Is there such a thing as a cheap Beemer?

[Eli69]

Mine was sorta cheap..About $2400. But it had something like 115,000 miles on it. Still runs great. I don't baby it.

[LAB3]

Seemed like a science teacher's bike.

Too bad this sticker on my saddlebags probably wouldn't pull off in one piece or stick really well on a different bike.

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[lizzywhite45]

A cheap Beemer usually means high mileage and deferred maintenance. The bike might be cheap, but the parts and repairs won’t be. If you can do the work yourself and know what to check, it might be a great find.

[GS1150Pilot]

Lots of cheap Beemers have way high mileage but good service histories.

[oldGSfan]

Porsche, at least before water-cooling, was a car for guys who actually drove their cars to races and back. Snooty? That's BMW car owners.

My bad. I am in an area where rivet counters (as we call them on the Brit bike forum) abound. I remember now that I had another R75/5 that I had to get the cylinder head off, and man, was it stuck. I told my dad and he said get some cotton clothesline, stuff it down the spark plug hole and bump the bike. Boom, off it came. What really bothers me is that I rebuilt that engine and had it running (for a friend) and can hardly remember working on it. Granted, it was over 30 years ago, but sheesh.

For me the sweet spot is the R100S of the late 70s, but I test rode a very nice one a few years ago, and it just felt so archaic. Looked cool though. I wanted it just for the looks but couldn't stand how sproingy and slow reacting it was.

[GS1150Pilot]

The R100S is a gorgeous bike. I'd love to own one. They do have a TON of suspension travel, and they are slow to turn, relatively speaking, but what beautiful machines, and what incredibly reliable beasts they are.

[oldGSfan]

The R100S is a gorgeous bike. I'd love to own one. They do have a TON of suspension travel, and they are slow to turn, relatively speaking, but what beautiful machines, and what incredibly reliable beasts they are.

Saw a R100S today at the OC Vintage bike meet, what a beauty. And about the same time, my son sent me a pic of a 1950 R51/2 he saw at the OC Fair. It's modified a bit, with an upgraded front brake, a different tank, fender, and rear seat. Very nice.

[GS1150Pilot]

Gorgeous machines-and gorgeous.

Funny detail-I had a black/yellow FZ1 like the one in the background for over 5 years.

[Buffalo Bill]

I spoke to a close friend of mine, about me fixing up his R90/6 airhead as a winter project.
I'm board so I'll pick it up in a couple weeks.
I did read up on them, the pre 1981 bikes have a heavy flywheel, so that slows the pickup.
Single 260mm brake disc with a single piston caliper is way too weak, so that's gotta be upgraded.
There is a supplier for brake upgrade kits, but the site looks flaky. I'll try contacting them.

[dorkburger]

On display at the BMW of North America office building.... Probably not cheap..... Not sure if it's the real deal or a replica. The guy I was working for said there used to be an info board standing next to the bike, but it's not there currently.


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[oldGSfan]

On display at the BMW of North America office building.... Probably not cheap..... Not sure if it's the real deal or a replica. The guy I was working for said there used to be an info board standing next to the bike, but it's not there currently.

Funny, I talked to a guy yesterday who came to my place to buy a coffee table. Saw my Norton and GS's and chatted about bikes and stuff. He was about my age and knew friends from the 80s in Costa Mesa, CA. He mentioned Reg Pridmore, said his friend's dad owned a shop in Santa Barbara was involved very early on in his racing career in SoCal, mid-70s. Simpler times.

[GS1150Pilot]

Funny, I talked to a guy yesterday who came to my place to buy a coffee table. Saw my Norton and GS's and chatted about bikes and stuff. He was about my age and knew friends from the 80s in Costa Mesa, CA. He mentioned Reg Pridmore, said his friend's dad owned a shop in Santa Barbara was involved very early on in his racing career in SoCal, mid-70s. Simpler times.

I truly miss those times.

[Redman]

I have not responded to this thread before, cuz discussing the old "air heads" is quite different from the bikes from after the mid-late 90s.

I had an idea of BMW haveing great realiability,

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That's exactly what I'm most interested in.. . . . . .
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Ah, you are more intersted in the old airheads.
Hum... think of some of the "old airheads", say, R75/7, R90/6... they had those for decades, and not many variations.

I dont have much familiarity with the various models, other than, the slash number tell you about when in history. ANd the first letter is more about the body style, and the, say 75 is 750cc. Some models are more common than others. SOme are more saught out than others.

ANd when folks say they are relaibble, it because there was enogh of them made for so long that some folks are aware of typical problems and what needs to be done for maintance to avaoid those problem, or what spare parts to carry. I have heard of long istance riders carring carb diaphrams for instance.

Thru all this I learned about BMW in early 90s (?late 80s?) combined the automotive engineering group with the motorcycle group. SO they had more resocurces for developing more and more motorcycle models. ANd did.

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Wish I knew more about the history, because there have been various issues over the years which have afflicted various years and family of bikes. Dave bought one, and then had to spend to fix the drivetrain (can't remember all the details). . . . . . .

I had an idea of BMW haveing great realiability,

THen in 2015, I got a 2002 R1150RT, (in SanDiego, but I'll skip that aspect of the story), after talking to a couple fine members here, but they had R1100RT from the previous 10 or so years. Is called Oil Head for the oil cooler and oil spray behind the pistions.
After a while I learnt that the 1150 engine and associted models was a redesign of the 1100 engine, the clutch, the transmission, the brake system, the final drive, the fuel injection system, the ignition system. All in one year. And some of those had some functional problems and most of them had relibility problems.
And.... I had the the splines on the transmission shaft (where spines to clutch plate) strip out. One of the known problems (long discussion, but, even me looking at the wear pattern, I immeadialty said "missalignment".) ANd anywork on transmission/cluch involved dissassembling everything from the engine back. I had transmission and cluth replaced with a rebuilt set.
THen three years later (but few miles) on my Ride-RT-Home Trip, the final drive crapped out. Had that replaced with a salvage unit (THanks BWringer & Tim twr), that lasted a couple years before it had the same failure.
Other common problem was the braking system had a hydraulic pump for the "servo brakes" that was problematic, but, oh man, strong brakes, the bike at highway speed could stop so hard I could barley keep myself on the bike.
Other common problem was the ignition/fueling surging/jerking at low rpm. I didnt have that. (the 2003?04? added 2nd plug to cyclinder to help that, somehow).
So, anybody with any familiarty of BMW, would know to avoid the 1150s espically the 2002. I did not know that.

Okay, I have babbled on about my 2002 R1150RT.
THe RT and others were redesigned for 2005 as a 1200 (gee, 1150 only 3 years,). Called Hex Head for the shape. And some time later 2018 or so, was water cooled (with different nick name), and a few more years later redesigned so the clutch is in front of the engine so more easily serviced.

Thru all this I learned about BMW in early 90s (?late 80s?) combined the automotive developement group with the motorcycle group. SO they had more resocurces for developing more and more models. ANd did.

So, why?.? did I get anoter RT .?.?
THe 02 R1150RT was at the dealer for some overdue maintance, and they discovered the rear drive failing, ...... the cost of the repair and the maintance well exceed the value of the bike.
THe dealer gave me a good "trade in value" on the bike, so I applied that to a used 09 R1200RT they had. (I will admitt, I first went to big multi-brand dealer to look.)

More recent models have drive shaft issues. I understand that some models it is routine maintance to swap out the drive shaft at a certain milage, cost covered by BMW.
Some folks say that BMW offered to cover that cost due to the bad repretation that occured with the 1150 where they only covered it if happend during warrentee, and never admitted a problem.

[LAB3]

I remember bringing up the subject a few years ago before buying my XS11, I've lost all interest in anything but the airheads since thanks to your insights.

[bwringer]

Thanks for telling your sad tale, Dave.

The moral of the story is that you have to be SUPER careful and do a lot of research before buying a BMW. The final drive issues in the early 2000s were no joke, and stranded a lot of riders. Including Dave. Twice. Quite a few were injured, too, and I've seen photos of bikes on fire.

BMW never, not once, admitted to a problem, even though holding the parts in your hand it's obvious this incredibly delicate design and that thin bearing is never going to hold up in the real world. The brakes on that model were another absolutely brainless system, created in a lab with no exposure to the outside world.

All that said, one issue with doing this sort of research is that there's also a lot of confusion and bad info out there, including plenty of people who confidently assert that BMW never did and still can't make a final drive that doesn't fail. So there's a lot of untangling to be done.

In case you haven't noticed, Suzuki parts have gotten ridiculously expensive as well. There are sources for BMW parts, and there's plenty of support out there. However, like everything else vintage the population of people interested in the older bikes is dwindling as the owners go where motorcycles are no longer needed. So prices are tumbling, but maybe not fast enough.

So obviously, what you need to do is buy at least two bikes; one to ride, one or more for parts...