Vintage BMW Motorcycle Owners

The idle jet on the right carb was clogged. I didn't even remove the carb, just the bowl and removed the idle jet. I purchased carb cleaning tools with little brushes and different size wires. Reinstalled and now idles well.

The new problem is the tire installer did not completely seat the bead on the front tire. Bounces pretty bad at speeds over 35 MPH. With the bike on the center stand and spinning the wheel its obvious that abut 25% of the bead is not seated. I deflated it, sprayed it with soapy water and inflated to over 90 PSI and no luck. I'd really like to put on some miles but looks like another trip to the bike shop.

Not sure where you're located, but usually warming things up in the sun helps quite a bit. 90 PSI is scary high. If these are Michelin Pilot Activ tires, they have been known to be problematic to install. I'm sure Snowbum has some tips on his website for mounting tires. Maybe even Brook Reams has some suggestions on his site.

Glad that carb got fixed. I’ve found that the Bings are very good carbs, and along with the simplicity of operation, they perform excellently.

Great news the poor running problem was a simple fix!

Soapy water and warming the tire can help a lot to get things sorted with stubborn tires. Sometimes just trying a few times works the trick. Don't do do like some dofuss I knew long time ago and put 140 psi into a tire. It was not a bike tire but a car tire. I have never seen someone so pale after nearly having their head taken off. St.

I would start over with that tire. Take the wheel off the bike, deflate it completely and break the bead. Then put a film of straight dishwashing soap (i.e. Dawn) - no water - around the entire bead - both sides. Take a ratchetting tie down strap around the circumference of the tire and crank it up until the bead is everywhere touching the rim and reinflate, removing the strap as the tire starts taking air. Don't inflate over 50 psi. If the bead doesn't pop in, bounce the tire a couple of times, or hit the tread with a hammer where it hasn't seated. That should work.

Craig

Craig, I had forgotten about using the strap around the tire. I used it many times back when radial tires first came on the scene for car tires. Boy they were difficult to work with. St.

cbclemmens wrote: ↑

Mon Apr 03, 2023 11:56 am

I would start over with that tire. Take the wheel off the bike, deflate it completely and break the bead. Then put a film of straight dishwashing soap (i.e. Dawn) - no water - around the entire bead - both sides. Take a ratchetting tie down strap around the circumference of the tire and crank it up until the bead is everywhere touching the rim and reinflate, removing the strap as the tire starts taking air. Don't inflate over 50 psi. If the bead doesn't pop in, bounce the tire a couple of times, or hit the tread with a hammer where it hasn't seated. That should work.

Craig

I was aware of that trick with car tires and thought only used to get the bead to seal so it would hold air. Didn't think of it for a narrow tire like on bikes. Also I do have a tube. Ill give it a try.

If your using a tube you shouldn't need the strap. Hint: Lightly dust the tube and inside of the tire with talcum powder so it will slide without bunching up.

Craig

I've had to wire brush crud off the inside of the rim.

Well I took the wheel/tire back the shop because I couldn't get it to "pop".
The shop owner said he had seen this before with the Metzler tires. He deflated, broke the bead and
reinflated to about 100 psi. I slowly backed away as he was ever increasing the pressure!
He got one side to pop, deflated, lubed and reinflated and the second side popped.

Put it all back together and went for a nice 30 mile ride tonight. Brought a screwdriver, stopped after 10 min and
did some fine tuning on the carbs to get the idle just right. She runs great and will put a few more dozen miles in the next week and recheck the fluids etc.

Again, thanks to everyone who chimed in. The goal before mid summer will be a 140 mile ride through western PA en route to our place in Chautauqua Lake NY.