Vintage BMW Motorcycle Owners

I'm an old MX, first raced in 1973 at 15 years old. Still ride Family Enduro's and Dual Sport Rides on a 2019 KTM 250 XC-W. Never been a BMW guy, but when fate brought me to the 1956 R50 I was hooked. I just bought the ole beauty Thursday, she's been stored since 2006, carbs and gas tank look decent, no varnished old gas in them. The tank appears to has been coated with a red Kreem???
I've ordered some goodies from Blue Moon in GA., real nice folks there. I'm going to a solo seat, petcock, low bars, new cables and grips, the bike did not come with a center stand so I'm getting one.
I can't figure out how the key works, heck I'm not even sure that the thing on top of the headlight is the key. Can someone please give me a little help?
I'm in Northern Indiana, I'd like to have the engine looked at / rebuilt, I figure most seals and O ring need replaced. Any good guys in the tri state area that are good???
Any assistance is appreciated...Thanks!

Welcome to the forum! I rode a motor cross bike once just for fun and I think I was sore in muscles I never knew I had. That really takes some physical conditioning!

Tanks came from the factory with a red coating, so what you see might be original. As for the key, it is affectionately called a "nail". There's a plastic slider on the top of the headlight and inside is a hole. The key, with its various grooves, is pushed into that hole. Don't slam it in...just give it a solid push, maybe wiggling a bit. Once home, the generator light as well as the neutral light should come on...the small red (generator) and green (neutral) lenses on the headlight shell. The bike can be started with the key in this position. Parking lights and headlights come on if you turn the key either left or right...I forget which is which...I never run with the headlights on.

You should know that the stock ignition system is a magneto. The bike will run without a battery...the battery is solely a storage device to power the lights, etc., when the idle is low and the generator is not putting out full power.

I get most of my parts/supplies from Bench Mark Works in Sturgis, MS. Got some cables early on from Blue Moon and didn't really like what I got. Bench Mark can do all the repair you need. But there is also a vintage bike owner named Richard Sheckler who lives south of Toledo, OH. He's very knowledgeable but not really in the repair business, just an enthusiast like the rest of us.

Let us know what you find as you go along.

Welcome! Old dirt biker here too. Started in Jr High School in ‘68 and never missed a season riding until I finally transitioned fully to street about 3 years ago and sold my KTM 300 XCW.

You are starting off with a very desirable bike IMHO. I second the Bench Mark Works reccomendation, in fact they are a rarity in that I don’t recall every reading anyone that isn’t a fan of them. They have parts availability as well as wisdom they freely share, that is second to one.

Careful, you have stepped into dangerously addictive waters

My vision for this old Hot Rod is to get her mechanically sound and leave the patina as is, it's a pretty clean bike overall. I'm not sure if it has been repainted. Looks like it may have been black originally. The places where she took a hit look like black with grey primer on top of it and then the white/ cream color on top of that. Serial numbers don't tell much do they? Mine is 562919. It looks like somethings fallen on the bike in a few places, almost looks like road rash but it's in strange places. I need to post some pics, I'm not too good at that stuff.

I really appreciate the help and the info..............THANK YOU Gentlemen!!!

The VIN can help with dating the bike to a small degree. Go to Knowledge Base and then click on Model Info. Type the VIN into the box at the top. It will take you to a page with specs and other links that are specific to the R50. At the bottom is a PDF file which lists VINs over the years that I've come across along with build dates and other info. If you're interested, an email address can be provided which will let you contact BMW Archives to see what they might have on the bike. Not much but usually it is build date, color, and where it was shipped to. One of the email address is to Andreas Harz Andreas.Harz@partner.bmw.de.

But in looking at this, your VIN matches up more with a bike that was built in last August 1960. That suggests that the bike might really be a 1959 model, or could be called a 1960 model. This assumes that model definition is defined as they are today with motorcycles and cars where September sales/models are considered the next year model. BMW didn't necessarily change models that much during this time. But there is some "general" cutoff for model year.

BUY THIS BOOK!!!!!!!!!!!!!

http://barringtonmotorworkspublications ... lery/14/97

Bill Husted
Barre, MA

I've got too many hobbies and I'm not willing to put the time and study in to do the motor work. To me, there are 2 possibilities, leave the bike as is, polish her up and enjoy how great it looks. Or, send it to someone that can get her mechanically sound and know it's done right.
I had a great conversation with Vech, what a hoot, great guy, he no longer does this kind of work. He directed me to David Woodburn, another great guy and a blast to talk to. I'll put the bike in his hands and know that it's right.
Again, thank you Gentlemen for your time!

Congrats!
I'd say keep the patina and get it running reliably/safe.

Post pictures.. we love that here!

I tried to post pics.....I got an ''F''
I'm not too strong in the tech crap......

You got an "F"...is that for fail? The likely issue is that the picture images are too big. Windows has a built-in program called Paint that can resize images. I'm sure Macs have the same kind of utility.