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R68 hand Gear Lever

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Martyb
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Joined: Thu Aug 10, 2017 10:17 pm
Location: Brisbane Australia

R68 hand Gear Lever

Post by Martyb »

Gday all,

After some false starts... the time has come to kick off the resto on my R68.... I'm currently collecting bits and pieces and have a question on the hand gear lever...

1. is the lever different to other plungers (51/3 etc).. if so whats the difference?
2. Does anyone have one lying around they'd like to sell? As you can see mine is broken!

Cheers

Martin
Attachments
hand gear lever.jpg

Seek
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Re: R68 hand Gear Lever

Post by Seek »

They all have the same partnumber. Even the R25 has the same number.
But my R25 handlever looks a bit different. Yours looks chrome plated while mine is just plain aluminium.

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niall4473
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Re: R68 hand Gear Lever

Post by niall4473 »

I am sure that what Seek says about part numbers is correct, but I was told many years ago by a genuine expert on pre- and post-war plunger BMWs that at least some of the R68s had a straight, much shorter, almost vestigial hand-change lever, absolutely useless for changing gear, now possibly these were an after-market accessory, or maybe not.
Unless you have a year-by-year set of original parts lists and all the service bulletins, you can never be sure, and anyway if BMW ever made a mistake, they would never admit to it, such things were usually just quietly rectified.
Oil is always cheaper than metal

Seek
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Re: R68 hand Gear Lever

Post by Seek »

Look in this parts manual from 1956: https://vintagebmw.org/library_data/Par ... 7-3R68.pdf

Here there is a different partnumber! They had by now changed to the 7 digit part numbers.
R51/3-R67/3 Handlever 10 66 229
R68 Handlever 10 66 230

In the same year R25 Handlever: 10 66 118

In 1953 they still all (R25, R51/2, R51/3 R67 R68) had the same 11 digit number: 250 5 40 061 03

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Martyb
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Re: R68 hand Gear Lever

Post by Martyb »

ok thanks very much for the replies. Mine is '52 model so there's a good chance all levers were the same. Yes mine is chromed but I'm guessing that's not original...

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vechorik1373
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Re: R68 hand Gear Lever

Post by vechorik1373 »

On the subject of hand shift levers:
The one for the singles, R25 - R25/2 , part # 23 41 1 066 118 is curved, and will NOT fit a plunger frame twin.
The one for the twins, is straight, and fits all the post war models, part # 23 41 1 066 229

In my first hand experience, the functional use is that while you can hand shift it through the gears when riding, it is a bit of tricky business. The hand shift pattern is all the way back to the rear, is 1st. Neutral is one notch forward. 2nd the next forward, 3rd and 4th the same. It is very easy to miss a gear when attempting to ride using it. What it's real, practical function is, that when coming to a complete stop, with the gearbox in 4th, (with the clutch lever pulled back) you can grab the lever and pull straight back, all the way to 1st instantly. Then a push forward one notch, and you have it in neutral, and can release the clutch lever.
It is a great neutral finder.
The first photo is my 1954 R68. The second is of my 1952 R67/2.
R68shift.jpg
Attachments
shift.jpg
Vech
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sherman980
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Re: R68 hand Gear Lever

Post by sherman980 »

Vech,
Sorry to disagree with you re the "curved" handshift lever. I believe you are correct that it was made to fit the singles, but it also fits nicely on plunger twins with no interference issues. I kind of liked the look and put one on my OP R67/3 a couple of decades ago and it's still there and works fine. Pretty sure there was also a "special" short lever to be used with the ISDT exhaust. Todd R gave me one as gift for my R68 (THANK YOU Todd!) and it avoids the interference with the top of the stock lever and the exhaust pipe.

DSC09061a.JPG
image2 - cropped.jpeg
Thanks.
Chuck S

Seek
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Re: R68 hand Gear Lever

Post by Seek »

Historical picture of one of the plunger twins. The picture is a bit blurry but it clearly shows the curved lever. (Culd have been changed of course)

https://bmw-einzylinder.de/bildergaleri ... fullsize=1

Another one:

https://bmw-einzylinder.de/bildergaleri ... fullsize=1

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