Vintage BMW Motorcycle Owners

In the engine of my R75/5, I run Valvoline fully synthetic 20W50 in the summer months and switch to 10W40 in the winter. I drain the oil in November or December but don't change the filter. In late March or April I put in a new filter with the new summer oil. In the gearbox, drive shaft and final dr...

It could be something stupid like the choke staying on, or putting its self on while riding. The fouled plug look like it is way too rich. Is it oily? Or just carbon? Just carbon suggests too much fuel too little air. An oil fouled plug would likely be oily to the touch. BTW Higher numbers on plugs ...

Kurt: I am going to have to disagree with you on viscosity. Viscosity is a scientific measurement of a fluid's resistance to flow. The viscosity of water is 1.0. Fluids thinner than water, like alcohols and air, have viscosities in decimal points. Thicker fluids have larger numbers. Double numbers, ...

Fred; That's really cool. I would like to see the pictures too. Just 1 little point though. You said there weren't any Japanese "super bikes" in 1969. I owned a 1969 Kawasaki 500cc 2 cycle 3 banger that had way more horse power than I could handle. If that wasn't a "super bike" I...

Check the spark plugs. A fowled plug could do the same thing. - You would think with a "tune -up" they would have put in new plugs, BUT.....

Craig

This is the "poor boy" method of checking a condenser (electrolytic capacitor) with an ohm meter. 1) remove any charge on the condenser by shorting the input lead to the case. 2) set the ohm meter range to its highest value. 3) hold the positive meter probe to the case and the negative pro...

One little tip.

After you have set the adjustments and locked them down tight, turn the engine over several times, put the cylinder back at TDC and check the clearance again.

Craig

forgot to add this to my post.

Grant: That unit is identical to the one on my 1975 R 90/6 (with sidecar), right down to the W 1.144 number etched on it. Well - except yours is in way better shape. My speedometer is still accurate, however my tach is toast. I pulled the cable off of it as it was making wretched noises and didn't h...

The front brake on my R 75/5 locked up and threw me to the ground. There was very little damage to the bike as I was only doing about 20mph, but I ended up in the hospital with a broken hip. That was a month ago and I am still a month or more from recovery. This is the third time (going back to 1972...