Also, again, this is what I've gathered from the forum, the manuals contradict each other and can be wrong, hence the multipronged approach. Things like torque values, fluid amounts, etc, etc.
You are 100% correct, some manuals got it wrong (including the Factory service manuals) and sometimes BMW has had a rethink of stuff like fluid quantities in forks and final drives or cylinder head torque, or drive shaft connecting bolts.
I'll go out on a limb and say that no printed manual has ever been 100% accurate and what's more, given the increasing antiquity of the model, they now never will be.
The only near canonical source of information in one place is Snowbum, and if you haven't yet been told about him, you have now, see:
http://bmwmotorcycletech.info/technical-articles-list.htm Not only is Snowbum an excellent and usually accurate source, he also provides something to do on long winter nights and is a well known cure for insomnia.
Your next best source is forums, particularly this one.
May I also 2nd (or is it 3rd by now) the suggestion that you not bother with the factory manuals. The factory tech service manuals are not the golden source of all things BMW you might think, rather they are written for a factory trained mechanic who has access to $10k worth of factory service tools. It is entirely unhelpful if you are in the middle of tearing something apart (or putting it back together) and the text says something like 'using the Matra 759 tool engaged at the anterior end of the shaft, drive the bearing into position until the depth indicator on Matra 237 enters the green zone using shims as appropriate.
To decode the above, it involves fitting the final (fixed) gear to the forward end of the intermediate gear shaft - nothing more is required than to smack the bastard into position with a hide hammer and a 40mm socket until the bearing butts up against the marks left either by it when you removed it, or by its predecessor - but you would never work that out from the factory service manual.
I won't buy into the Clymer/Haynes debate except to say that as you discover errors in specs, a pencil note to yourself or the next owner is a good idea.
