PROJECT BIKE - '82 R65LS ACQUIRE & REBUILD

[marcmiller001]

Hi all,

New member here, but have followed along for 6 months prior to buying my first BMW airhead. I acquired it yesterday - an '82 R65LS with just over 14K on it. Took it on it's first ride yesterday as well and it performed pretty well!

Truth be told - this is my first motorcycle - something I have avoided for many years and just getting the courage to buy. I am a professional race driver by trade and grew up racing/maintaining racing karts, shifterkarts and built a couple 250cc superkart projects. Since then I have been racing cars and don't typically get to tinker on those machines too much so a bike seemed like a great remedy! Got my garage prepped over the last week and it was ready to accept my "new to me" R65LS yesterday. Seems to be an early model - not yet fitted with Brembos (build date seems to be January 1982).

After my first 20 minutes I noticed that the idle seems high - about 3K or more. It was 1500 after it was warmed up until halfway through my ride. Also - since I am new to big bikes (I thrash a vespa around town from time to time) I got off the bike w/o putting the kick stand down once  :-? I saved it halfway down so it only had a good LEAN to it, but the left carb subsequently puked fuel all over the ground. I will not be so hasty to get off my bike in the future  

Thankful for such a good forum - riding season is coming to a close here in Michigan but happy I'll be able to ride a bit in Fall as it is beautiful.

If anyone has great resources here in West Michigan for experts on these bikes, forum members in the area or good clubs/meet ups where I can learn more - I'd happily trade them for cool racing stories. Happy to take any advice that comes my way!

[Oconner]

Welcome, this is a great site with lots of knowledgeable folks and good info. I also have an 82 LS (silver the fastest color). You will find all your answers somewhere on this site or "it didn't really happen"!

Happy riding.

[AJB]

Welcome Marc!

Nice looking bike - I always liked the red, although as O'Conner correctly points out, the silver ones ARE faster....

Hopefully you'll have seen my comments regarding my similar issues to yours and how I 'fixed' them - nothing major so just get on and ride while the weather allows - that's what I did!  I have also recently fitted a pair of Krauser Starlets just like yours.  Other's will advise you to put a strap on them as the locks apparently cannot be relied on, so allow me to be the first!

[montmil]

Welcome to the herd, Marc with a C.

One of the issues with a high idle may be sticking advance weights inside the ignition "bean can". Other possible suspects might include valve lash and ignition timing.

To insure the timing chain and sprockets receive proper oiling, idle speeds lower than 7-800rpm should be avoided.

A simple test: while stopped and experiencing high idle revs, keep the bike in gear and gently begin to engage the clutch, then disengage clutch. If idle speed remains at the desired lower revs, suspect a bean can service in near future.

Just my opinion based on my limited experience.

[marcmiller001]

Thanks guys for the nice welcome - and the advice. Red wasn't my first color - but it will do for now before my list of mods begin taking place over the winter. Mainly my aim has been to learn about the bike - go through some of the routine maintenance and get in mechanically tip-top before anything else is to be done.

I actually removed the Krausers and use a small backpack instead. Like the cleaner look and also didn't trust "just the latches"   I used the Krauser license plate bracket and modified it to fit the turn signals instead of searching out an R65 turn-signal bracket for the time being. Fun little side project. If anyone is looking for a set of Krausers - I will part with mine - they likely will not go back on.

I just got done with a nice 25 mile ride and noticed idle does return to normal a bit after releasing the clutch. I guess I'll use the forum search to add "bean can service" to my To Do list  

[marcmiller001]

Here is "sans Krausers" and the "until I replace the seat and rear fender" turn signal bracket.

[Justin B.]

Marc,

Good lookin' bike.  Yeah, the turn signal brackets are a bit ghetto but they hide pretty well and work!  A duplicate of the original would be extremely easy since you have access to a race  shop!  I can send you a sketch and some dimensions...

Justin B.

[AJB]

I'm confused - why did you need to change the turn signal fixings?  How were they held on originally?

[marcmiller001]

I'm confused - why did you need to change the turn signal fixings?  How were they held on originally?

They were held on using the cast aluminum Krauser brackets... therefore the original R65 turn signal rod was missing (no bueno). I didn't discover this until after I had spent all the time removing the Hrausers and framework - so I rigged that up for the time being  

[marcmiller001]

Marc,

Good lookin' bike.  Yeah, the turn signal brackets are a bit ghetto but they hide pretty well and work!  A duplicate of the original would be extremely easy since you have access to a race  shop!  I can send you a sketch and some dimensions...

Justin B.

Agreed  8-) but I think this will do for now - since I will be trying to replace the brake light and signals and rear fender over the winter. Kinda janky right now.

[AJB]

I'm confused - why did you need to change the turn signal fixings?  How were they held on originally?

They were held on using the cast aluminum Krauser brackets...

Well, every day's a school day!  I had no idea there were special Krauser brackets for the turn signals.  This might explain why I had trouble fitting my Krausers, and why there is NO clearance between the panniers and the signals.  I don't suppose you have pictures of the turn signal / bracket set up before you removed them?  I'd like to see how that looks.  Sounds like I might need to source some before next spring!

[marcmiller001]

I will get some photos for you of the brackets today.

[marcmiller001]

Spent a little more time with the bike this week... plus 160 miles more on the odometer.

Did some routine service and removed some of the body panels. Then did a header wrap. Looking at some shorter cone mufflers to replace the stock pieces.

[marcmiller001]

Hi AJB. Here are the brackets. I have 2 sets... looks like a repaired set of the original cast aluminum plates... then a another set of aluminum fab'd pieces. The tail lights were mounted to the larger of the holes. If you want these...let me know!

I'm confused - why did you need to change the turn signal fixings?  How were they held on originally?

They were held on using the cast aluminum Krauser brackets...

Well, every day's a school day!  I had no idea there were special Krauser brackets for the turn signals.  This might explain why I had trouble fitting my Krausers, and why there is NO clearance between the panniers and the signals.  I don't suppose you have pictures of the turn signal / bracket set up before you removed them?  I'd like to see how that looks.  Sounds like I might need to source some before next spring!

[montmil]

Appears one of the brackets was involved in a bar fight.