New owner and member in Sydney

[base]

Hi everyone. I just purchased a 1984 R65 in pretty original condition. I wanted something simple, rugged and comfortable to tour on and the R65 seems to fit the bill. Mine came with panniers and the rear rack which will come in handy.

I'll be keeping it standard, although the brakes are a bit scary compared to my 2013 Ducati monster.  They may need improving.
Other than sticky clutch and throttle cables it runs very well. Some new cables and a spline lube will be the first things attended to.

[steve hawkins]

Welcome,

Nice looking bike.

A lot can be done to the front brake to improve it.

Check the disk for grooving and cracks.  If problematic it can be replaced with a floating disk or a cast iron one.

Look at your pads for glazing.

Look into replacing the brake lines.  Braided hoses are favorite, but a new set of standard ones will be better that 30 year old lines.

Lastly, replace the brake fluid with clean new fluid.

If you are still not happy, you can fit a second disk, but you will also have to find a new master cylinder.  None of the above will be wasted though.

Cheers

Rev. Light

[AlfromNH]

Really nice looking bike. I'm sure the brake and cable issues can be sorted easily. Have fun!

[base]

Thanks for the suggestions Rev. It actually has had the MC rebuilt recently, and a braided line installed too. But it hasn't been ridden. It might need bedding in so I'll reserve final judgement until I've ridden it a bit. I just got it registered today so let the fun begin.

Fortunately the previous owner spent a decent chunk of money getting it freshened up a few months ago. All new fluids and filters, rebuilt carbies, new tyres etc.

The bike also has Staintune mufflers so it makes a little more noise than standard I assume.

[Luca]

Welcome aboard.  That's a nice looking R65

Aside from everything Steve said about the front brakes, you can also check that the rear drum and shoes are in good order.  The drum can glaze too, especially if the brake was ever adjusted to the point that it dragged a bit.  Also, the brake cam that goes through the final drive has some o-rings on it.  If that fails (mine did once) it will let gear oil into the rear drum and things get verrrry slippery.

There's a lot of good information about airheads at www.bmwmotorcycletech.info  Make sure you check out the section on the $2000 o-ring.  That will be very important when you go to do your first oil filter change.

[montmil]

Hey, Base... Ya left your lights on!  

Welcome to our growing asylum.

[clonmore1]

Welcome and a very nice bike.

"It actually has had the MC rebuilt recently, and a braided line installed too".

I read somewhere on here that you need to ensure the system has been properly bled, the M/C needs to be inverted slightly to get the last air bubbles out, this could account for the performance (not my knowledge, I read it from one of the sage's on here... ). Having said that, you can't compare a 65 against a Ducati Monster for braking performance, two different worlds!

[base]

So I got the bike registered, the rain has stopped in Sydney and finally got to take it out for a decent ride.

The brakes aren't quite as bad as I first thought.  I did a few hard stops and it pulls up reasonably well but with a lot of lever pressure required.  I've ordered new pads anyway, hopefully fresh ones will give it a bit more bite.

The throttle needs some work.  It's fairly stiff when rolling it on, and when the bike warms up it doesn't want to return to idle.  The grip snaps back ok, but the idle stays high.  So I guess either the cable is getting hung up somewhere when it heats up, or the carbies themselves are not returning to closed.

How stiff should the throttle feel when rolling it on?  And I gather that there is some sort of cam that increases the cable pull ratio at a certain point.  I can feel an abrupt transition where the throttle gets harder to open but also increases the rate of opening...

Clutch is pretty stiff, which I think is a combination of being spoilt by a brand new Ducati wet clutch, a crappy old cable and input shaft splines that need lubing.  

On the positive side, the engine feels healthy, starts first time with no choke and has plenty of torque.

I'll do some more fiddling on the weekend.

[montmil]

Your notes have revealed some potential issues that may be easily resolved.

Regarding the "stiff throttle" I would first check the throttle lock screw to see if it is overly tight. Look to the bottom/front of the twist grip and spot a large diameter screw with a slotted head. This is the throttle lock and its primary use is in balancing the throttle cables at medium-high revs. If over-tightened, you'll have a stiff throttle. It can also functions as a simple cruise control.

Additionally, check for any tight bends or kinks in the length of the throttle cables. Mis-routed cables can cause issues. If you're feeling confident, open up the top of the twist grip and clean up/re-lube the throttle cam gears. Align the tiny scratch mark on the throttle tube with the dot on the gear before closing up. Hard to spot if dirty in the gears.

By mentioning your bike starts without using the enrichener circuits -there's really no chokes on the Airheads- tells me your idle mixture is incorrectly set. Locate the idle mix screws on the bottom of the carbs; they'll be brass with slotted ends.
   Use a pencil and mark the exact location of the screw slots. Go for a lengthy warm-up ride to get the engine up to proper operating temperature. 10+ miles at a minimum.
   Park the bike on the centerstand and, with the engine still running, pinch down the mixture screws no more than the thickness of the screwdriver blade. Blip the throttle a bit and see if the idle goes lower. Won't take much but the pencil marks will allow you to return to the original setting, if need be. Work the screws in until you have an idle at 900-1000 rpm. Any lower revs and you risk running the timing chain and gears without being oiled.

Check clutch cable routing. There should be only one zip-tie on the clutch cable's run and that's at the point where the cable turns from horizontal to semi-vertical on its way to the lever. Dab of grease on the clutch cable nipple at the lever arm on the rear of the gearbox. Clutch spline cleaning and lube with proper moly-grease should be done soon. To do the job well, the gearbox needs to be pulled off the input splines. Also, check the cable barrel as it fits into the handlebar lever assembly. Clean and lube as req'd.

That ought to keep you busy for a little while. Report back your results. We're always happy to dream up a few additional chores for a new R65 owner.

Got a shop manual?

[base]

Thanks Monte, some great advice there.  I'll try all those things when I get some time on the weekend.

I've got a Haynes manual that came with the bike.  It's a bit patchy...

There isn't a big screw on the underside of the throttle grip - I found other threads referring to it so that was the first thing I looked for.  

[nhmaf]

Welcome aboard!

It's a nice looking bike and I'm sure that you'll have any remaining items sorted out - our community here is famous for helping out!

We're getting quite a gang of Australians on this forum - we'll have to check out our what became of our alternate Frappr map of members...

[MR.E]

Ey up mate, welcome to the club!!
Yours is another of a string of tidy R65's, all 3 of mine have needed some TLC when i've bought them, i'd love to find one in this condition.

All the best

[base]

Thanks for all the warm welcomes!

I did some more fiddling on the weekend.  I read through Snowbum's carb synching instructions, watched Chris Harris' video explanation on Youtube, read Montmil's advice above and then got out my screwdriver.

It turns out the high idle wasn't a stiff throttle, but a combination of the idle mixture and speed screws.  I think I'm getting a hang of what's required to set these correctly, with the bike now idling around 1000rpm or a touch over (according to the tach, although Chris Harris reckons the tach is not to be believed).  It's not happy idling any lower than that at the moment.  I also suspect that they are a bit out of synch still and I either need to get some vacuum gauges or use the short out method to get the synch closer.

Speaking of which, does a 1984 R65 have vacuum ports on the carbs?

I also disconnected the clutch cable from the actuating lever at the gearbox to check if the cable was binding.  It wasn't, so the stiffness in the clutch is either the actuator or the splines or both.  I'll pull all that apart and lube it when I get enough time up my sleeve.  

With a freshly lubed set of splines and actuator, and a good clutch cable, how heavy should the clutch feel at the lever?  Mine gives me a sore hand riding in traffic.  Are there any solutions out there to reduce the lever effort?

[montmil]

Properly set up, from clutch lever barrel to clutch push rod, the Airhead should be quite light on the lever. I'd "get enough time up my sleeve" as soon as you can. Bodged clutch splines can turn into $$$ repairs.

If the '84 has Bing CV carbs, yes, there will be vacuum take-off points. Go to the Tech section and click on "Carb Balance" for a snap of the vacuum ports.

[Luca]

I like the way Snowbum does his spline lube because it gives you plenty of room to work and takes care of a few maintenance points at once.

Basically, he removes the clutch arm from the back of the trans.  The bearings on that get cleaned and lubed.

The swingarm is undone-the lock nuts are a tight fit in the swingarm tube.  A thin walled 27mm (or 1-1/16") socket is usually needed.  You can buy one, turn one on a lathe, or even just use a grinder on the walls of the socket.  If you deem it necessary, you can remove and clean the swingarm bearings.

With that done, there is plenty of room to get to the splines, and to back out the clutch rod enough that you can put a dab of moly on the forward end of it.  At the same time, you lightly lube the throwout bearing since it might take a little while to get oil back up to it.

Re-center the swingarm and re-grease the bearings.  Take it for a 12k mile ride