Old Bike Advice

[Bruce Frey]

If riding is what you want to do, stick with the newer "classics" such as the >1969 airheads. I will let the airhead crowd opine on the benefits of the various models.

If you do a moderate amount of riding and you like wrenching, the swingarm/Earles fork 1955-69 are nice. The postwar plunger frame bikes (to 1955) might also be an option with a hgher wrench coefficient.

If you are into the historical aspect and like to wrench as much or more than riding (like I do), go for a prewar bike.

You will find that because of the crappy exchange rate and the German's love for their own equipment, /2 and older BMW (I have never looked at >69 prices) are EXPENSIVE in Germany. I live in Milano and being paid in USD these days is not great.

You might like to visit the Veterama vintage car and bike fair that is held in April and October. www.veterama.de for details. Also, the transportation museum at Sinsheim is not to be missed. Take advantage of your time in Europe. It is somethig most people never get to experience.

Ciao,

Bruce

[Darryl.Richman]

The Airhead bikes (1970-1995 air cooled boxer twins) are indeed up to dealing with today's traffic. I've ridden my '75 R90S up and down the west coast and on other long trips. You'll surely notice the difference in handling, suspension, braking and power vs. your modern Oilhead, but you'll still be able to get around comfortably.

Any of the postwar twins up to 1969 have a much lower performance level. Think about driving an old VW Bug. It's possible to do so in today's traffic, but you must be ever vigilant and drive not just for yourself, but for everyone else around you. I have a 1961 R60/2 and a 1953 R51/3, and I wouldn't hesitate to ride them on the freeway, but I am much more focused on what everyone is doing around me. If I can get away to quieter rural roads, these are much more pleasant to ride.

And I would disagree a bit with Bruce about the wrenching factor for the 50-55 bikes; I would say they need a bit less wrenching, because they have no swingarm bearings to inspect and grease, and no swingarm oil to change. These are extremely minor differences, however.

The prewar bikes, before 1937, are so far down on power and braking, and are so different in operation, that I would definitely only consider riding them in lower speed and calmer situations.

[Herknav90]

Thanks for the advice already. I was thinking the same thing about a slightly newer old bike for my first go. I am thinking the slowly buying until I buy back to a real old bike. I am going to need a huge garage when I get back stateside. I will still pile the miles on the GS when I really want to ride, but I can't get the vintage bikes out of my head! I am heading to the desert region for a few months, so I have some time to work out the details. I have found this already, but I will not act until I get back. God I love these older bikes!

http://cgi.ebay.de/BMW-R25-3_W0QQitemZ2 ... dZViewItem

http://cgi.ebay.de/BMW-R-26_W0QQitemZ23 ... dZViewItem

http://cgi.ebay.de/BMW-R35-Baujahr-1947 ... dZViewItem

[Darryl.Richman]

I can't get the vintage bikes out of my head!

We all understand exactly what you mean. There is no cure.

It looks like you're interested in the singles. In that case, don't worry about going on the freeway, none of them are fast enough. I was at the IBMWR Death Valley Daze rally a year ago and there was an XL sized couple riding around on an R26. They had trailered it in. They were enjoying Death Valley at a leisurely pace, about 35mph.

Bad news about the R35 -- that's a particularly dangerous model to get involved with (along with the R71 twin). These bikes, or clones of them, were produced after the war, and are often passed off as being prewar bikes (which have a higher value). The East Germans made R35s into the middle '50s, and at least the early ones can't really be told apart from the prewar bikes except by serial number -- hence a lot of serial number fraud exists. If you're interested in these bikes, you might want to join the Kradrider mailing list on Yahoo!:

http://uk.groups.yahoo.com/group/kradrider/

Good luck to you while you're out in the desert!

[comet]

Rob: I love the plunger and swing arm twins. If you can ride them somewhere with light, slower traffic they are great. There are probably no more dependable old motorcycles (if they are in good condition) available today. The lighting and the brakes are, by todays standards, poor. If this is a concern I suggest looking at the post 1969 models. When I expect heavy or fast traffic I ride my R80 RT it's only 24 years old......Comet

[Herknav90]

Thanks again for the info. I never really thought about the lighting. The horsepower really isn't an issue in Germany since there are 4 wheelers with street tires, mopeds, and supermoto (most two stroke) driving all over the backroads. Most peds go about 35mph. I have even slowed from 120 mph to 80 mph on the Autobahn to pace a couple on a pair of 4 wheelers with street tires. Blows my mind! Seems you can license just about anything here.

I really like the airhead/boxer engines. I would consider a single if the price is right. It's also an important piece of history. I want to start off easy on this venture. I have a pair of twins myself - BOYS that will be 3 years old in a couple of months. I want to buy some projects that we can work on when they get a little older. Anyway, I look at this site below about every other day, and I drool.

http://www.bmwcyclesdaytona.com/vintage/

The R67, R63, and R42 really get my blood flowing. Man they are beautiful. Of course that ISDT model is a real piece...He should give me that one...Hahahahah! Just kidding.

I have my eye on a few of these too.

http://cgi.ebay.de/BMW-R50-2_W0QQitemZ2 ... dZViewItem

http://cgi.ebay.de/BMW-R69S-Erste-Ausfu ... dZViewItem

http://cgi.ebay.de/BMW-R-69-US_W0QQitem ... dZViewItem

http://cgi.ebay.de/restaurierte-BMW-R60 ... dZViewItem

I would love to find a barn fresh, and I have quite a few connections in the local area. I need to get them searching for me...

[Bruce Frey]

If you want to familiarize yourself with old BMW bikes, BMW Mobile Tradition publishes a book called Motorcycles From Munich 1923-1969 which give a good overview to BMW history and the bikes of that era. It gives tech data, serial numbers, etc. for each model. I think there is another book that covers the later Airheads.

It is available from your local BMW dealer and a variety of other sources.

Best regards,

Bruce

[brown7185]

Hi Herknav90,

I'd like to add my two cents worth to a couple of Darryl's comments. Not that I don't agree with them, I do... maybe it's just a matter of differing perspectives.

I bought an R35 restored in the Ukraine for $5000 on eBay. All of what Darryl and others say about the risks of messing with 35's is true... but mine arrived absolutely spot-on for what it was: an Eisenach bike with a frame, fenders, fork etc. from about 1949 and an engine from ~1951. But the guys who did it were pretty good, although the stripes are tape and the transmission hopped out of third gear. I was referred to a local machininst who had fixed another couple 35 trannies and ordered some parts from E. Breindl-Grope, and soon the trannie will be back in it. And all the other parts (like the egg-shaped early 50's tail light instead of the pre-war Eber shelf-like even smaller one) give an excellent all-around impression of an Eisenach R35 built just before they were forced to stop using the BMW roundels.

So what I'm saying is: it is nearly impossible to find a cool-looking star-frame hand-shift pre-war-design black beauty for ~$6000 except if it's a 35. So I wouldn't necessarilty advise against it. But be wary for sure; a local fella got a "wehrmacht" gray R35 for about the same price (unlike me he hadn't meticulously compared archive pictures of the bikes with pictures of the one for sale) and it was wretched... The only thing on it we found to be neither crappy modern repro nor heinous late-fifties EMW was the dipstick, which at one point had been heavily rusted all the way to the pan. Plus it wasn't even shiny coachlined civilian black, it was sprayed a flat grey which doesn't even match the actual wehrmacht color. And the castings look like they were made of pewter by trolls in Latvia. Yikes.

As to a modern functional bike, I have no trouble with modern highway traffic on my 1956 R69. It is now an AMCA 98/100-point unrestored machine and has full compression, and with careful carb balancing I can easily zip in and out at speeds into the high 80's. It would go faster, but I won't. Darryl denigrated the brakes on these (and without question the later discs are functionally superior unless they get slippery) but if you keep the twin-leading-shoe front brakes maintained and adjusted they seem to stop the bike just fine; in fact the guys who wrote the early road tests of the 69, both Brits and Yanks, were astonished by these very brakes.

One thing to consider on the even earlier bikes: besides being lower speed machines, the two-camshaft and chain-timed engines may (I would even go as far as 'will') be right tough to fix should you have trouble. Not so on the R69. Easy as pie. And durable as all get out. Also, BMW only made about 2400 of them before introducing the immensely popular 69S, and if you get a 1955 or 56 with the early-Earles-fork-model features like the small taillight (see Dwayne Ausherman's excellent site) you will have a fairly rare item which also works. From what I can learn, only about 650 R69's had any of these early features. Someone correct me if I'm mistaken. But even so they're not too precious to use... I drove mine to work today!

One negative Darryl didn't mention: the Bing slide carbs can be challenging on start-up. And they seem to vary widely... one eventually learns what I call the "/2 voodoo": a certain routine your particular carbs seem to like. Before I rebuilt mine, I had to: open the tap for six seconds then close it; hit the ticklers for three seconds; dry kick; ignition; hot kick; turn on tap. And all without the throttle open at all. They flood easily, and I often had to yank the hoses off and kick it over a dozen times or more. And when hot it would change to all the above except no tickle with the throttle slightly above idle. Since the rebuild, though, I can do the owner's-manual-recommended routine with the tap on. Go figure.

Once started, the slow even tickover these motors can produce is a thang o' beauty.

As to electrics, lots of shops can do a 12-V conversion on the post-'55 6V bikes, and then you can light 'er right on up.

Best of luck with whatever you choose or have chosen.

[BMWR12]

Bruce do you have more info on this book I would like to get one. Thanks Mike

[Bruce Frey]

If you mean Motorcycles from Munich 1923-1969, you can get it from your friendly local BMW dealer. He may have to order it, however. There are others, such as Mark Huggett, who also sell it. Google on it.

I believe it carries BMW part number: 01 09 0 035 256.

Ciao,

Bruce