Vintage BMW Motorcycle Owners

Going through a break in at the moment on my 58’ R69, and I am doing similar to “Dave79X” & “schraeder’s” advice….. keep revs low but not lugging, and VR -1 Valvoline is a excellent oil for these old ladies. Have fun! Keep it under 10k rpm’s!

Was about to go for another “break-in” ride on my freshly rebuilt 58’ R69 , but too much rain…SO…started polishing the aluminum bits and admired the polished chrome shock bolts on this early Earls Fork bike, as well as aluminum wheels and the fact that they were a little more elegant than the later ...

Just wanted to share some tips for our fuel systems. I recently rebuilt a1958 R69 and didn’t want to use the Karcoma petcock , I wanted the original style, and found some on Amazon and eBay for sale between 20-40 dollars. These are all the SAME , built in a Chinese factory that manufactures petcocks...

Put in non resistor caps and try to reduce the spark plug gap to .020 or so.

It is hit or miss with rubber bits. The pushrod tube rubbers are notorious for cracking if compressed, I recently bought some from BMW and they look to be much better quality. Mark Swiss has been making parts for BMW so that might be a good option. www.bmwbike.com

Have fun!! Good luck on the ride!!

Thank you! That puts a different perspective on the question at at hand. That makes total sense, I never knew or would think that these bikes would come with sidecar gearing as “standard”. So basically, the standard equipment became the “S” gearbox ….basically just solo gears, same ratio as pre /2. ...

I was reading my vintage, original print 1958-59 factory repair manual, which came with my 1958 R69, and interestingly I saw this about the “S” stamp which I always read stood for “Solo” vs. “sidecar” gearing. But here it is listed as a ”sports” option with completely different 1-3 gear ratios. It l...

Did he replace the clutch diaphragm with a higher tension one?

I hope the tires work out for you. I was able to order some more Avons, they are $400.00 + for a set, so I ordered 1 set.