R65LS advertisement and magazine road tests

[milominderbinder]

Here is rare magazine advertisement for the R65LS from Bike Australia Apr 1982. Notice the black battery side covers on the red AND silver model. None of the silver magazine road test bikes appear to have the black covers. Was this a customization BMW did to improve the look of the LS for promotional photoshoots?

(admin, I can't upload these with the 1mb limit. Could you please raise it to 8mb as I have some multi page magazine road test pdfs to upload after this?)

[Tony Smith]

I'd suggest using a free hosting service like google drive, dropbox etc. and then link to them.

[milominderbinder]

Here is the Google Drive link to the ad:

https://drive.google.com/open?id=12K0qLTaSFqsQEr92l1yr1p6Xy9E_bEmD

[milominderbinder]

Here's the 6 page road test of the R65LS from the same magazine (Bike Australia, Issue 1!). Excuse the scan quality on some pages!

https://drive.google.com/open?id=1E-lZ3-a5un_L0frZiimDSiYOqLL1ZJ5-

[milominderbinder]

Another road test for the R65LS from Bike Australia (May 1984) . This time comparing the R65LS to it's 650cc shaft drive rivals, including it's Hans Muth designed ugly brother, the Suzuki GS650G 

The 650 Shafties compared:

https://drive.google.com/open?id=1qv4FrSdEaxBBS4QrwTW1biLgudbK34cT

[Burt]

Looking at the glider in the back of the add, the rego starts with what looks like a F (France).  So I would assume that the photo shoot was done in Europe and the add was a generic one for use wherever.  Perhaps the first Euro models came out with the black side covers or they could be a pre-production run of that model. 

From what I have seen of BMW advertising over the years, they shoot/have dealer demo rides all over the world.  I know of one (small) dealer about twelve years ago who was flown to Portugal for a test ride. 

[milominderbinder]

I've only seen the black side covers in Bmw adverts. Perhaps it was a pre production thing. I think the design looks a lot cleaner with the black covers, so for some reason they changed it. Anyone have an original European version with the black covers?

[Kelvin]

My Australian 'LS had black side covers. My recollection is that the red text just under the grab handle was bilingual English/German, so I assumed that black was standard in Germany as well.

[Kelvin]

Australia's "Two Wheels" did a long (10 page) review of the LS, including a comparison with the R75/5. I've uploaded it to https://drive.google.com/file/d/151frfNkFCzbeeTyfwBoKnc4dRzIBwY3n/view?usp=sharing

[milominderbinder]

Thanks for the article Kelvin 
My LS is running very well now. I've only had it for a couple of weeks and it had a very bad vibration around 2500-3000rpm. Replaced the throttle cables and balanced the carbs with a homemade manometer and it's very smooth now. Great bike.

I like your fork gaiters, which model are they from?

[Kelvin]

The fork gaiters are original, that pic is 1987.

I understand that the 1982 'LS had white wheels and no gaiters, subsequent years had silver wheels and those fine ribbed gaiters. There are about 15 ribs (the photo is grainy).

Current parts list on both Motobins and Motohansa is a thicker, 11 ribbed version. I have them on my current 'LS, but they don't look  "right" (but they're better than dusty stanchions).

[suecanada]

My first R65LS was a 1982 straight from Germany with his German owner. It had a kickstarter plus black side covers, no gaiters, the blue R65LS stickers (not on the sidecovers) and white wheels. (the real reason I loved it in red!) So that one was probably as close as we'll get to an original. I should check out exactly when it was made because maybe things changed over that 1982 production year. I remember I actually found that very same bike in the possession of a Jim Rillie in Nova Scotia way, way back when I first joined this forum. He has not been on here for a long time.