Hello !
In April 1984, I went to the BMW dealer and bought a new R65. The XS650 collateral allowed me to have the R65 fitted with the RT fairing BMW was offering to help sold the R65 at that time.
I did not know then that the bike was actually an 1982 model, which sat two years in the showroom. But I managed to have the kick starter (which was fitted on the bike) for free... My mother in law loaned me the remaining money at no interest. This was cool.
Alas, I've no picture of her (boy, was she gorgeous !) but may have some trannies from trips we took with the wife. (Ireland, camping, Austria, camping too, etc...)
I used her for a while as my sole mean of transportation. Then in 1998 I decided she was quite old for work and ready for pasture. So I bought a BMW K1100LT ES. That was a very big mistake. And an expensive one. 5 month later, the K11 was sitting in the garage waiting for a new owner and the R65 was back on the road. When the K11 finally sold, I bought a Hinckley Triumph Legend TT. An amazing and very pleasant bike. The R65 sat unused in the garage unless the Legend was due for some work at the dealer. Then when the Legend had more than 100 000 km I decided it was time for a change and bought a nice but boring Honda CBF600SA6. Very good bike which acts as a 125 CC when the engine is running below 5000 RPM and becomes wild above 6000 RPM to the red line. But generally boring.
So in 2012, I decided it was time for the R65 to get some facial lift and loose it's overweight fairing. I started from the front in early April by putting a new renovating kit on the Brembo, braided lines and dismantling the forks (boys, it was messy inside !) and cleaned, renovated renewing seals. The grease on the front bearings was hard as rock. So a cleaning and a good grease was due.
The engine was leaking oil somewhat, so it had a new set of rings fitted, new seals everywhere, a check on the valves new oil and that's it ! I put new brushes on the alternator, totally dismantled the two Bings and after cleaning them put a new set of rubber, and needle and jets. The gearbox had only it's oil replaced but the clutch was changed (the spring was weak and the disc too thin).
At that time I I decided to leave the rear of the bike untouched as the bill and time spend was astronomic...
Of course the bike had a nice paint job. See the picture, and a new set of tires.
After a few months on the road, the little selection spring in the gearbox decided it was time for him to die so I was left in third gear 30 km from home. I managed to get back and opened the gearbox to renew the selection. Everything else was ignored because the gearbox had been overhauled not so long ago (well long in the distance scale, not in the time scale...) Of course I put a new set of lip seals on the gearbox.
Then, last spring I decided that the frame was loosing too much of it's paint and that it was time for a powder coat. So I dismantled the bike and this time took some pictures. The women at the powder coating company (family business, mother, and daughters ) did a tremendous job. See the pictures.
The bike was assembled very very slowly because I had a slipping disk problem which lead to an operation. So it took some friends of mine to assemble her under my supervision. The missus helped a lot, see the picture... I had a new electrical wiring loom so I installed it. And of course I put new bearings in the steering and the swing arm. A pity because neither where shot. I also renovated the shock absorber in the transmission shaft and checked the Cardan coupling for play or stiffness.
A few weeks ago, I bought a rear wheel like new except for the bearings which where rusted badly. So now the only thing left is the rear conical drive which needs new splines...
Enjoy the pictures !