Vintage BMW Motorcycle Owners

It is possible to nip the magneto earthing wire with the front case, which will prevent starting.

The two different designs of seat were used because BMW did not make them themselves, they bought them in, so they used two different firms as a way of keeping the price down, as they also did with horns and speedometers, this practice was a hangover from the days when these items were accessories a...

I have just such a set up on my R69S/Dnepr using a BMW brake pedal and a van handbrake cable actuating a Dnepr brake plate in a BMW hub, except, of course , that my brake pedal is next to the gearchange pedal. I would not go back to unbŕaked or linked, the s/c brake is a great aid to steering and hi...

Excellent job, keep us posted!

Shrader, "Seems to me that with the flex combined with the offset conrod power pulses, the flex becomes a torsional type of motion back at the front. At least it seems to me." That is it, more or less, the crankshaft acts as a torsion bar, the flywheel is a big mass which likes to stay sti...

" For BMW to have gone to the trouble of adding a crankshaft vibration dampener along with the front engine cover mod to accommodate it, etc., after nearly 40 years of motorcycle engine experience, they must have had their reasons. But I just don't see the actual experience that says it is nece...

It was definitely cost-cutting, after the financial crash when BMW were as good as bankrupt, sales and economising became paramount, the /2s are nowhere near as nicely built as the earlier bikes and the R69S, in particular, is nowhere near as good in design and build quality as the R69, IMHO, the R6...

Do not omit the crankshaft damper, it is not a "vibration damper" even though some BMW literature calls it such, it is a Torsion Damper, and it is to absorb twisting moments which can build up in the crankshaft, not necessarily at high engine speed. This was very, very expensive and happen...

The standard flat sump plate is steel, the aftermarket deep ones are usually, but not always, aluminium.

Micha,
if having things fall off your motorcycle, never to be seen again, makes you laugh, then I strongly recommend that you dispose of the R51/3 and get yourself a late 1960s Triumph, your sides will be aching!