If you like our site, please consider joining our club!
By joining you will help ensure that we can continue to provide this service
JOIN HERE!

Looking to buy an Airhead R90S - first time buyer

User avatar
srankin
Posts: 1054
Joined: Fri Jul 14, 2017 8:45 pm
Location: Spencerport, NY USA
Been thanked: 14 times

Re: Looking to buy an Airhead R90S - first time buyer

Post by srankin »

In the last decade, a number of sources have opened wide in the world of video tutorials on airhead wrenching. Brook Reams, Boxer Two Valve are two of my go to sources for excellent write ups and videos of how to do things from valve adjust to complex stuff. LOL, I grew up on Clymer's manuals and they Chiltons and they are still in my book collection but boy they are pretty much confusing as heck due to trying to cover too much.
Airheads are simple, If you can get under the hood and work on a car newer than 1970, and do repairs, you should have no problem tackling any task on an airhead, LOL. Yeah there is a learning curve but good mechanics are methodical and that is the key. Sorry lecture ends here LOL

Not sure where you are located, I am in Rochester NY. I am looking now to replace a much loved but totaled 78RS, here are three possible candidates and the fourth is at Recycle in Ohio, it is a nice bike but will need a bit of love to make it shine. These three are pretty darned nice. The Red one is the brother bike to the one I just wrecked.

Oh, the R100RS has a much narrower lower handle bar set than the R90S or R100S bikes, not a problem when riding unless you have a bad back or neck, but they can be a royal pain to handle in parking lots or move about in the garage due to the short low bars. LOL, if one floats your boat don't worry about poaching it, I will find another. Good luck, St.
https://www.cycletrader.com/listing/197 ... 5018436221
https://www.cycletrader.com/listing/197 ... 5023984395
https://www.cycletrader.com/listing/197 ... 5022690177
Owner of a 84, R80RT and 78, R100RS

Bayou
Posts: 14
Joined: Sat Feb 11, 2023 7:55 pm
Location: Bay Area, California

Re: Looking to buy an Airhead R90S - first time buyer

Post by Bayou »

ST, I'm in Northern California near San Jose.

Bayou
Posts: 14
Joined: Sat Feb 11, 2023 7:55 pm
Location: Bay Area, California

2002 R1150R All Stock

Post by Bayou »

I'm seriously considering this but as srankin put it, these bikes are not loved.

https://monterey.craigslist.org/mcy/d/c ... 31803.html

Again, this happens to live near oceanside. :o Don't know why keep going after such bikes :roll: I don't see any rust in the photos. I'll check with the owner before I go, this is 2 hours away.

What I like is, one owner, meticulously maintained with all records from day 1, needs nothing, new tires, oil changes done, 21k miles, less than half of an Airhead in similar condition.

Unknown/headaches: lot more complex, ABS (keep reading that it is unreliable), Telelever/Paralever good/bad?, much higher maintenance cost?, not as easily DIY serviceable, got to remove tank and oil-coolers to get to the battery, :roll: read that to get to clutch assembly got to tear the bike in half, ...

Given the condition of the bike, I should be able to ride for the next one year without hassles. Who knows? I may be done with bike riding after that or I may want to switch to an Airhead. :lol:

User avatar
srankin
Posts: 1054
Joined: Fri Jul 14, 2017 8:45 pm
Location: Spencerport, NY USA
Been thanked: 14 times

Re: Looking to buy an Airhead R90S - first time buyer

Post by srankin »

Well, the pictures aren't the best I have seen, but it looks pretty good. You have a good eye when you get on site to examine so you will catch anything bad I think.

I only have limited knowledge of oil heads, I do recall, the early ABS did have problems and was expensive to repair in some cases. I do know one local fellow from a few years back who had this problem and simply did away with it on his bike with no problems.

My friendly dealership before it closed in the late 90's got a couple of them in and did have minor problem learning how to set the fuel injection system up or I should say keeping it balanced. A learning curve no major issue.

Clutch replacement has been mentioned here, it is a bitch.

Yeah, I bet you easily could ride this for a year without problems, I love seeing service records when I look at used vehicles, while I am not the best record keeper, I try at least to keep track of major issue repairs. Good luck, St.
Owner of a 84, R80RT and 78, R100RS

Bayou
Posts: 14
Joined: Sat Feb 11, 2023 7:55 pm
Location: Bay Area, California

Re: Bit the BMW motorcycle bullet - bought the 2002 R1150R

Post by Bayou »

Hello All,
I bought the Oilhead I had posted earlier, yet to close the deal though. For now, made an advance payment till I figure out when/how to get the bike, it is 90 miles away.

What a buying journey! :o Set out to buy a vintage Airhead, ended up buying an Oilhead that I didn't even know existed. :D

Coming to the R1150R, looking at the maintenance records, it is fair to say the 21k miles on the bike looks legit. It's a bit surprising both the tires have been changed twice already, :o the latest one was in Oct '22; has 100 miles after that.

Seller lives in a sprawling estate, the main gate is a quarter mile from the road. :) The bike sat next to an impeccable Porsche Carrera in a detached garage someways away from the mansion. I was cautioned multiple times that there's a Porsche behind me :lol: as I helped the seller move the bike out of the garage.
  1. Seller is the second owner, he bought the bike in November '22. The bike has sat pretty much unused since then.
  2. First owner has maintained the bike very well and has kept meticulous records. It has been serviced regularly.
  3. Couldn't find any faults (visually) with the bike, looks shiny and rust free. Can definitely use a good wash/cleaning.
  4. I rode the bike within the estate compound, didn't even get a chance to switch to the 3rd gear.
  5. I figured from my research that the ABS (optional equip.) on this model is simply awesome when it works but failure record is nothing to sneeze at. The ABS module alone is 3 grand plus labor that easily eclipses the cost of this ~2 decades old machine. Clever owners have found ways to disconnect the ABS module (srankin called this out) and make their bikes non-ABS, but it's quite an ordeal. :roll: Luckily for me, this bike doesn't have the ABS option and this also played a key role in me deciding to buy.
  6. Other things known to fail in this model are 1) HAL sensor around 50k miles 2) Positive power wire in the fuel pump connector, appears to be mostly in the 1995 to 1999 models. The pump is inside the fuel tank. :roll:
  7. Front wheel on this bike also doesn't turn freely as I would like it to. :o :roll: Am I jinxed or what? :D Now I'm thinking my expectations aren't correct? There'll always be some resistance because of the two disc brakes? I'm concerned because that shouldn't be the case, right?
  8. I feel grooves/ridges on the rear (brake) disc but not deep, whereas front ones are smooth.
  9. Rear seat has 3 small rips that has been fixed.
Thanks a ton for your valuable inputs!
Attachments
BMW R1150R 2002 - 16.jpeg
BMW R1150R 2002 - 17.jpeg
BMW R1150R 2002 - 18.jpeg
BMW R1150R 2002 - 19.jpeg
BMW R1150R 2002 - 20.jpeg

User avatar
srankin
Posts: 1054
Joined: Fri Jul 14, 2017 8:45 pm
Location: Spencerport, NY USA
Been thanked: 14 times

Re: Looking to buy an Airhead R90S - first time buyer

Post by srankin »

Congratulations! LOL, low miles, remember for some people bikes are toys and may only ride a few miles a year. Opps, they are toys for me but I just play with mine more, LOL. The good thing here is a properly stored bike.
Plus side as rumor only because I have little first hand knowledge; fuel pump systems are available as whole unit replacements now from a number of OM companies and are just as good as OM with a fraction of the cost, not to jinx you but just in case down the road you need to address the issue. As for the HAL sensor, I haven't heard anything different about reliability being worse or anything about a 50K mile problem. BMW had this system sorted out pretty good by the oil heads.
ABS is great but is it really needed? Thank goodness you can bypass or eliminate it without having to cripple or heavily modify the bike if yours fails and you can't replace it.

So, now I guess you will be leaving the airheads section and migrating to the oil heads, it has been a fun and interesting time writing about your adventure. Good luck and happy riding. St.
Owner of a 84, R80RT and 78, R100RS

User avatar
Slash2
Posts: 538
Joined: Sat Oct 17, 2015 10:22 am
Has thanked: 1 time
Been thanked: 2 times

Re: Looking to buy an Airhead R90S - first time buyer

Post by Slash2 »

Well that was a shift in direction… but whatever floats your boat.
Western Pennsylvanian - Airhead Extraordinaire

SDCR
Posts: 132
Joined: Sat Mar 05, 2022 7:50 am

Re: Bit the BMW motorcycle bullet - bought the 2002 R1150R

Post by SDCR »

Bayou wrote:
Tue Feb 28, 2023 9:16 pm
Hello All,
I bought the Oilhead I had posted earlier, yet to close the deal though. For now, made an advance payment till I figure out when/how to get the bike, it is 90 miles away.

What a buying journey! :o Set out to buy a vintage Airhead, ended up buying an Oilhead that I didn't even know existed. :D

Coming to the R1150R, looking at the maintenance records, it is fair to say the 21k miles on the bike looks legit. It's a bit surprising both the tires have been changed twice already, :o the latest one was in Oct '22; has 100 miles after that.

Seller lives in a sprawling estate, the main gate is a quarter mile from the road. :) The bike sat next to an impeccable Porsche Carrera in a detached garage someways away from the mansion. I was cautioned multiple times that there's a Porsche behind me :lol: as I helped the seller move the bike out of the garage.
  1. Seller is the second owner, he bought the bike in November '22. The bike has sat pretty much unused since then.
  2. First owner has maintained the bike very well and has kept meticulous records. It has been serviced regularly.
  3. Couldn't find any faults (visually) with the bike, looks shiny and rust free. Can definitely use a good wash/cleaning.
  4. I rode the bike within the estate compound, didn't even get a chance to switch to the 3rd gear.
  5. I figured from my research that the ABS (optional equip.) on this model is simply awesome when it works but failure record is nothing to sneeze at. The ABS module alone is 3 grand plus labor that easily eclipses the cost of this ~2 decades old machine. Clever owners have found ways to disconnect the ABS module (srankin called this out) and make their bikes non-ABS, but it's quite an ordeal. :roll: Luckily for me, this bike doesn't have the ABS option and this also played a key role in me deciding to buy.
  6. Other things known to fail in this model are 1) HAL sensor around 50k miles 2) Positive power wire in the fuel pump connector, appears to be mostly in the 1995 to 1999 models. The pump is inside the fuel tank. :roll:
  7. Front wheel on this bike also doesn't turn freely as I would like it to. :o :roll: Am I jinxed or what? :D Now I'm thinking my expectations aren't correct? There'll always be some resistance because of the two disc brakes? I'm concerned because that shouldn't be the case, right?
  8. I feel grooves/ridges on the rear (brake) disc but not deep, whereas front ones are smooth.
  9. Rear seat has 3 small rips that has been fixed.
Thanks a ton for your valuable inputs!
After owning several airhead BMWs, and two Oilheads, including my silver RS that has 94,000 miles, I’ve found that there are more similarities among both types of machines.

At the end of the day, they’re are both quirky but, enjoyable boxers.
1983 R100
2000 R1100

Post Reply