New R65 Owner

[jcsaintp]

Pulled the trigger on a 1984 R65 from Re-Psycle BMW in Lithopolis, OH. Bike has been thoroughly gone over and reportedly ready to roll - my first airhead! Looking forward to spring!

[montmil]

I like those guys at Re-Psycle. They have helped me out several times. [smiley=thumbsup.gif]

Welcome to our asylum, where our motto is, [size=14]"If it ain't broke, we can fix that."[/size][/font]

[Burt]

Niiiiice.  Complete with side covers.

Are you planning on ditching that pipe from the airbox thingy applicable to some US models?  

[montmil]

... Are you planning on ditching that pipe from the airbox thingy applicable to some US models?  

Ah, the Pulse Air Injection POS. We were just recently chatting -that's a nice word, ain't it?- about said system. Where is that thread, anyway?

[jcsaintp]

I asked Mark (Re-Psycle owner) about the purpose of the tube. He said it was related to emissions management but didn't go into any detail. Is this something I should become more knowledgeable about?

[Air4Life]

jcsaintp:  Many years of good luck with it.  

Here's one recent thread from the many about the pulse air injection apparatus:

http://www.bmwr65.org/cgi-bin/yabb2/YaBB.pl?num=1359774652/0

From the above thread and thanks to Montmil:

http://www.webbikeworld.com/Motorcycle-technical-articles/pulse-air/

[jcsaintp]

Checked out the links and printed a copy of the article. Thanks!
Is this something few/some/many/most/all R65 owners remove? I tend to be of the 'don't mess with a going concern' school of thought.

I did pop for a new set of Progressive shocks and springs as well as new front springs as that seems to be a standard recommended upgrade.

[Air4Life]

Is this something few/some/many/most/all R65 owners remove? I tend to be of the 'don't mess with a going concern' school of thought.

I too hold the same philosophy; however, not in this case.

From what I can gather most of those who are in-the-know, do in fact remove theirs.  I bought my bike in August of 2011 with roughly 24K and I now have 43K.  I would say half of the mileage I put on it was at a speed of roughly 65 to sometimes 75 mph.  

I've been tracking my exhaust valve recession and there is definitely closure occurring.  I've been told its not a serious rate, yet.  I'm not sure exactly how closely this correlates with the pulse air system; but I do appreciate that the air being injected right near the exhaust valve is contributing to a great deal more heat than I care to have it bear.  With that, I will be removing my setup as soon as time permits.

[Matt Chapter]

Well, I like the R65 well enough, but I don't know how anybody could walk into that showroom and not walk out with an orange creme R90S.  Two of 'em!!

I think that particular bike and color scheme is in my top 3 best looking motorcycles.

In my case, the R65 was the best looking bike in the showroom, but it was in a room full of metric cruisers and rice rockets.

[Bob_Roller]

The pulse air system has nothing to do with valve recession .

The 'official' term for valve recession, is valve face plastic deformation .

The recession problem, is the valve seats, the alloy was changed in the '81 model year .

The new alloy had the effect of not transferring the heat from the valve to the seat, it acted like an insulator .

The valves overheated and the valve metal started 'flowing' towards the stem .

I had my cylinder heads overhauled at around 45,000 miles .

The '81 model year was the worst of the group for this .

If you have the valves replaced, without replacing the seats, you have not solved the problem, it will be back on the effected bikes .

[montmil]

... Which lead to BMW Service Bulletin #2051 issued March 1982 that specified all US and Canadian R65 and R65LS model owners should increase valve lash settings to .004"-intake and .008"-exhaust.

The Service Bulletin did not mention exhaust valve seat deformation but instead stated, "eliminating the danger of low compression/performance due to tight valves."

Yeah, right. The increase, besides adding some BMW music, allowed the valve to remain on the seat for a nano-second longer, expecting to transfer some heat to the valve in hopes of slowing down the seat recession issue.

I watch my '81's exhaust valves closely. Regularly check for exhaust valve lash tightening up, plus going so far as to pull the header pipes and peek inside. So far -knocking wooden head- I've experienced no problems.

That said, I do keep a fresh pair of heads, sans rocker arms, on hand... just in case.

I'm still of the strong opinion that the air pulse system can contribute to valve and seat problems, hence its removal from both my R65s.

[Barry]

Valve face plastic deformation is one of the causes of valve recession and not a complete definition of it.   The other cause is wear due to sliding contact from valve rotation and worn valve guides.  Both caused valve recession because of the valve seat material being a poor conductor of heat so both mechanisms for valve recession are temperature related.

I think Valve face plastic deformation may have become synonymous with valve recession in airheads because Oak wrote about it several years back. The discussion following Oak's treatise on Valve face plastic deformation even talked about richening the mixture to reduce exhaust gas temperatures and removing the air injection system to cool the valves.  Also it was generally agreed that valve recession was worst on R100's and when engines were worked hard. All of these factors are temperature related so I think if it was my bike I'd remove the air injection system to help keep the exhaust valve a touch cooler.

[jcsaintp]

Well, I like the R65 well enough, but I don't know how anybody could walk into that showroom and not walk out with an orange creme R90S.  Two of 'em!!

I think that particular bike and color scheme is in my top 3 best looking motorcycles.

In my case, the R65 was the best looking bike in the showroom, but it was in a room full of metric cruisers and rice rockets.

One of the two 'Daytona Orange' R90S was particularly impressive. I'm new to airheads and haven't ridden in many years. Figured I'd 'cut my teeth' with an R65 and take it from there.  

[montmil]

What were the asking prices for the R90S cupcakes? Rather rare, they are, and always high dollar, eye watering price tags... if they are legit models.

[jcsaintp]

I didn't ask. Mark Sidle (owner of Re-Psycle BMW) in the process of posting pictures and description. You'll find them at link following when he's done.
 
http://www.re-psycle.com/pre_owned_list.asp

This is where I found my black R65 - it didn't make it to the picture stage posting stage. They has a silver '83 R65 their fixing up.