BMW R100S/6 Maiden Voyage ?

We had planned a sidecar / camping trip for the 4th of July weekend. Saturday came in with rain and winds so decided to pull out on Sunday, ride over the Little Belt Mountains and end up over near Helena MT. to camp for the night. Changed out the rear tire Saturday night and changed all the gear lubes. Sunday morning we packed our gear and I re-torqued the heads and adjusted all valves. Finally good to go around 9:00 AM.

PACKED AND READY FOR THE ROAD

The morning was beautiful and the ride was nice. Very green with all the rain we've been having lately.

Neihart Montana was a mining area for many years. Lots of old derelict mine sites.

We stopped in Neihart to visit the local tavern for a burger. We worked here 7 or 8 years ago so went to visit the local tavern / motel / grill owner.

Dropping down the mountain towards White Sulpher Springs.

About 30 miles from Neihart the bike was running great and all of a sudden the left cylinder stopped firing...thought I ran out a fuel but that wasn't possible...maybe an ignition problem?

Pulled the left spark plug and saw the exhaust valve looking a little too far open through the spark plug hole...pulled the valve cover and ....shit! Exhaust valve in two pieces.

Immediately a car stopped to check on us and they gave Darian a ride back to Neihart and the nearest land line phone...no cell service up here. She called on AAA for rescue and waited at the bar...I made myself at home for the long wait.

I always carry a few old Airmails so at least had something to read. Good thing about a sidecar was that I had a comfortable seat to recline in. So here I sat for three hours and change...

Pretty place to be stranded. Must have been at least 50 motorcycle drive by...and at least four times that many vehicles....not one person stopped.....

My neighbor.....maybe he was the last guy to break down here....

Started getting bored and took a lot of photos of nothing....

Finally after 3 1/2 hours my wife returns with our rescue vehicle...so much for the camping trip...Over 30 years of riding and this was the first time I was stuck and unable to repair a bike on the road shoulder....

Looks like the hack tug will be down for a while...I'm planning a solo trip next weekend so I'll get the old /5 out and ready to go....

Spring Solstice BMW Style - 2010

I attended the annual "Bobs' Motorwerks Solstice Gathering" last weekend. I have attended a few years and camped last time I was there. Had to drive to Great Falls MT. the following day so did not camp this year.


Bob had quite a line up of vintage airheads in the shop.
Quite a few older bikes rode in as the day progressed.

Rex, the "BMW Dog" rode his sidecar rig up. The sidecar used to belong to my brother.

This old Vincent came rolling in off the gravel rode. A very nice original bike.

I installed my Heinrich tank on the Rat Rig. Also installed the /2 rear rack. The Lester wheel I purchased showed up missing some parts so I'll have to order some spacers and seals for it before installation.

The Yellowstone River is nearly out of its' banks.

We are currently in Great Falls MT. and will be in the area for the summer. We attended a "Concert in the Park" tonight with my Mother in Law and her brother this evening. I met a young man at the concert who is interested in motorcycles and has only ridden on one once when he was younger. He expressed interest in taking a sidecar ride so we'll see what we can do....

BMW Accessories

Purchased an after market /2 luggage rack from a fellow over in Turkey. My parts supplier has some similar racks but his were over two times the cost of this one. I think this "Turkish" rack will likely be a poor quality but we'll see....The one I ordered is actually black. I did not want a chrome one. The rack arrived in Montana a couple of days ago. I'll pick it next time through town.
Have wanted to find a pair of "Lester" wheels for the sidecar rig but they normally run over $200.00 apiece + shipping. This one showed up on EBay this morning for $120.00 with a near new tire and free shipping. I bought it as I don't think it would be there for very long at that price. The Lester alloy wheels are a lot better fitted for sidecar usage. I'll hopefully find a matching front one eventually.

BMW Airheads on Memorial Day

Memorial Day 2010. Had a huge load of spare BMW parts...and a spare BMW hulk to drop off in Yuma AZ. I had packed all my spare parts with me while I was building the R100S/6 so wanted to lighten my load a bit. Stuffed about 5 big boxes of spare BMW parts in the shed in Yuma. Also dropped the small trailer and R75/5 chassis in the lot. I have buyers for quite a few of the spare parts but just don't want to mess around with the task right now. The parts sales will have to be a winter project...Since Yuma is only 2 1/2 hours from San Diego we decided to run over to Escondido CA. to visit our niece Julie and her husband. Also hooked up with a bunch of our Airhead BMW Club friends...


Some shuffle board games were taken on during the day...man ...shuffle board...is that a sign of age? Darian shown here with a serious looking shot...

Our friends, Kevin & Scott acquired a huge stainless steel "Burn Patient Tub" a few years ago and turned it into a Koy Pond. The toilet tank contains charcoal filtering and the water circulates through the bowl...the fish definitely look healthy.
Left to right: Steve, Niece Julie, Debbie...

Debbie's Husband Kelly...he is the master chef extraordinaire...we will meet up with them next weekend in Las Vegas.

Bill.... Retired So. Cal. Airmarshall

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Sitting at the BBQ / Bar...Great food was on the grill all day long...

Catching up...haven't seen any of these folks for a year and a half...

New Surroundings........Nevada Desert

Lake Mohave at Cottonwood Cove...our new location for the next few weeks......

After nearly a year in the Texas Panhandle we are very pleased to have a new view. I will not miss the Texas unpredictable weather, constant wind and the infamous tornado alley......
Desert views from my window......

Our RV site is outside town on the deserts edge. We are the only inhabitants of the RV Park right now...got the prime end spot with pine trees on our patio side.

Sunsets are nice every night....

Arrived here on Sunday. Got settled in right away and took a 40 mile motorcycle ride down to the lake. Temperature was in the high 90's. The road down to lame mohave drops about 2500 feet in 14 miles. Temperature is usually 10-15 degrees warmer than Searchlight.

Pulled the bike out tonight and went for a quick 30 minute ride down the Joshua Tree highway. Bike is working good but believe I'll need to add an oil cooler of some sort. Engine oil temp was pretty high when we ran up from the lake at 97 degrees....

Have nearly everything done...might add a small /2 luggage rack to the rear fender. Still need to fine tune the sidecar toe-in settings.

BMW R100S/6 Break-in Time....Hydraulic Steering Damper....1000 mile solo seat

Ran the bike 50 or so miles this weekend just tooling around the area. Not ready to venture too far from home yet. So far the engine sounds real good and everything is working as it should. I'm seeing a little oil weepage at the right cylinder base. The R100S engine is very powerful and 75 mph is easy to attain. The oil temperature runs a little higher than the /5. Might end up installing a 4 quart oil pan as I did on the /5.

Swapped the seats from the /5 to the R100S/6. The dual 1000 mile solo seats went back onto the /5, along with the large luggage rack. Also installed some smaller bar-end mirrors as I wanted the larger pair on the sidecar rig.

Completed the brake component rebuilds last weekend. Rebuilt the master cylinder and both the brake calipers. The disc brake front is much better than the old /5's drum brake set up.

. The newly covered black seat looks like it belongs there.....

Removed the large luggage rack which aslo doubled as a grab point for dragging the hack in "Reverse".....by chance I had a /5 front fork brace which lined right up with the holes in my saddle bag mounting frame.....the loop at the back of the bike is the new "reverse" grab.

I received a Volkswagon hydraulic steering damping cylinder a week or so ago...was able to put together a mounting assembly with spare stuff I had laying around. The cylinder sits at an angle but works just fine. The Heim joint joint does not bottom out so I can't see any issues with this mounting. The lower mounting point rotates as the forks turn. Steering is much more effortless than the previous /5 set up. I run the friction damper snug and with the hydraulic damper cylinder I should never see a low speed wobble again......

Have not yet fine tuned in the sidecar to the bike...I'm feeling a little "yaw", especially with a passenger. Think it needs to be toed-in a bit more. I'll need to find a level chunk on pavement to finalize the set up.....now if i could just find the damned horn I so carefully put away.....

Next Stop........

Received my "new" Tokico Suzuki brake calipers and found them as stuck as the ones they are to replace.....went on line and found seal kits to rebuild them. First step was to free the stuck caliper pistons......Proceeded to give them a shot of WD 40 on a daily basis. This went on for 10 days. Researched techniques for freeing up the pistons...air pressure, grease injection, or using the master cylinder to pump them out......decided on the latter.....

Proceeded to rebuild the master cylinder upon receipt of the rebuild kit. Everything looked pretty good in the old cylinder bore....some rust which was carefully removed with crocus cloth....completed the master cylinder rebuild and installed it. Spent hours attempting to get the cylinder to pump oil...no luck...took a nap instead.
Finally used a syringe to force fluid through the cylinder pistons. That removed the air lock in the cylinder. Once that was achieved the caliper pistons pumped right out. Cleaned up the pistons and bores and reassembled. Rebled the system and now we have brakes!...Finally!

Today I take another shake down run and figure out how to mount the new hydraulic steering damper cylinder.

R100S/6 Dual Disc Hydraulic Brakes / side car hydraulic steering damper

Worked on the R100s engine problem the other night...checked out coils, connections and had no luck. Decided to swap out the ignition condenser and sure enough that was the problem. engine fired right up and ran as it should.
Decided to dig into the front hydraulic brake system next. Tore down the master cylinder and disassembled it. did not look too bad...no significant internal rust. A new unit is available but at $400.00 I decided to rebuild mine...ordered a rebuild kit.
Had not been able to identify the manufacturer of the front disc brake calipers. Knew they were from an Asian bike cause they are "Tokico" units. Finally after looking at dozens of different calipers on EBay I found they are from a 1981 Suzuki GS750LX. Took mine apart and found that the pistons are rusted solid in the bores...not good. Attempted to find NOS calipers but none to be found...price lists showed them at nearly $200.00 each if they were available.



Went back to EBay and found a couple pairs for sale....ended up buying the set below for $55.00. Talked to the seller via phone and was assured they were rust free and usable as is...went ahead and ordered seal kits ($45.00) for them from another NOS parts supplier. I'll rebuild them upon receipt.



Been snooping around looking for a hydraulic steering damper. Found that many "sidecarists" use Mercedes Benz Bilstien units...and some use Volkswagen units. Looked over some photos of a Volkswagen unit on a sidecar and decided to go that route. Plus it was only $35.00 + shipping. Will need to fabricate a bracket of some sort but that won't be too difficult. So things are looking up and maybe we'll have a drivable sidecar soon.

Sold a pile of spare parts on EBay over the past 10 days....paid for all these new parts and have a couple hundred to spare.

BMW R100S/6 maintenance.......

Finally quit raining. The lake here has receded. Rolled out the bike today......replaced the late model valve covers with a straight, earlier design, pair I salvaged from the R75/6. Had them bead blasted at a shop in Amarillo on Friday.

Replaced one left side rocker arm assembly with a replacement I found last fall....one of the original rocker assemblies had suffered from some rust corrosion. Also replaced one rocker arm nut on the right side.



Re torqued the head bolts and reset the valves. Fired the bike up but wasn't running right. Messed with the points and reset the time via the static timing route. Battery was run down so pulled it out and set it on the charger.



Spent some time and reset the upper side car mountings. Rotated the front one over.....moved the rear one forward to decrease the angle from the bike to the hack.

Wanted to run the bike a couple of miles but battery level was too low to start the engine. I will need to sort out the "poorly running" problem at a later date.....When I initially fired the bike up in MT. it didn't run quite right until it warmed up. When I shut it down from my last ride it was running badly....I figured it was the valve adjustments....but am not sure now....I'll get it sorted out....

Swim anyone?

All settled in Texas again. My lovely wife arrived here last night from MT. She had been on a trip over to Seattle WA. with our daughters to attend a "Black Eyed Peas" concert. That also gave her a chance to see a brother , nieces and friends there. I had my own vacation last weekend and rode my old /5 over to Pampa the Panhandle TX. what a wonderful vacation it was! LOL.....nice day for a short 100 mile or so ride...forgot my camera so no photos......

I always dreamed of a Lake Front Home......my dream has come true here in Texas....





On the bike project front I haven't got much done recently.....had to run to Amarillo today for business so dropped off a pair of old style BMW Valve covers to be sand blasted. They were very weathered from sitting out in the Oregon weather for 15 years or so. They came out looking presentable. They will go on the R100S/6 when I retorque the heads...maybe this weekend?

Have bought / rigged up a new cargo trailer which is 6 feet longer and 1.5 feet wider than my old one. Now actually have room for all my motorcycle crap and whatever else we need. The sidehack rig can now be loaded without removing the chair.
I now need to purchase some front brake parts and rig up a hydraulic front steering damper....these tasks must be done before the old hack goes anywhere....hope to get it together soon! Good riding weather is getting near.....as long as we don't drown between now and then.

Running a few parts on E-Bay this week. RE: pair of Bing Carbs, Full set of BMW Alloy turn signals, pair of valve covers, /6 gauge set, BMW handlebar grips, /6 steering damper assembly and a couple other parts......

Texas blur

The last weeks have been a blur. Mom passed away. I've traveled 1000's of miles around the western US for work...been living out of a suitcase for the past month.... Luckily my wife has joined me for a week or so
and we will travel back to MT. late this week. We'll regroup and I'll bring our RV back to Texas , motorcycles in tow, and get back into my normal routine. When the weekends arrive I am stuck staring at the motel TV, the computer. Not a hell of a lot to do around here. Having the RV here with the bike projects will make me feel normal again....I traded in my old 14' cargo trailer on a new 20' wide body trailer. No more sidehack removal every time I move. We installed 2 rows of shelves and have the new trailer pretty well set up. Actually have some room to spare. Nice after using the 14' trailer completely crammed with "stuff" for the past number of years. We bought the trailer, set it up in two days and then stored it away.

BMW 1966 R60/1150RT

Someone finally did a different BMW "Conversion".






I'll bet you this one is a hand full.......pretty wild!

Texas 1973 1/2 BMW R75/5

I'm always on the lookout for old BMW's. Ran across this 1973 1/2 long Wheel Base R75/5 today. The asking price is more than what it is worth but I had to take a look. I was hoping that some rare accessories or something might come with it. It ended up just being an old driver which needs a little TLC. Mostly original.....looked like a /6 tank and side covers. The headlight and ring were rough. After market mufflers.



Beneath all the dirt I think it would clean up pretty good. Needs a tune up and a general going over. Push rod tube seals were leaking. It likely hasn't had much normal maintenance being in the country most its' life.......



The owner/seller dropped his price to $1600.00 right away but it looks like an $800.00 bike to me....It fired up after some coaxing and the engine sounded OK although needs a tune up / carb synch pretty bad. Not for me @ $1600.00 anyway, but a possible good runner for someone......

Shake Down Cruise

The weather hit the low 50 degree mark the past two days so it was time to fire up the r100S/6 and take some shake down runs. Ran about 10 miles around the neighborhood yesterday and another 50 miles further into town today. Stopped often to check things over. Added a bit of transmission and engine oil. Tightened a few bolts and basically felt things over. Had to rethink and rebuild a lower mount for the Friction Damper yesterday. My design was crap and things were tweeking within 10 miles. Had a nasty low speed wobble after hitting a bump this afternoon. Tightened the damper more....might need to look into a hydraulic damper also. Already have the mount for one on the forks....Have not yet repaired the front brakes so call me brave....or stupid.......


Pardon the "Cell Phone Camera" quality photos


Bike was a little cold blooded but once warmed up she ran well....a LOT of power and highway speeds were quick to attain...just so I didn't need to stop in a hurry......
I took care in riding and know the limits of riding with just a rear brake...but that didn't keep me from running up to 60+ MPH on the Airport Road. Like I said...brave or stupid....



My last few miles coming home were a struggle as the valves tightened up and were out of adjustment....expected with a new top end. Will need to retorque the heads and reset the valves next. Also have done some inquiries concerning the Tokico Disc Brakes and will attempt to find rebuild kits for the calipers and a rebuild kit for the dual master cylinder...if it is salvagable.....things will now sit for a while as I need to travel for work for a few weeks.
Purchased a new 20' widebody cargo trailer this week. Spent a couple days setting it up with shelves etc. I'll now be able to ride the sidehack rig into the trailer without pulling off the hack. The old narrower trailer went as a trade in....