moike
Old Fahrt
Welcome to the wonderful world of airheads.
It certainly looks like you are uncovering the secret of riding them. Relax and go for smooth lines.
A couple of things to keep an eye on:
The rubber boot where the speedo cable enters the top of the gearbox (just by your right foot) will perish or come loose. It can let water into the gearbox, replacing nice slippery oil with sticky emulsion. Not recommended. Check regularly and replace if necessary.
There is a metal fairing stay that holds the sides of the fairing in place. It passes over the top of the engine housing. In a bit of design brilliance, it passes alarmingly close to where a big thick wire passes into the engine housing. This is a high capacity, unfused, live cable that supplies current to the starter motor. It is not unknown for the fairing stay to rub on the cable, damaging the insulation, and causing a very high current short circuit. Next time you have the tank off, make sure it is sound. I have lodged an extra bit of insulating material in there, secured with gaffer tape.
If you are the type who does their own servicing, be very careful about how you replace the oil filter. See http://bmwmotorcycletech.info/Oil.htm or google for "the $2000 O-Ring".
Motobins (www.motobins.co.uk) is a useful, cheap and reliable supplier of bits and pieces. They also host a BMW forum with a good signal to noise ratio.
Enjoy!
Mike
('79 R100RS)
It certainly looks like you are uncovering the secret of riding them. Relax and go for smooth lines.
A couple of things to keep an eye on:
The rubber boot where the speedo cable enters the top of the gearbox (just by your right foot) will perish or come loose. It can let water into the gearbox, replacing nice slippery oil with sticky emulsion. Not recommended. Check regularly and replace if necessary.
There is a metal fairing stay that holds the sides of the fairing in place. It passes over the top of the engine housing. In a bit of design brilliance, it passes alarmingly close to where a big thick wire passes into the engine housing. This is a high capacity, unfused, live cable that supplies current to the starter motor. It is not unknown for the fairing stay to rub on the cable, damaging the insulation, and causing a very high current short circuit. Next time you have the tank off, make sure it is sound. I have lodged an extra bit of insulating material in there, secured with gaffer tape.
If you are the type who does their own servicing, be very careful about how you replace the oil filter. See http://bmwmotorcycletech.info/Oil.htm or google for "the $2000 O-Ring".
Motobins (www.motobins.co.uk) is a useful, cheap and reliable supplier of bits and pieces. They also host a BMW forum with a good signal to noise ratio.
Enjoy!
Mike
('79 R100RS)
