Airheads

[Motu]

Lets make our first sticky on the most important subject of all.

I'm only an apprentice Airhead,dead keen to ruin a perfectly good R65 before your very eyes! Max Headroom is stepping in as an able tutor,and I'm sure I'll spend many hours in his shed kicking a ball around to keep his dog happy for a few seconds.

Let's talk wiring - I'm well versed in Lucas of old,and still frustrated by meaning less colour codes for Japanese bikes.Of course the Germans have their own way....and it seems reasonable....but quirky.

What is the ''Special Connection'' socket? What can I put in there? What's it for? I have other dead end wires.....For different models (GS/RT?).

[Dodgyiti]

BMW electrical parts rarely fail from my experience. Shop around though, and never, ever buy factory parts.
And Max knows his stuff. Ya got the right mentor.

BTW, the rectifier is the same as roundbarrel Guzzis and much cheaper from a Guzzi parts place.

[Ixion]

You can also quite easily replace the diodes in the diode plate, for just a few dollars.

[Pedrostt500]

Dunno about rearly fail my old K100 seemed to have many electrical gremlins.
fixed it by selling it.

[Ixion]

K100 ain't an airhead.

[Bonez]

The old mans R80 ignition pickup went tits up. Only electrical gremlin since he bought it in '89 or there abouts. Sump screws can rattle lose, believe it or not.............

[gammaguy]

the airheads had a strange alternator.the rotor was inside the stator.this lead to the occasional issues of it burning out,but at least there are a number of new ones available,or rebuilt units.

apart from that and leaking pushrod tubes they are pretty bulletproof.look after the driveline though,a little MP3 grease goes a long way....

[Motu]

I know about pushrod tubes - I lost a VW engine that way....they lose more oil there than you think.Or at least,more than I think.....which is possibly not how you think.

The thing I like about the airhead - the alternator is not strange,it's just like a car one.Ditto the ignition system - the Bosch module is well known to me in it's more common other uses.Ditto the starter,I know how that one works too.Diodes on a board...cool,just where I like to see one,not imbeded in resin.It's so simple,I can see everything I need to work on,I can pull them off without removing half the bike around it.

I'll ride it for the summer,and do the dreaded spline lube in the winter.

[rudolph]

I have a brand new R65/75 R100 work shop book if you want, never cracked the cover, but blew my engine to peaces

[Voltaire]

BMW electrical parts rarely fail from my experience. Shop around though, and never, ever buy factory parts.

BTW, the rectifier is the same as roundbarrel Guzzis and much cheaper from a Guzzi parts place.

replace German Electics with Italian .

[Richard Mc F]

replace German Electics with Italian .

Should this be in jokes and humour

[Motu]

First ride on the R65 Streettracker project tonight - Oh happy day,this thing will make dirt bikes look stupid on gravel.

Seeing as this is the Classic forum - real eagle eyes will of course see the Doherty grips.These were my favorite grip in the '70's,before we got spoiled for choice.So I was happy to find a brand new pair in my junk looking for something else.

[Kickaha]

this thing will make dirt bikes look stupid on gravel.

Quite possibly, I always found my R75/7 awesome on gravel roads

Did the R65 come out monoshock?, only seen twinshockers myself

[Motu]

Quite possibly, I always found my R75/7 awesome on gravel roads

Did the R65 come out monoshock?, only seen twinshockers myself

The requirements for a bike to handle on gravel are not the same as for off road - but of course dirt bikes are so much better on gravel than street bikes that most people assume that is the case.The tyres were chosen for the purpose,not because they are ''classic'',but because they work well in gravel.Likewise the bars - they are genuine flattracker handle bars,called Slideways that I got from the US.It's no fluke this bike is good on gravel,it is being made to be good on gravel.

Plenty of mono R65's....it's just that they are the same as an R80 so easy to miss.

[Max Headroom]

Did the R65 come out monoshock?, only seen twinshockers myself

Sure did. Last of the twin-shock R65 production was 1986, then in 1987 the 650cc mono came out at the same time as the rest of the R80 mono range. The R100RS & R100RT mono came a year or so later. The R65 mono was scorned by those who never rode one, respected by those who did.....