berndt
Registered user
1984 bmw r80 g/s. Never looked too close at it, just saw it behind my friends house with a few other bikes. I inquired and at the time the conversation swerved to how valuable they were. I got a call six weeks ago and was told she'd take a thousand dollars for it.
Again I didn't look too close, I just came and got it. I restored one of these for a friend so I know how much goes into building one. I had this thought that I would just do a get run on it and drive it. The lies we are tell ourselves. Of course now it's completely stripped, frame just came back from the powder coater. She told me one of the problems was that it would backfire and blow the exhaust pipes off. I thought it was the old supertrapp system. They don't age well, anyway as I started disassembling it it was clear that the bike was not loved. The collection of half fixes makes adult me remember impatient me youth mechanic. Exhaust spigots are smoked and after disassembly of the heads it needed valves and guides. I used to run the shop at Kibblewhite precision machine and the heads got to be right. Heads off to get sorted with reworked exhaust spigot threads. Ohlins shock boxed up and returned to Ohlins USA for a rebuild and proper spring, The gearbox looked to be unmolested but had the earlier style small diameter input shaft with mismatched cush/shock elements on it, although the bearings were okay this input shaft needed updating. I put a new layshaft helical gear on it and the tall fifth, now the gearbox is ready to go together. I rubbed my fingertips off on the engine cases to get them brightened up, this bike last ran in 04, it was purchased off of ebay for 4k. When I got it it was missing the airbox, and battery box. Upon disassembly the motor was full of fuel and water. I'm going to be doing the timing chain before I put the engine back in the frame, I'm going to rebuild the final drive too, it's kind of crunchy. The level of black goop in the engine sump tells me this bike was not loved. The steering stem looks like it was stolen and the steering lock was sheered off. I'm so glad so many specific parts are available or remanned. It's been fun to be excited about working on it, the $ spends faster than you think... I'd post some pictures but I'm feeling pretty brain dead right now.
Again I didn't look too close, I just came and got it. I restored one of these for a friend so I know how much goes into building one. I had this thought that I would just do a get run on it and drive it. The lies we are tell ourselves. Of course now it's completely stripped, frame just came back from the powder coater. She told me one of the problems was that it would backfire and blow the exhaust pipes off. I thought it was the old supertrapp system. They don't age well, anyway as I started disassembling it it was clear that the bike was not loved. The collection of half fixes makes adult me remember impatient me youth mechanic. Exhaust spigots are smoked and after disassembly of the heads it needed valves and guides. I used to run the shop at Kibblewhite precision machine and the heads got to be right. Heads off to get sorted with reworked exhaust spigot threads. Ohlins shock boxed up and returned to Ohlins USA for a rebuild and proper spring, The gearbox looked to be unmolested but had the earlier style small diameter input shaft with mismatched cush/shock elements on it, although the bearings were okay this input shaft needed updating. I put a new layshaft helical gear on it and the tall fifth, now the gearbox is ready to go together. I rubbed my fingertips off on the engine cases to get them brightened up, this bike last ran in 04, it was purchased off of ebay for 4k. When I got it it was missing the airbox, and battery box. Upon disassembly the motor was full of fuel and water. I'm going to be doing the timing chain before I put the engine back in the frame, I'm going to rebuild the final drive too, it's kind of crunchy. The level of black goop in the engine sump tells me this bike was not loved. The steering stem looks like it was stolen and the steering lock was sheered off. I'm so glad so many specific parts are available or remanned. It's been fun to be excited about working on it, the $ spends faster than you think... I'd post some pictures but I'm feeling pretty brain dead right now.
