Hello, new r65 owner

[trips]

It's alive! Still got to order my windshield and a  set of crash bars I found, but I took her out on her maiden voyage yesterday, she ran great. I put 30 miles on her, then took her back for a second oil change. As the sticker shows, it's been 20 years since it was registered, a good feeling to bring her back. I decided not to reinstall the old roundels, found a good web page with all the different part numbers for roundels, the old ones were discolored and flaking. New are only $7 for the 70mm ones, I saw a guy asking $40 for one used tank badge, LOL, crazy. Now to fit sidecar and have the shell painted to match. Still have a lot of cleanup work to do on the engine, frame, and wheels, but it was good to ride it.



Good link for roundel info  http://bmwmotorcycletech.info/roundel.htm

[Mjolinar]

Hello everyone,

Nice bike trips, you've done well with the restoration.

I'm a service member stationed in Germany. I recently sold a Harley and got a 1988 R100GS only to find out I can't yet bring it back to the US; not old enough yet. Bad import rules, BS. Sooo, I found a 1980 R65 to play with. The GS is now up for sale here in Germany and I'm getting started on tweaking the R65 to my liking.

This site has opened my eyes to all so many ideas and resouces; I'm very thankful.

I'm pleasantly surprised with the ridability of the R65. It initially felt heavy to steer but that was comparing it to the R100GS that falls into corners so easily. Have gotten used to the handling of the R65 though and it is very fun to ride. It does seem a bit underpowered compared ot the GS but it is also 350cc smaller. It does rev up faster than the GS though and has a higher top speed. Very smoth ride.

My daughter is also eyeballing the R65. She sat on it and comented that "I could see myself riding this bike". Get a license first! I introduced her to a MSF dirt bike class for kids a few years ago. She passed well but was very apprehensive of the speed and afraid to fall. However, it did help her to be a much better passenger. I'd love to see her riding when she's old enough. What a great riding buddy she would be.

Anyway, I've perused several BMW forums but have found myself returning to this one almost daily and finally joined up a few days ago. Look forward to reading the posts, stories, adventures and technical tips.

Mjolinar

[nhmaf]

Welcome aboard, MJolinar!

First of all, THANK YOU for your service to the people of the United States of America!

We can be a bit wacky at times, but always try to help!   The R65 is a nice bike, actually capable of alot of things, under-appreciated most of the time.   The other airheads are also good bikes - many of us have - or had- others as well.

Let us know when you return stateside, if you end up near me I'd be happy to meet up and buy you a beer.

-Mike

[trips]

Woo hoo! Got my title in the mail today, I spent a lot of money already for not having a title, but I wasn't too worried. I did a title search first, and it came back " no records found", so I went down to DMV and told them I wanted to register a bike I haven't had on the road in 20 years. As I had no paperwork, and they had no records, they gave me the form to send in for a lost title, and it came through. Got a windscreen for my faring, picked up some very nice BMW sidecases from a forum member here, and my painter called and said my sidecar was done. Also a guy that works with my bud's old lady owed her a favor and works a second job at a powder coating shop said he will powder coat the sidecar frame for free, how nice is that? Pics soon, may go over and mount my windscreen today.

[trips]

just some pics of the bike and side car painted, sent some pics to DMC sidecars, turns out I need $875 in parts for a good installation, oh, well, easy come, easy go.

Is there any way to insert these inline? Familiar with vbulletin forum template, not this one,. Never mind, got it, I think. Or not, hmm, I copied and pasted the links between the bracketed img's, not showing, but when I hit "modify", it shows the links between the bracketed img, but don't show in the post. But they did second time??? Weird. LMAO, now they show twice, sorry

[trips]

Hi folks, how is everyone? Boy, I didn't come around for a while, and the site disappeared. But I managed bto find it with a little googling, through ADVrider. Well, I got my sidecar frame and rim powdercoated, got my mounting kit from DMC sidecars, waiting for warmer weather to get it together, as I don't have anywhere indoors to work on it. I did do some riding on the R65, also bought a float kit for the carbs to hopefully fix the leaking problem. Picked up a GXSR 600 in the fall, making my barn even more crowded. Hope everyone is well, I have some catching up to do.

[montmil]

trips, we all thought you'd been abducted by aliens. Probed and returned, eh?  

[Paper]

Howdy everyone!! Long time BMW rider and I'm actually on my second R65, but I'm here to share my picked over brain, and also learn a few things about my current 81' R65.

My other rides are
85' R80
05' R1200GS
02' KLR650
And my RACE BIKE!!! My 1993 Honda Helix!!! VRRROOOM!!!

Anyway, this looks like a great forum for info and fun, and I'm looking forward to being part of it..

[montmil]

Hiya, Paper. Welcome aboard. Hope some members catch the addition to this lengthy thread. Lots of new members catching the tail end. You may get several more responses by starting a new thread with your own introduction. Just a guess...

[Paper]

Hiya, Paper. Welcome aboard. Hope some members catch the addition to this lengthy thread. Lots of new members catchi8ng the tail end. You may get several more responses by starting a new thread with your own introduction. Just a guess...

My bad.. I didn't know this was all still pertaining to Trips bike..   I'll start a new one..

[trips]

Apparently I titled this thread too well, LOL. No prob, all welcome. Taking a day off Monday, installing new carb floats, and hopefully starting the side car install. My buddy, a MC mechanic, is off Monday, and another friend is going to donate garage space for the install, he has a nice concrete, flat floor, which I lack.

[trips]

Wow, I have a whole new respect for this bike. I took a ride with my friend Dan and his 85 Guzzi California. I really only got a couple hundred miles on this bike last year, due to working on it, getting it painted, and having a chronically leaking carb problem. The floats did take care of that, BTW. I never flogged on it at all, out of respect for it's age, unfamiliarity with the bike, etc. Yesterday I ran it up to redline in 1st and shifted hard, it picked the front wheel up a couple inches off the ground, I was shocked. I had to do it a second time to be sure I didn't imagine it, amazing. I also ran it out in 4th and 5th, although the speedo only reads 85, it did the ton easily, it pulled right through the red line still climbing, I had to let off. My Harley is a 1340 cc bike, 16 years newer, it hits a wall in 5th a little over 4000 rpm, it can't overcome the wind resistance. Even my CB750 starts slowing down dramatically before it approaches redline in 5th, I've never had enough road or nerve to get there.  What a great little bike, I feel guilty saddling it with a side car, LOL. I kept up, almost, with Dan and his Guzzi in the twistys, no mean feat considering he has 40+ years riding, and I have 2, LOL. A little more practice with the bike and I think I could, no problem. I may look for another after I get my sidecar on this one, I seem to remember that other years of this bike had a little more pep, too.