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New owner of R50

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dunn6818
Posts: 15
Joined: Fri Oct 27, 2006 3:00 am

New owner of R50

Post by dunn6818 »

Hi Tom,

Firstly congratulations on buying the bike. Now what to look for, this is part of the list I normally give to anyone looking to buy a pre69 BMW.

1. The engine in your bike has 2 oil slingers at either side of the crank. These have lips at their circumference that collect any rubbish / dirt within the engine oil by centrifugal force. Over time say 40k miles the slingers gradually fill up. Incorporated in the slingers is a hole that feeds oil to the crank big end. If the accumulation of rubbish in the slingers gets too high it will seal this hole. You will then get oil starvation of your crank big end & rapid wear. As part of the maintenance regime the slingers will need cleaning out at say 40k mile intervals. this will require the engine to be stripped. Hopefully this has been done before you bought the bike by a reputable & knowledgable person who has then correctly assembled the engine to the correct tolerances. If this has not happened & your bike has circa 40k or more miles showing. I'd recommend you consider spliting the engine to carry out this work.

Once this is done, change the oil every 1000 miles, the gearbox, drive shaft & rear bevel should be changed every 5000 miles.

2. Take out both your wheels & look for any sign of cracking / bumps on the steel braking surface of the hubs. Here in the UK these hubs suffer from differential corrosion between the steel & the aluminium. The braking surface cracks resulting in poor braking performance.

3. Stand your bike on it's centre stand. Stand to one side & look at the bike, if both wheels are touching the ground then you have wear in the centre stand bushes, these can be drilled out & larger bushes installed.

Buy yourself a clymer manual for the bike or get a modern copy of the original BMW workshop manual which are easily available. This will tell you most of the regular maintenance tasks & how to do them.

Finally when you ride always take a small tool roll & carry a spare carb float. These in my experience frequently fail & it's very simple to swap them over.

If you would like to know any further specifics, please PM me.

Regards
Peter

Allan.Atherton
Posts: 503
Joined: Fri Oct 27, 2006 3:00 am

Re: New owner of R50

Post by Allan.Atherton »

...I did receive the following reply from BMW Mobile Tradition Group Archives:
"The BMW R 50/2 VIN 642423 was manufactured on June 28th, 1966 and delivered on December 20th, 1967 to the BMW importer Butler & Smith in New York City. The bike was equipped with a bench seat. I'm afraid we don't know why there was more than a year between production and delivery."
Does this mean my 1968 is really a 1967, since it was actually manufactured in 1966?

Your bike is really a 1966, delivered so late in 1967 that it is registered as a 1968. My bike was made in 1964 and delivered to me in 1966 at the factory, after it had been shipped to Butler & Smith and then returned unsold.

tomthm
Posts: 1
Joined: Mon Jun 05, 2006 3:53 pm

New owner of R50

Post by tomthm »

Thanks to Peter and Allan for their posts on my R50. I left on vacation right after I got the bike, have just returned, and am anxious to familiarize myself with it. I did get the Clymer manual and this forum and the internet in general are incredible resources. Thanks again, and I'll be back soon I suspect.

Tom

User avatar
VBMWMO
Posts: 1322
Joined: Sun Aug 23, 2009 7:49 pm

New owner of R50

Post by VBMWMO »

I just bought a 1968 R50 (I just sent a request to fred.jakobs@bmw.de for any details available there). I am wondering what I should check or watch out for other than the obvious things - watch the condition of the oil as I ride it, listen for scary noises, etc. It starts first or second kick, runs smoothly, though I haven't been able to take it anywhere but around the block yet. The carburators do leak, so I have kept the fuel supply closed unless starting the engine.

It appears to be in good shape, but I'm just now beginning to exam it closely, so I guess I'm wondering about anything in particular I should watch for on this model. I'm not exactly a mechanical novice, and have been doing a lot of reading these last few days, but don't know a lot about BMW's yet. Any suggestions or opinions are appreciated.

I did receive the following reply from BMW Mobile Tradition
Group Archives:

"The BMW R 50/2 VIN 642423 was manufactured on June 28th, 1966 and delivered on December 20th, 1967 to the BMW importer Butler & Smith in New York City. The bike was equipped with a bench seat.

I'm afraid we don't know why there was more than a year between production and delivery."

Does this mean my 1968 is really a 1967, since it was actually manufactured in 1966?
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