Hi Everyone

[APGirl]

I'm a novice rider who just got my first BMW. My Dad has nagged me for several years saying the R65 would fit me the best. Well, he was right.

I bought an '82  Henna Red R65LS with 26,769 miles and only 3 owners. The person I bought it from had the Bavarian Motorcycle Workshop go through the bike and fix what every was needed. The engine is barely broken in and is tuned fairly well. I personally find it relaxing to listen to.  8-)

This is my first big bike. My learn to ride bike was '72 Honda CB100 and I have ridden 2 different Yamaha XT225's. The XT225's are not novice bikes and for me hard to ride. My Dad has been riding since he was 13 years old (almost 70 now) and has owned 2 BMW's. First was an R60/5 and now he has an R100S.

My other passion(insanity) are Porsche 914's which have flat 4 aircooled engines.

Are there any upgrades I need to do?

Yes, I am mechanically inclined.  

[montmil]

Welcome to the herd, APGirl. Indian Territory=Oklahoma. Yes?

There's another long time female forum member with a Henna Red R65LS; SueCanada rides her LS all over North America. She shames many of us.

Listen to dear ol' Dad should you plan any "upgrades". And post up a photo when you can.

Monte

[Bob_Roller]

APGirl, welcome and enjoy the insanity here !!!!

You're going to enjoy the LS, trust me .

[suecanada]

Woo Hoo APGirl!! Welcome. We need some more females around here! You sound like a very passionate 'engine' person! WE can get our hands dirty right??! [smiley=thumbsup.gif]

Those small bikes are the way to go and I am so pleased that you decided to start out on them. Smart move! I just treated myself to a used DR200 and loving it...once I straighten out it's low idle problems...probably carb jets are dirty....what do you think? It sat for sometime just not getting used so these small carbs can get varnished up really easily??? Almost got the XT225 but the DR200 was a bike I knew and had the bigger gastank for longer tours. The 22 litres in the LS's gastank will get one a long way....over 200 miles per tank. By that time I should have stopped to get the blood into my seat again!!

The henna red LS is one fine looking bike. All polished up one can sit in front of it on a nice summer's day after a ride, have a beer or whatever and just admire it! Did you get the white wheels with it? That'll keep you out of trouble cleaning those! A rag on the end of a small paint brush handle gets into the crevasses when our smaller hands can't!
Ask any question here you like....wonderful crew...all brothers willing to help and no question is left on the table.

[APGirl]

Welcome to the herd, APGirl. Indian Territory=Oklahoma. Yes?

There's another long time female forum member with a Henna Red R65LS; SueCanada rides her LS all over North America. She shames many of us.

Listen to dear ol' Dad should you plan any "upgrades". And post up a photo when you can.

Monte

Yep, Northeast Oklahoma. I'm waiting on the camera to charge up so I can take pictures.

Carrie

[APGirl]

Woo Hoo APGirl!! Welcome. We need some more females around here! You sound like a very passionate 'engine' person! WE can get our hands dirty right??! [smiley=thumbsup.gif]

Those small bikes are the way to go and I am so pleased that you decided to start out on them. Smart move! I just treated myself to a used DR200 and loving it...once I straighten out it's low idle problems...probably carb jets are dirty....what do you think? It sat for sometime just not getting used so these small carbs can get varnished up really easily??? Almost got the XT225 but the DR200 was a bike I knew and had the bigger gastank for longer tours. The 22 litres in the LS's gastank will get one a long way....over 200 miles per tank. By that time I should have stopped to get the blood into my seat again!!

The henna red LS is one fine looking bike. All polished up one can sit in front of it on a nice summer's day after a ride, have a beer or whatever and just admire it! Did you get the white wheels with it? That'll keep you out of trouble cleaning those! A rag on the end of a small paint brush handle gets into the crevasses when our smaller hands can't!
Ask any question here you like....wonderful crew...all brothers willing to help and no question is left on the table.

Thanks. The wheels may be white under the brake dust, but I'm not sure.

Oh yeah, clean the carbs. Modern gas if left sitting for awhile gums up carbs significantly faster than 10-20 years ago and makes FI run ratty.

On your DR200, general procedure is to pull the carb, disassemble it, blow the all the passages in the body clean, clean the jets, reassemble and see how it runs. When pulling the jets you'll need to count how many screws in on the idle jet & mix jet so you can set it again. You'll need a rebuild kit for your model bike & carburetor which should include all new gaskets & maybe a diaphragm. Also, you may need to rejet the bike for your altitude. Another thing you could try after cleaning the carb is, try pulling the snorkel out of the air box and then run the bike and see what happens.

Pretty much all import Xt225's for North American have to be rejeted for the altitude you live in.

[APGirl]

APGirl, welcome and enjoy the insanity here !!!!

You're going to enjoy the LS, trust me .

Thanks.

[nhmaf]

Welcome aboard!
We like R65LS bikes, especially the red ones!

Are you a member of the Airhead Beemers Club (ABC)?
Along with this forum, and some others, they can be a great source of info, and they publish a monthly journal as well as daily listserver emails of current topics/discussions.

Sue and I were baking with many others at the BMW MOA rally in central PA last weekend.   We had (3) red R65LS and (1) silver one show up - the most I've ever seen together at once.

[APGirl]

Pics

[APGirl]

Welcome aboard!
We like R65LS bikes, especially the red ones!

Are you a member of the Airhead Beemers Club (ABC)?
Along with this forum, and some others, they can be a great source of info, and they publish a monthly journal as well as daily listserver emails of current topics/discussions.

Sue and I were baking with many others at the BMW MOA rally in central PA last weekend.   We had (3) red R65LS and (1) silver one show up - the most I've ever seen together at once.

BMWMOA-waiting on membership cards. I might go riding this weekend because it has a legal plate and I got insurance set up. We'll see, going to be cleaning up the garage to put her in there.

[dav]

Welcome aboard [smiley=bmw_smiley.gif].

As you have seen the guys/girls on this fourm are the friendliest bunch of people on the net.

Thanks for posting pics of your bike (looks great btw) but also feel free to post some pics of your over two boxer engined vehicle (& your Bultaco) we LOVE pics [smiley=thumbsup.gif].

Have a great time on your new steed & exploring the fourm.

[suecanada]

That is one nice looking LS!!! Someone has even painted the battery covers! And I do like that seat too. The paint looks in the pics to be in really good shape!

[2dogs1cat]

Welcome and congratulations.  I also hear red is a fast colour  

:^)

[Rob Valdez 79 R65]

I wonder why APGirl shows up as ex member?  I've never seen that before.

[Ed Miller]

I wonder why APGirl shows up as ex member?  I've never seen that before.

I hope that somebody didn't get carried away banning spammers and catch her, too.  The two previous topics to this one were both spam and the starters of the threads are shown as Ex Members.