of rusted clutch splines giving out on the road within the first 800 miles of bringing my last rescued airhead home  (R65LS).   You may be able to get a couple hundred for that Lufty faring in the right market.   The twin shock R65 bikes can be just as long lived as their bigger R100/R80/R75 brethren, and they are under appreciated.   Parts are just as available as for other airheads, though the forks on the R65 bikes are superior to those on the bigger bikes of the same time frame.     We used to have a member on the forum from either Denmark or Netherlands who made a nice GS-style ride out of a comsetically challenged bike.  A number of R65 GS bikes were sold to military in Europe back in the 80s.

[Barry]

3 years back I bought a 79 R45 with only 6200 miles and have spent almost nothing other than routine maintenance and a few rubber parts as nhmaf points out. Lots of happy hours tinkering though. The Speedo cable rubber at the gearbox end is important to replace to keep water out of the gearbox. I replaced the handlebar rubbers and clutch cable rubber at the lever for cosmetic reasons and that's about it. Rubber brake lines seem fine and I have a very firm brake lever. I suppose I should strip the brake caliper sometime meanwhile with new pads I find the single disk OK. It's all about the ratio of master cylinder area to caliper cylinder area. BMW designed the system with a low ratio mechanical advantage so that you have to pull real hard on the lever for an emergency stop. Other bikes with the same sized disks might have higher ratios which give 2 finger braking at the expense of a much softer brake lever. I did all the spline lubes and the grease in the steering head and swinging arm bearings had gone hard but just needed a clean and new grease. You may want to check the forks are not clunky as the damper valve is a bit primitive in the early bikes and I had to make some improvements.

I can understand the thing about the bike being too small for anyone over 6ft as the early bikes had a slightly lower seat height. Its probably ideal for someone 5' 10" or under.

[Semper Gumby]

Hi Bohemian,

Pull the tranny and do the Spline/Thrust bearing lube.  Replace the rubber bell on the bottom of the speedo cable and put a bit of black RTV around the top of the bell to keep water out of the transmission.

If the pushrod seals leak have someone tap the collars down and spot weld them in place so they don't push back up.

Replace the cables if the carbs don't stay in balance.

Ride the hell out of it.

Yes you can put a second disc on the front.  Yes you can get Brembos for the 1979 R65 from a later R65LS or R80ST (I think) other Brembos from other  BMW R80/R100 are different part numbers and will not fit (I think).

There are R65 in the world with over 400,000 miles on them.  My 1980 will turn 100,000 this year.

Ask any question here because there is a wealth of experience with the trusty R65 and available aftermarket mods.