Vintage BMW Motorcycle Owners

I'm leaving my bike ratty and dishevelled. For me it was initially a cost consideration ... I'm with goaarongo. My R27 looks about as worn as the original poster's bike, and it's going to take most of my available money to get it running, then safe and reliable. Mine doesn't tell much of a story, e...

Also, post some pictures ... I'd love to see the bike as is and during the cleaning and resurrection.

We need a like button - I got nothing to add but great photos, looks like a lot of fun.

Welcome! I agree with the recommendation to start with something cheap, safe and easy just to get on the road. You won't lose much money when you sell it. As someone up there said, buy with safety as the top priority - good brakes, tires, etc. Someone also mentioned Airheads, and I agree with that 1...

I'd enjoy reading along. I think there's plenty of acceptance for not keeping things original, as long as the owner is up front with what they're doing. In fact, lots of the engineering minds on here like to see interesting solutions. The grumbling and nitpicking crops up when someone claims origina...

It probably wasn't several full 360 turns, I was just surprised at how much it took. Yes, definitely at the OT mark. After the final time I did it rotated the engine with the kick start a few times and confirmed the gaps. I did that again a little while later before I put the covers back on.

These last few days I've refreshed the carb, set the valves and cleaned out the oil pan. This is old hat to most of you, but all a big deal to me! I'm definitely no mechanic, but in the past week I've 1) had a long talk with Vech at Bench Mark Works, 2) waited for parts to come from Europe and 3) be...

I've only been working on the bike for a few minutes each night, mostly just getting the discoloration off the engine cases. I've tried a bunch of stuff, including the recommendations here. So far rubbing with crumpled aluminum foil has worked the best to get the crud off. Mostly I'm waiting on part...

I had a few hours and perfect weather to dedicate to the bike today, so I gave it a good going over. It didn’t clean up that well, there’s not a pretty surface on the whole bike. The sheet metal is mostly very dull, worn paint, about half the pinstriping is worn off. The frame is a combination of wo...

I'm definitely leaning toward leaving it as is for the near term. My plan is to get it running, get it roadworthy, then work on reliability. The goal for this year is to be able to jump on some Saturday afternoon and go get ice cream or ride to a nearby car show. Keeping it simple. Tomorrow I'm givi...