New owner and member in Sydney

[Luca]

Oh, and a note on adjusting the clutch:

It will be heavy and grabby if not set up properly.  The adjustor at the clutch lever (handlebars) is used to get the clutch arm (back of trans) to the proper angle/distance from arm end to cable tang on the trans (sorry, don't have a pic on hand).  The adjustor on the clutch arm is then used to get the free play at the levers set properly.  As you work, turn the bars from lock to lock occasionally to make sure the cable always has some slack.

While you should do splines on a new-to-you bike to set a good maintenance baseline, if they are really crying for grease you will probably find that the bike doesn't like shifting gears, especially going from neutral to first.  This is an indicator that the splines should have already been greased, not that they finally need some more

[Tony Smith]

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

Yes, cunningly hidden under the carb, close to the hose coupling that connects them to the cylinder head. If they are original expect to see simply slot-headed screws (which by the way, the absence of which has been known to case funny idling.

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?

A BMW airhead clutch is never going to be "feather light," but by the same rule you should not end up with a grip that can crush walnuts. Lubrication and correct adjustment of all components (including as you rightly point out spline lube) will help,but not completely eliminate the "weighty" pull needed to disengage the clutch.
 
Some years ago, around the R75 model I think, you used to be able to buy an inline cable "agent" which provided a mechanical increase in ratio, they were marked to the (fairly few at the time) women who were commencing to ride R75s. I cannot even recall who made them, but Luftmeister would be high on the list of suspects. I have not seen an ad for them in at least 35 years though.

[Barry]

I don't know if this could be applied to the later models. On the 78 - 80 clutch the return spring is external and contributes substantially to the force required. Using a spring balance I experimented by measuring the clutch lever pull at the handlebars with and without the spring fitted. I forget the exact figure but the spring was adding something like 40% to the pull so I contrived a weaker spring which was still strong enough to return the lever properly and that resulted in a noticeably lighter clutch.

It's a German over engineering thing to have springs that are too strong.


There are several clutch gearing systems around based on pulleys that halve the travel and effort. Here's one, notice it retains the original cable and nipple which is not the case with all of them.

[base]

Thanks for the various pieces of advice on the clutch.  I'll make sure that all the bits in between the clutch and the lever are in good shape before I investigate cable agents and so on, but good to know they are out there.

[base]

I spent some quality time with my R65 over the weekend.  Pulled the gearbox to inspect and lube the input shaft splines.

Despite it looking like the gearbox hadn't been disturbed in a long time, the splines actually had traces of grease still there and the splines looked brand new.  All good!

5 hours elapsed from start to finish...

[base]

And thanks to Chris Harris' Youtube video explaining how to do it.  Made things very easy.

[Tony Smith]

I want your rear vision mirrors, which as far as I know were only fitted to BMWs in Australia in 1979/1980.
 
The plastic airbox dates your R65 well after that.

[base]

Tony you're welcome to the mirrors if you have something to swap for them. I would prefer something more adjustable and less rattly

The bike is definitely a 1984 model so who knows why the mirrors are different...

[Tony Smith]

Tony you're welcome to the mirrors if you have something to swap for them. I would prefer something more adjustable and less rattly

The bike is definitely a 1984 model so who knows why the mirrors are different...

I will come back to you - currently trying to win a set of late model ones which I will swap you.