Vintage BMW Motorcycle Owners

New tires can have mold release from the manufacturing process. The mold release is slippery. It will wear off as you use the tire. Most street tires are ok, but sometimes you can get a tire that has more of the lubricant and slip a little. If you really want to notice it, take extra sticky race ver...

Dual plug heads were popular in the late 70s/80's when it was hard to find quality gas. Frequently, the valve seats were replaced at the same time to be able to use unleaded fuel. My R90S has been dual plugged. Since high octane gas is readily available the 2nd plug is not really needed and mine is ...

I just checked my tank and it is the same on both sides. That is, both sides are angled up at the front to clear the upper sidecar attachment for either right hand or left hand sidecars.

Mike

The United Sidecar Association has some good information about riding a sidecar. https://sidecar.com/tech-reference/ My best advice is to forget everything you know about riding a motorcycle. Pretend you are driving a car with different controls. You can't lean, you have to turn the bars to turn. Re...

From the picture it looks like the bike is leaning slightly into the sidecar.

You'll like the handling better if it leans out instead.

Mike

I've got a big box of the foam earplugs. Anybody can have two pair for the price of the stamp.

Mike

Since I think I cannot ride a bike if the forks are apart, taking the sliders off the bottom is apart for me.

I find it just as easy to loosen the triple clamps and slide the intact tubes down. Probably just me.

Mike

I'm still in CA. Assisting a family member with chemo. Maybe I won't be heading back to WA until after Thanksgiving.

Mike

My R90s has 150K+ miles on it. Original forks and only one seal change. Keep the felt in fork cups oiled to protect both the forks and the seals. And, I'm sure you recognize this, but you have to take the fork apart to install the fork cup even if you cut the gaiter off. Without the cup and it's fel...

Probably no need to rejet. The stock BMW mufflers are pretty good flowing.

To be safe do the plug chop as Kurt says. Run the bike at speed (65-70 is good) for at least 5 minutes before shutting down to check the plugs.

Mike