Well, the R90’s been down for a couple weeks, mostly because I haven’t found the time to do the work on it that’s been mounting up. I need to make a list, there’s enough of it to do. You know how, on an old bike like this, little niggling things go wrong and you tell yourself, you’ll get to them next time you’ve got something major to do, or else next time you’ve got the time to take care of all the little nigglies. Well, it’s past time on this old beast. Especially since the stuff the bike needs now are no longer minor items. Lessee, the clutch cable broke, the alternator stopped charging, and the starter relay is out — just for starters . . . so to speak.

Here’s the list:

Clutch cable — replace

Alternator system — troubleshoot and R&R as required

Starter relay — replace

Tachometer –Rr&R main mechanism: clean and lube. Clean bulb contacts or replace bulb. Repair or replace tach needle. Clean and lube tach cable.

Fork gaiters — replace

Front brake pads — inspect and replace if necessary

Tires — replace

Fuel lines — replace

While I’ m pulling all this major maintenance, I should probably lube the transmission splines and inspect the final drive as well. Time to replace the fluids anyway.

-M

It’s been longer than I care to admit since I’ve had the R90 out for an extended road trip.  My bud Dan and I rode up to Lake Belton, just north of Temple, Texas, to meet up with some other BMW riders.  Spent the night there.  The weather was pretty miserable.  It blew hard and cold all the way up to the lake, even rained briefly a couple of times.  That night, we had a great display of lightning and thunder, high wind and, of course, rain.  Saturday dawned, wet and murky — and cold.  After a few cups of coffee and a couple kolaches, we headed out.  I mentioned to Dan that I wanted to visit a friend of ours down in Austin — Fai Jow — another hardcore BMW rider — who own’s Ming’s Cafe on Guadalupe St.  Dan liked the idea.  So we rode down to Austin — didn’t get rained on on the way down, but it was cold and windy.  Not fun.

We had lunch at Fai’s, then Fai finally arrived.  He had just discovered a nice set of twisty roads in and around Austin so he took us on a spirited ride through some nice real estate.  The condition of the roads was superb, the traffic light, the views spectacular, and the twisties fantastic.  50 miles later, we were good and stoked.

Fai had to don his chef’s hat, so Dan and I headed out again, down Wimberley way, where he has a trailer sitting on a friends property.  We decided we’d overnight there.  Cool trailer — a 1966 vintage Airstream.

Next morning we set out.  Dan had a staff meeting to go to.  I was planning on taking some back roads that would eventually dump me out on the 10 freeway, but I changed my mind on the fly and headed up to highway 71 instead.  71 goes through Bastrop and LaGrange — my home town.  I decided that it would be nice to stop off in my hometown for lunch.  Hadn’t been there in a few years, so it was time.  Well, it being a Sunday and all, the only thing I could find open was a Sonic and a Subway, and a little hole in the wall called the Lone Star Bar and Cafe.  I decided on the latter.  It was a good choice.  Just a quiet little cafe and beer bar.  Sat around, chatting with the locals for a while, drank a few Bud Lights, and had a big plate of chicken spaghetti.  Yum.  After saying my ’sayonaras’ I was back on the road, 71 to the I-10 superslab, and back to Houston.  LaGrange is not really that far from here.  I’ll have to make that trip more often.

-M

The R90/6 centerstand’s operation is dependent upon a cheesy little wavy shaped piece of round barstock, probably about 7mm in diameter, which is welded to the centerstand and which is used to grab with ones foot to lower it. Some dweebs will push down on this piece when lifting the bike onto its centerstand — a big uhn-uh! Mine must have been weakened by a previous owner’s use, cuz it just fell off one day when I was out riding.

I put up with this condition for too long and finally decided to fix it. First thing I did was get down where I was at eye level with the centerstand, and using a wooden stick, determined that, by relocating the push-piece’s position a bit higher, I could use a straight piece of rod. So I went to the hardware store and bought a piece of 3/8″ diameter mild steel rod and cut off a 5″ piece with my trusty grinder, then beveled the end.

Next I got out my acetylene rig. If you work on old bikes and you don’t have an acetylene rig, or at least an arc welder of some sort, well, you should. They come in right handy for all sorts of stuff. So anyway, I get out my rig, and I prepare the area on the centerstand that I’ll be welding this piece to by grinding off the paint right there. Fired up the torch and welded it in place. Note the location of the new piece in relation to the stub of the old one.

I was figuring that 5 inches was too long, and I was right. Even at this length, however, there were no clearance issues between the centerstand’s “tab” and the side stand.

Better too long than too short, though. So I ground off just a bit more than an inch off the end and re-beveled it again. Just about right, this time. Still long enough where I can catch it with the side of my foot to put the stand up, and about an inch or so protrudes from below the muffler, which is good enough to get my foot onto.

Next I shot it with some Rustoleum Heavy Duty black enamel, and called it “done.”

‘Swhat I’m talkin’ bout.

So, what to do if you have a broken centerstand and you don’t have access to a welder?  I’ve seen sets of universal clamp-on footpegs auctioned on eBay for cheap.  I’ll bet one of those would work.

-M

I’ve owned both my airheads for over five years now.  Shortly after I acquired them, I went to the trouble of putting together a web page for each one.  Since I want this blog to be as accurate and complete as possible regarding my experiences with these two machines, I realized I would have to provide links to these web pages.  They have actually been offline for quite a while, and there is still no direct link to them from the website’s home page, but that don’t matter as long as you click on them here.  I’ll also list the links in the link section.

R90

R100 

-M

For over a year, my tach has been making noise — kind of a warbling scratchy noise, and it’s really annoying.  Problem is, I usually don’t think about it until I’ve hopped on the bike and fired it up.  The needle also swings some, an indication that the cable could use some lube.  About six months ago, the needle fell off.  Broke at the hub.

Right after the needle broke off the hub, I pulled the tach and opened it up.  Tried lubing areas that looked like it might help to reduce the noise, but was not succesful.  I used Super Glue to reattach the needle.  It held.  For a while.

About a week ago, the needle fell off again.  This time, when I pull the tach, I’m gonna be a bit more dilligent.  I will lube the tach cable, and whatever it takes, I’m gonna find out where the noise is coming from and fix it.  To keep the needle from falling off again, I plan to use Super Glue again, but this time I will fashion a small wooden splint to fit between the hub and the needle.  The needle has a “V” cross-section to it, hollow on the inside.  I plan to lay the splint in the hollow area so that it overlaps the needle and the hub, and drop the glue down on this arrangement.  If this doesn’t work, I’ll start scrounging for a replacement needle.

While I have the instrument cluster off the bike, I also intend to repair the odometer’s reset knob.  I was surprised to find that the shaft that fits down into the gear that is turned to zero out the trip odometer is made from plastic.  It twisted off a while back.  To repair this, I plan to clip the shaft off the knob, and drill a hole in the knob where the shaft was.  I’ll then take the very end of a speedometer or tach cable, cut it to the necessary length (less than 1″) and use JB Weld to fasten it in place.  I’m hoping this should hold.  If not, I guess I’ll be fishing for a replacement knob in addition to a spare tach needle.

I’ll document this repair with photos so you can see how I did it.

-M

Okay, I’ll admit it. I love the old BMW “Airhead” motorcycles. Properly cared for, they will last for hundreds of thousands of miles. Parts are still readily available for bikes that are over 30 years old. And your average, well kept, 30-year old Airhead will probably outlast the lastest Tupperware-clad crotch rocket purchased just last week.

I bought my first BMW motorcycle — a 1976 R90/6 — in January, 2003. Two weeks later, I bought my second one — a 1988 R100RS. It wasn’t intentional, that’s just the way it worked out. Both were such good deals, I couldn’t pass either one up.

Nowadays the R90 is my daily rider, while the R100 has been sitting for a while — quite a while, sad to say. The master cylinder began leaking, and I parked it. My health was weighing me down at the time, making even the smallest tasks real chores, so I just neglected it. Fortunately, I am happy to report that I’ve gotten a reprieve with my health, am involved in a weight loss program that I hope works out, and things are looking up. I’ve cleaned up the R100 in preparation for getting busy with the front brakes. I also have a fairing swap in the works for that bike. More on that later.

Here are some shots of the r90 with its new seat cover.

The R90/6 has been an amazingly reliable ride. The points lasted almost five years before they finally wore out. The plugs really didn’t need to be replaced, but I went ahead and replaced them too while I was at it. Repairs have been minimal. I replaced the clutch cable six months ago. Last week, I recovered the seat. The tach’s needle broke off and I had to glue it back onto its hub.

A few shots of the R100RS after giving it a bath.

Now that it looks like I’ll finally be getting what I want — an R100RT — why do I feel so sad over the prospect of selling my R90? I can’t keep it. Room is tight and I really need the funds from the sale of the bike to put toward buying a clean, used pickup. I don’t particularly want a pickup, but I do need one.

Maybe once I get theR100 back on the road and start riding it again, I’ll get over this feeling of loss. I can say this: whoever ends up with that bike is gonna be one lucky guy . . . or gal. Chicks dig Airheads, too.

You know what bothers me about this? I know that that R90 will last for as long as I want to maintain it. It’s 32 years old. Can it make another 32 years? Absolutely. But whatever pickup I buy for $4k to $5k, I’ll be real lucky if I get 10 years out of it before it just falls apart around me. Ten years from now, that Beemer will still be on the road and going strong. The pickup will have been recycled into new pickups.

I’m gonna miss it.

I really love the way my R100RS handles, but I just don’t care for the riding position: face down, butt up in the air — or so it feels.  I love the R90/6 also, especially its gobs of low-end torque, which the R100RS does not have, and its upright riding position, but it is not nearly as nimble as the R100 is.

So, I’ve been jonesin’ for a while for a R100RT.  Especially a late-model Monolever model, like this one:

I tell myself that if I just had an RT, I’d be willing to sell both the R90 and the RS.  But since funds are usually tight around here, and no way am I going any deeper into debt, I haven’t had the extra scratch to pick up a nice R100RT.  Clean ones go for quite a premium.  Then it dawned on me.  Why get rid of the RS?  Why not just convert it to an RT?  About half the fairing pieces interchange between the two bikes as it is.  So that’s the new plan.  I have made several contacts with folks who own RTs or RT parts who are willing either to part with them or possibly trade straight across.

It looks like a deal might be happening in this regard within the next week or two.  Just the sort of impetus I need to light a fire under my butt and fix the bike, get it back on the road.