Vintage BMW Motorcycle Owners

Hey all -

It's been a bit. My R100/7 is still not back together, and I haven't re-wired all the turn signals on my R90/6. That's the bad news.

The good news - I was surfing the local Craigslist, and found a 1978 R100/7 for sale, somewhat locally (about an hour away). Made the deal and picked it up today. I love it. It needs minor things (front brake bled and adjusted, rear brake adjusted, carbs sync'd). I'll change the oil and give it a good cleaning. I'm really happy with the purchase. Previous Owner had it re-painted original color about 1-1/2 years ago, and all the pinstriping was done by hand. It's really well done.

Very very happy with this one.

Nice looking bike! I notice is has BMW roundels as covers for the swing arm bearing holes...good touch. I also notice that it seems to have the recalled 19" front wheels. Doesn't look like yours has the extra ribbing on the spokes radiating from the center.

https://bmwmotorcycletech.info/19inchrecall.htm

Getting a replacement, if that's what you want to do, is going to be difficult. Depends on the dealer for one, and then are there even any replacements out there. I had heard that the only replacements were gold anodized rims. Might look nice with your paint!!

Wow, thanks Kurt - I had no idea on the wheel recall. I'll keep my eyes open.

A very nice looking bike. The color is the same as my 77 R75/7, I remember it looked very pretty shined up in the sun and was different than the "other" bikes on the road.

Enjoy the riding. St.

schrader7032 wrote: ↑

Sat Aug 20, 2022 5:26 pm

Nice looking bike! I notice is has BMW roundels as covers for the swing arm bearing holes...good touch. I also notice that it seems to have the recalled 19" front wheels. Doesn't look like yours has the extra ribbing on the spokes radiating from the center.

https://bmwmotorcycletech.info/19inchrecall.htm

Getting a replacement, if that's what you want to do, is going to be difficult. Depends on the dealer for one, and then are there even any replacements out there. I had heard that the only replacements were gold anodized rims. Might look nice with your paint!!

Kurt is correct, those are the recalled rims. If you don't plan on replacing them before riding, go over them with a fine tooth comb (as they say) and check for cracks. If you're unable to get a replacement from BMW you could fit wire wheels or Lesters to your ride.

Kevin

Looked over the front wheel pretty well this morning, and I think I see some cracks down by the hub. Disappointing. I know the recall never "expires", but I think the likelihood of getting one from BMW is low. I've found one on e-bay that I'm bidding on - hopefully can win that one and swap them out.

Aside from Ebay, wheels can be found at a lot of small shops such as Recycle BMW or Motorworks in the UK. I have also dealt with Joshua Buck and Roland Robile for used parts. Just in case you don't win the bid on the wheel you are looking at. St.

At some point, I'd probably check with your nearest dealer to see what they have to say. I think ideally the wheels would be replaced if the original owner came in with proof of ownership of the bike. So theoretically all of the wheels would have found their "proper" bike. But I'm sure that broke down and dealers began to give them out to anybody/everybody that showed up. Not sure if any kind of dealer database was kept where they could verify what was replaced over time. Would be interesting to ask a few questions.

The page you linked Kurt said it all - you don't have to be the original owner, and the recall never expires. It's whether or not BMW has wheels available. Gut feel - BMW won't have wheels available.

It's OK. I won the E-bay auction. I was already working on learning how to replace front bearing sets on R100's. It made me finally order the motorcycle wheel balancer for my tire balancer. I'll swap it out and make it right.

The snowflakes have to be treated with care during bearing changes...they're all aluminum hubs.