Cleared out a space in my nice new shop so I have a warm place to work. Still have access to all the equipment too!

Disassembled the front brakes. Fluid was VERY dark. Once apart and cleaned up, things look remarkably good, but when it comes time to reassemble I'll do a kit and stainless line anyway.

Interestingly, I seem to have hit critical mass. Wife wanted to know why I was pushing motorcycles around. Doesn't seem to have recognized that it's new/different, it's just "a motorcycle". I haven't tried to pull the wool over her eyes or anything, but I haven't specifically mentioned getting another bike either.

^^^^^
“but I haven't specifically mentioned getting another bike either.”

quote:

Originally posted by P250UA5:

the seat & one of the mufflers. Looked those 2 parts up & they together would've been almost double what the guy was asking for the rest of it.

Sold the last of our motorcycles, so I have not looked recently, but the BMWMOA Classifieds used to list a lot of used parts, much like the SIGforum classifieds.

quote:

Originally posted by P250UA5:

Had also found a disassembled 76 BMW R [R75/6 IIRC] bike for pretty cheap, and Houston-local. Claimed all was there except the seat & one of the mufflers. Looked those 2 parts up & they together would've been almost double what the guy was asking for the rest of it.

I have a friend's BMW K1200RS in my garage, trying to sell it. 2003 model with 3xxx miles on it. minor cosmetic issues. Worst thing is it needs the rear brake pedal replaced.

BMW wants over $200 for it...

We've got the price down to $3100 and still can't move it.

quote:

Not a fan of airbox deletes, I figure the engineers that designed it in the first place probably knew what they were doing. Dicking around rejetting to compensate for pods is a PITA.

Much of those things are not only to control air access but noise, EPA and other government noise regs are tough on air cooled motors. One way to reduce some of the noise is to encapsulate the carbs into a box...

Doubt it would do any harm to remove them and would look cool as well.

quote:

Originally posted by V-Tail:

quote:

Originally posted by P250UA5:

the seat & one of the mufflers. Looked those 2 parts up & they together would've been almost double what the guy was asking for the rest of it.

Sold the last of our motorcycles, so I have not looked recently, but the BMWMOA Classifieds used to list a lot of used parts, much like the SIGforum classifieds.

It sold in about 6 hours. Missed my shot on that one.

quote:

Originally posted by PHPaul:

quote:

Originally posted by P250UA5:

Had also found a disassembled 76 BMW R [R75/6 IIRC] bike for pretty cheap, and Houston-local. Claimed all was there except the seat & one of the mufflers. Looked those 2 parts up & they together would've been almost double what the guy was asking for the rest of it.

I have a friend's BMW K1200RS in my garage, trying to sell it. 2003 model with 3xxx miles on it. minor cosmetic issues. Worst thing is it needs the rear brake pedal replaced.

BMW wants over $200 for it...

We've got the price down to $3100 and still can't move it.

K12RS was one of the first BMWs I pined over, the R11S as well.
I've seen some K1300S bikes for around the same price. Tough market for some of these.

80's had some cool rides.

Here's my '85 Virago 700.



I rebuilt it, upgraded the F & R suspension and you can see the Mustang seat.

Got it as a first moto in later life. If I could have upgraded the front brake, I might have kept it. Stainless lines to dual rotors and new pads but a single piston didn't cut it.

Progress report.

1. Cut to code key from EBay recieved and works in all three locks. Whew...

2. Carbs disassembled, run through the sonic cleaners, kitted and reassembled. Yay, Me! I did it without throwing anything and only invoked The Gods of Verbal Lubrication once. The throttle and choke linkage is sandwiched between the carbs, along with return springs, ball-and-socket throttle plate links, fuel transfer tubes and accelerator pumps. It would be a challenge for an octopus with thumbs to hold everything in place and get it back together. I looked at it closely before taking things apart and took several pictures with the phone which definitely saved my ass.

3. Master Cylinder disassembled, cleaned, inspected and reassembled. Caliper kit received today, that's this afternoon's project.

4. Spark plugs pulled. Ewwww. Judging by the soot on the electrodes, it was running REALLY rich. Those things are 6 inches down inside the valve cover and head and have been collecting rain water since Noah was a mess cook. I'll grab some fresh ones.

5. Drained the radiator. Coolant looked fresh, but I gotta pull all the plumbing and the thermostat to replace 40 year old o-rings, so fresh coolant will go back in when done.

EDIT: It pays to look around when ordering parts. First link I looked at for a carb kit wanted $90, I found one on Ebay for $12 and while it didn't include jets it had the lebendy-seven o-rings and seemed to cover all the bases when reassembling. A couple of sources made a point of NOT changing the jets unless you had too as the replacement jets were rarely, if ever, correct. Also found a caliper rebuild kit on Amazon for a very reasonable price, and it's an All Balls kit so decent quality. Prices and availability on those kits varied widely as well.

I stumbled across some part from either my 83 V45 or my 84 V65. Brand new in the Honda packaging. I sent you an email with part numbers. If they fit your bike you can have them.

Those are tough little engines. Moto Guzzi clone.

quote:

Originally posted by PHPaul:
I haven't specifically mentioned getting another bike either.

"What new bike, sweetness?"

Progress Report #2

1. The parts that '67Goat so generously offered me are, unfortunately, not compatible with the CX.

2. I had the carbs off and back on again. I'm getting pretty good at that... When I kitted them, I used the wrong o-rings on the fuel transfer tube between the carbs and it leaked. In my defense, the correct ones were not included in the kit. Of course, I could have dug the correct ones out of my o-ring kit the first time, but where's the fun in that? "We do things right because we do them twice!"



3. I found this crudely whacked off connector in the wiring harness. The three yellow wires run from the alternator to the rectifier/regulator black box. I haven't investigated further but the consensus on the CX forum is that either the connector failed and some shadetree hack cut the wires and soldered them back together or the stator was replaced and came with a different style of connector.

Definitely connector failure. Got hot enough to melt the halves together which is probably why they were left in place after the solder splice repair was done.

Whoever fixed it did a decent job of splicing the wires so I'll leave it as is for the time being.

This is pretty cool. My dad had a 1983 (or maybe it was 1982) Honda Nighthawk 650. I took it for a joy ride as a 80 pound 15 year old. The shaft drive felt immediate. Scared the crap out of me how fast it would get going.

Today's project was replacing all the o-rings in the plumbing for the radiator. 8 of 'em... Some of them I probably could have re-used, but several were pretty crusty and the one for the thermostat had been pinched so it probably already leaked.

Wire-wheeled the hardware and put a dab of copper never seize on all the threads when re-installing.

Also hooked 12v up to the fan motor and it runs and is essentially quiet. Don't see a way to lube the bearings or I would.

The parts order included an o-ring for the water pump. Looking at it, the carbs would definitely have to come off and I strongly suspect the engine would have to come out to replace it. Not happening until/unless it actually leaks.

quote:

Originally posted by PHPaul:
The parts order included an o-ring for the water pump. Looking at it, the carbs would definitely have to come off and I strongly suspect the engine would have to come out to replace it. Not happening until/unless it actually leaks.

Which it will, LOL, have you lost a 10mm yet, if not there is still time!

quote:

Originally posted by HRK:

Which it will, LOL, have you lost a 10mm yet, if not there is still time!

Wouldn't surprise me a bit, that Murphy is a real dick...

Apologies for the quality and noise, just a quick hand-held phone video to document the first start. Have a fan running to clear the exhaust fumes out of the shop.

Got the carbs rebuilt and reinstalled, replaced all the o rings in the cooling system, put new plugs in it, rebuilt the front brake caliper and master cylinder, changed the oil and filter, put fresh antifreeze in it.

After diddling with the idle speed it starts and idles quite well considering it's running with no air filters or air box and I just ball-parked the carb adjustments when I overhauled them.

I guess the next step is to get the front brake bled and decide what to do about air filters and then see about carb jetting.