These aren't just for the GS models but cover all BMW air-cooled twins.
Exhaust valves - 80K miles on the 80/100 models, 60k miles on the R45/65.
Undo exhaust flange nuts yearly, coat threads in nickel anti-sieze paste.
If the bike is pre-81 with the under tank front brake master cylinder check the main relay and wiring under the master cylinder = brake fluid leaks out and fecks the area big time.
Renew front and rear wheel bearing seals on the models with shimmed taper bearings.
Post 81 bikes grease the heat sink that attaches to the ignition controller.
Yearly undo the four engine mounting bolts and tap the engine mounting studs in and out and rotate back and forth to stop them from seizing. Do the same thing on the front mudguard mounting bolts.
Every few years renew the rubber speedo cover where it locates into the gearbox, it perishes and allows water into the gearbox.
Centre stand bushings, again mainly pre-81 bikes. Grease yearly and replace every few years. I see far too many bikes with fecked frame lugs due to dry bushes and the bike drops too far back and it's a struggle to get the bike off the centre stand as it's gone too far forward.
Thank you very much Mr Steptoe.
This stuff you mention for the exhaust stubs, now this wouldn't be that aero engine stuff you mentioned some time ago is it? Or is it something that's available to Joe-Bloggs-on-the-street? Either Coppaslip or Optimol seems to be a popular choice, I have a fair bit of each, is it worth getting this nickel based stuff if I do undo (do undo?? Yes, that's right, that's right) and re coat my exhaust nuts regularly anyway?
That little rubber speedo cable cover, I put on a small cable tie at the top of mine to make sure no water runs down along the cable, but I will get a new one since you mention it. Silly not to, they should be cheap enough. Thank you.
Wheel bearing seals: what a good idea, I'll go for that. Am I right in thinking that there's one (at least) seal that is narrower than usual for that size, i.e. 5mm instead of the usual 6mm? I think that's the one that goes inside the hub on the left. I had difficulty in getting one of those the last time, I think I got one from
Sherlock's, they had loads in stock.
About the hub bearings shims, I've modified the shimming arrangement on mine to make things easier for myself. OK, this is going to be of limited interest to most folks, but it works well for me as I have a pretty good lathe and, as my mate tells me I "like fucking about".
On my RS there was a long spacer tube and you had to select (by trial and error) a suitable thickness of smaller shim which was about 5mm thick plus or minus a few thous to adjust for the correct preload in the bearings. To make things a lot easier for myself I reduced the length of the long spacer tube so as to allow the use of correspondingly longer shims, (I can easily make such shims on my lathe) i.e. about 15mm long: enough to be gripped in my lathe chuck squarely so as to be able to adjust the length evenly and precisely; this isn't possible with the standard 5mm shims because it's difficult to grip them squarely in a lathe chuck. I used a hand-held scraper held against the spinning shim to trim the last few fractions of thous off. That was because I found it a lot easier than using the cross-slide when taking that final shaving cut. Of course this isn't a job that needs doing very often but now I don't have to send away for lots of shims while only needing one size. See, I told you you wouldn't be all that interested. Oh, I see, you've gone already ...
Centre stand, that's on the list, but I always wonder about greasing places like that, places covered in oil and shit (well in my case) it reminds me of the problems the Army had in the desert in the war, the link pivots in the tank tracks were wearing out very quickly and they kept on putting more and more grease on them. The problem was finally overcome by simply cleaning all the grease off on running them dry. No, I'm not sure if that's true or not, but I thought it was interesting. Anyway, I'll go with your advice.
Fresh paste for the heatsink, another good one. As is the one about the front mudguard bolts. Actually I do use Optimol for a lot of the exposed threads on the bike, it makes taking things off a lot easier especially things like the fiddly little 5mm(?) socket screws that hold the silencer brackets onto the rear footrest hangers. Mine have rotted away and I've re tapped them to 6mm and use stainless screws, (I used the ones with a half-round head because the have a bigger head, it saves having to use a washer) a great improvement. If I remember correctly, if anybody fancies doing this themselves then take care not to have the screws too long on the right hand side because it could tighten up against the rear brake master cylinder. In which case it might be best to cut all four to the same length in case you get them mixed up when putting them back in.
Thanks again.
