Airheads

[Motu]

I wanted a traditional bike,without delving into the past for something with twin shocks,or paying through the nose for some form of modern nostalgia - the mono suits me well.....after I tossed the German ergo,and got some decent sort of noise out of it.

Power and capacity has never been a drawcard for me - the R65 is a 650cc pushrod two valve twin,and that has always been perfect for me.Bikes to me are going around corners and coming out hard...got no problems there.Simplicity,reliability (I hope!)...lots of things I like in a bike.

[XP@]

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

Mine came with a spare diode plate, diodes, solder and a small gas powered solder iron as part of the on board tool kit. (well one of the tool kits, there are at least 5 toolkits on the bike, not including the host of stuff in the paniers intended for longer trips)

Andre obviously knew it was a problem and suffered a few times at the side of the road. But I never really managed to find out what happend when it broke. Unfortunatly it is a tad late to ask him

[xwhatsit]

I wanted a traditional bike,without delving into the past for something with twin shocks,or paying through the nose for some form of modern nostalgia - the mono suits me well.....after I tossed the German ergo,and got some decent sort of noise out of it.

Power and capacity has never been a drawcard for me - the R65 is a 650cc pushrod two valve twin,and that has always been perfect for me.Bikes to me are going around corners and coming out hard...got no problems there.Simplicity,reliability (I hope!)...lots of things I like in a bike.

No you're right, power and capacity is not important for me either, it's just the R65 at 45 horses sounds like it might not be the bike for me with lots of luggage, pillion, heavy bike to start with etc... then again, they say with these twins they make every horse count. Am I wrong? Or would one be better with another 150cc or so?

I've got two pedal-bikes already, one you have to pedal to get to 60kph (C50) and one you have to pedal to get to 110kph (CB250RS) -- I'd like something that will lug me and a girl and a pile of crap along the open road without having to pedal.

[Motu]

it's just the R65 at 45 horses sounds like it might not be the bike for me with lots of luggage, pillion, heavy bike to start with etc...

See the previous page for the torque/hp graph for the R65 mono - 48hp and a torque curve that's just horizontal.That's 2hp less than the R80,max torque 500rpm lower,max hp 750 higher....sure it's got less grunt,but you don't have to rev the shit out of it to get it up and going.Load it up and it will fall away quicker than the big bikes - but I mostly ride solo,and my luggage on a trip won't be much either.It'll run at any speed forever....my zone is 100 to 120kph,and it's sure not taxed to do that.As a comparison (for me) it is pulling 1,000rpm less than my XLV750 did in top gear....so it feels pretty lazy to me.

[xwhatsit]

See the previous page for the torque/hp graph for the R65 mono - 48hp and a torque curve that's just horizontal.That's 2hp less than the R80,max torque 500rpm lower,max hp 750 higher....sure it's got less grunt,but you don't have to rev the shit out of it to get it up and going.Load it up and it will fall away quicker than the big bikes - but I mostly ride solo,and my luggage on a trip won't be much either.It'll run at any speed forever....my zone is 100 to 120kph,and it's sure not taxed to do that.As a comparison (for me) it is pulling 1,000rpm less than my XLV750 did in top gear....so it feels pretty lazy to me.

Shows the importance of looking at a single number out of context, I suppose.

Airheads are relatively thin on the ground anyway (not like plastic-covered watercooled fours, owners don't seem to want to keep them) so I'll take my time and wait until something nice pops up -- factory panniers would be the icing on the cake!

[Bonez]

factory panniers would be the icing on the cake!

Make sure you've got the lids bunggied on.

[Voltaire]

I'm rebuilding a set of wheels, spoke set from Motobins and took the rims into Manukau Metal Polishers, and had hubs blasted.
Got my Son to do the spoking after five minutes training.
Spent the evening with a ( very ) DIY truing setup.
offset is 5 mm per side so just needed a straight edge and 5 mm drill bit to check the gap. Started with a a pair of spokes at NSEW and two hours later.....

[Motu]

offset is 5 mm per side

Um.....?? That equals equal? How can it be off set both sides?

[Voltaire]

Um.....?? That equals equal? How can it be off set both sides?

two wrongs dont make a right...but three lefts do....

[XP@]

I'm rebuilding a set of wheels, spoke set from Motobins and took the rims into Manukau Metal Polishers, and had hubs blasted.
Got my Son to do the spoking after five minutes training.
Spent the evening with a ( very ) DIY truing setup.
offset is 5 mm per side so just needed a straight edge and 5 mm drill bit to check the gap. Started with a a pair of spokes at NSEW and two hours later.....

I've just rebuilt the rear wheel for my James. Using an equally DIY set up!
It seems there is little in the way of wheel rebuilding info on KB will add a thread in the spanner section - like this one:
http://www.kiwibiker.co.nz/forums/sh...post1129211819

[Motu]

I finally succumbed to the negative internet pressure....and did my spline lube.The bike has done 70,000km,has had dealer servicing 90% of it's life...but a spline lube is not what a customer willingly asks for (trust me,I know customers).

So it was perfect.....

I used the Optimol grease that BMW recommend....surprised to see the high moly grease is white - but I have seen white CV joint grease before.Black moly grease is just a consumer identification thing,like red ATF.It's not a big job,although I pulled more stuff off than needed,but I'm doing a few other things as well....and I'm poking around to see how this thing works and stuff.

I'll do the driveshaft next winter when I pull the rear drive to repair the stripped driveshaft oil drain plug.

[Ixion]

Ah, but you don't lube your splines because they NEED it. You lube them because it's what you do, and so you can throw it into general conversation to prove your workshop cred. Like "doing the tappets" was once.

[tri boy]

Motu's air head is becoming a bit of a talking point down this way. two customers have mentioned seeing it about the Huntly region, ("Stand Up John on the Scrambler, and another bloke).
Next he will be signing autographs
(Oh, I mean the air head bike)

[Kokopelli]

Ah, but you don't lube your splines because they NEED it. You lube them because it's what you do, and so you can throw it into general conversation to prove your workshop cred. Like "doing the tappets" was once.

Well, I've lubed the splines because I had to dive into the clutch housing three times, due to the lack of my workshop skills :-). So I thought I might as well do them. I also used the white Optimol, but I am not too impressed by its stickability (technical term :-).. Next time I'll use a Wuerth product.

Well, thanks to Max's know-how the R80GS Basic is humming again. While no flat tracker, it's a pretty good ride on gravel.

[Motu]

Next time I'll use a Wuerth product.

You'll need to brush up on the German Alex.....I'll use Wurth next time too,but thought I better use the Optimol as a newby.

I was a bit stunned when the Basic went past like I was standing still! But once over the hill I seemed to find my pace,ditched those pesky KTM's and started to reel you in...I could see your white helmet as my rabbit.