R11/R12 Sum floats

Darryl.Richman · Post by **Darryl.Richman** » Fri Jun 30, 2006 11:14 am

Wolfgang Reichenberger at BMW-R12.de/RRC Tuning has them on his online catalog for €54. He's a good source, but he only speaks German.

Barry Robin · Post by **Barry Robin** » Fri Jun 30, 2006 11:41 am

thanks darryl!

i've just written to him-poorly, in german-so cross your fingers for me that he has it.

any thoughts about the resoldering idea? or don't bother?

-b

Darryl.Richman · Post by **Darryl.Richman** » Fri Jun 30, 2006 12:03 pm

Barry, I've never attempted to unsolder, resolder or patch solder a float. Because they're weight sensitive, you would have to be careful not to glop it up too badly, like I probably would.

Of course, once you have a new one safely in hand, why not give it a try?

Reichenberger is an interesting guy. I visited his "shop" last year. It's in the barn of his parents' farmhouse, on the edge of a tiny hamlet, just inside Bavaria from the Austrian border near Salzburg. I wanted some jets for my Sum, and we had to slide past the old hay wagon and climb a ladder up to the loft where he had his used parts.

His main business is working on dirt bikes. While I was there I saw a quad he was working on -- he had installed Ohlins shocks at all four corners. But he has an R12 seitenwagen, which he apparently routinely rides up into the Alps. He told me a few weeks ago he had been to Italy on it this year. He also has a collection of parts and a small machine shop. He repairs worn fork legs by cutting off the bottom part and welding it back onto new tubing. He machines fork tube bushings slightly oversize so that they can be sized to fit worn fork legs.

Barry Robin · Post by **Barry Robin** » Fri Jun 30, 2006 7:10 pm

hi darryl-
he sounds like an interesting guy-almost too interesting! if he were closer i'd be tempted to go visit him...

i aggree with your assessment on soldering the floats; if i can't find one for sale, as you know, i'm sort of in a "best of a bad situation" situation. as my wife put it, if it doesn't work, so what? it's already dead-you can't kill it any more than it is.
and if it worked, it might be a great help to the group to know that, as it looks like the supply is drying up.

talk to you soon,
-b

Darryl.Richman · Post by **Darryl.Richman** » Fri Jun 30, 2006 9:01 pm

I think he was pretty surprised when I showed up. I had written him that I might be able to come by on a certain date in the afternoon, and he had agreed that was ok. I think he was also surprised at my felonious assaults on his native tongue.

But he has the parts and advice I've needed several times since for my R12.

Barry Robin · Post by **Barry Robin** » Fri Jun 30, 2006 11:50 pm

...felonious assaults, huh? i like it. but i'll guarantee you your geman is still better than mine; i only speak the vienese dialect and i haven't really used that since i was a kid.

i suspect that my letter to him was so poorly worded that he might not even reply to it!
hell, i might have to ask you to ask him for me!:)))
-barry

Darryl.Richman · Post by **Darryl.Richman** » Sat Jul 01, 2006 10:29 am

Barry, if you have a dialect to speak, and you learned it as a kid, then you've got to be far ahead of me. I've taken a couple semesters of it at the local JC, just so I could buy parts at Veterama and the like. If you have to rely on my German, you may never get that float.

Barry Robin · Post by **Barry Robin** » Sat Jul 01, 2006 3:25 pm

wishful thinking, that...

...ververklish einen mythos und es vird zur heimat.

talk about poor spelling!

-b

VBMWMO · Post by **VBMWMO** » Mon Feb 15, 2010 2:51 pm

hi all-

by any chance, does anyone have a new brass float for a Sum carb for sale? or know who does?

mine's sprung a leak-as usual on those things-so i can't really drive the bike untill i can find another...
i've tried all the usual suspects; vech is out of stock, and so is mark hugget.
any suggestions?

and- anyone ever tried to repair them by unsoldering the center stems to blow out the petrol? in theory this is doable, but i sometimes wonder...

-barry robin