What is heresy?

[marcmax]

How far can I go before I cross the line on reconfiguring an R65? I semi-cafe'd my 82 R65LS and am happy with the results. I have gotten both positive and negative feedback for having "changed  classic".

I recently had the opportunity to buy a modified R65 but it wasn't in the budget. It was a homemade R65 G/S.

Still it got me thinking, since I have a second R65LS I bought as a parts bike and didn't use enough of it to justify selling the rest for parts, why not try and make one of these of my own?

The modifications are not that difficult or expensive and I have always liked the G/S concept.

Any comments or suggestions?

[Semper Gumby]

Keep it light.  Looks like someone has done the work for you.

If that is the bike I would look at changing the pipes.  Those are butt ugly.  I wonder if it would be advantageous to run the pipes back on top of the cylinders down the middle of the bike like the BSA Hornet.  Prolly need some pipe wrap to keep from burning the legs.  Be prepared to spend money in Germany for things like the lower 1st gear.  But you can have fun fabbing your own light bar.  There is a lot of R80/R100 GS stuff that can be made to work for this bike.  To do real dual sporting you really need an industrial skid plate to keep from holing your oil pan - start there.

Have you ridden dual-sport before?  

[steve hawkins]

Heresy?

Turning into a chopper......No, no, no.....

They are not that rare, and keeping one on the road rather than breaking it is 'doing you bit' in that regard.

Just my two pennies....

Rev. light

[nhmaf]

That *VERY* same home made GS has come up for sale on ebay about 3X in the past 4-5 years.   If it isn't the same, then people are making exact clones of it, right down to the number on the plate, the ugly exhaust, and the Yamaha YZ forks.   I wonder why?

[Ed Miller]

http://bikesevolution.com/BMW/BMW-R65GS,-1989.html#gp

has some real ones.  They didn't start until '89 or so, though.  I would like one.

[marcmax]

I am sure it must be the same bike.

There are a lot of things on it I would do differently. First is the fugly exhaust. I have found several used mufflers from an R80ST or G/S that would work in the correct location. Just a matter of building a set of headers from the heads to it.

Also the Bultaco tank has got to go. The R65, R65G/S, R80RT all use the same tank. Why change it.

I don't have a problem with the Yamaha YZ forks. They work good, are relatively inexpensive and the 21" front wheel is a lot cheaper than a BMW G/S front wheel.

All the other "stuff", fenders, skid plates, etc are available as aftermarket repops. It all depends on the budget.

[Luca]

They are not that rare

well the LS is kinda rare with something like 6400 ever made and only 1600 of those coming to the states.  I know it only got a dress and sneakers... but I wouldn't want to modify a fairly unique and low production bike.  But hey, Marcmax is just making mine worth a few more pennies!  Personally, I see a cafe'd R65 with LS wheels when I look at it he latest creation... but it still looks cool and he enjoys it.

Scrambler exhaust would look cool, but it looks difficult to get around the carbs, air tubes, and cables on the g/s.  Honestly I think that thing would look wayyyy better without that awful two-tone color scheme.  Lacks any sort of class... and it doesn't flatter the plain aluminium.  Ditch the crash bars and put or make mini skidplates on the valve covers.  You would probably want to install an oil cooler if you were gonna do some real off-roading.  And if you make a g/s bike, you owe it to yourself to do some real off-roading.

[Ed Miller]

Are those forks the same diameter as the originals?  I don't know anything about swapping forks.

[nhmaf]

IIRC, an earlier listing identified the forks as 41mm Yamaha YZ250, and I would assume that they swapped out the steering yoke from the R65 in favor of the Yamaha as well for precise fitment

[marcmax]

R80 G/S forks are a straight across swap but they are pricey. Yamaha YZ200 or 250 forks and tripple tree are a fairly straight across swap with just a bearing replacement and they are a lot less $$$

I used to ride a YZ200 and the front end is pretty durable as well as easily rebuilt.

[marcmax]

The biggest challenge will be the rear suspension. The original R65 G/S was built on a mono-shock frame and the LS is a twin shock frame. A G/S rear subframe will need to be modified to allow for use with twin shocks as well as gaining ground clearance.

[Luca]

You will probably need longer shocks, eh?  Also, was there a difference in the G/S driveshaft?

[steve hawkins]

Why not do a twin shock version?

It seems a lot of effort to make an R65 LS into a GS, when you could do something 'in between' quite easily.....well more easily.....less difficult then