Acewell Speedometer Installed....mostly....and more money poured into the "pit".

Received this Acewell Computer / Speedo assembly on Friday and worked this weekend to get it installed. I really like the looks of it and the installation was easy with the help of a thread on the "ADV Site"....under "Olds Cool". An ADV'er did the installation on his /7 (?) and documented everything as he went....even posted his wiring diagrams etc.....really helped me out on my installation. The Acewell unit won't facilitate the BMW generator light system so I simply found the smallest LED light I could, drilled (gasp) the headlight bucket and mounted it there...(below photo arrow) I think it looks pretty good......

Mounted the Acewell using the existing BMW gauge mount.....cut off the ears....bent it a little lower to gain the angle I needed, then made up some spacers to gain the correct height to clear the /5 steering damper......I have not tackled the magnetic speedometer/sender installation to the front wheel yet........I'll get on that task next.....

Gauge looks clean and simple.......

The wad of wiring hanging off the handlebars was a temporary "generator light" I hooked up to make sure it was working after hacking up the BMW wiring harness for the installation............

The Acewell has individual (left & right) turn signal indicators rather than the stock BMW single indicator......this required coming off the "board panel" in the head light to wire in....Gauge has ; low pressure oil light, neutral light, high beam indicator, individual L&R turn indicators, clock, resettable riding time hour meter, aggregate riding time hour meter, odometer, two resettable trip odometers, bar graph tachometer, digital tachometer, speedometer....you can also get a fuel gauge and hazard warning light on different models.....What, No Thermometer? lol.........

I order a couple of special brackets yesterday.....I need to affix the tie-down for the /5 steering friction damper to a cross member under the tank.....don't want to weld to the frame so found some generic brackets at Graingers.....Also will use a similar bracket to attach the right side "Henrys" floorboard to the sidecar frame.....the lower sub frame I used won't allow the right floorboard to mount to the bike........I'll mount the floorboard reversed to the sidecar frame to achieve the same end.....I really like the extra foot places/spaces when on long rides to keep comfortable.....I'll post that when its' done.......I took the bike for its' maiden voyage on Sunday. Ran it 100' up the street and back...(on a low, square front tire, no front brakes and no tags....)

Purchased a pair of tires for the sidecar tug tonight.....was buying Dunlops for years but they doubled in price in the past two years.......last set (last summer) were Bridgestone S11's, great soft tires (great for solo use).....nearly wore them off on the /5 tug in 5000 miles or so..... this time I went with a pair of Shinko tires for the "new" tug. For the sidecar tug use I eat them up so fast that I thought I'd try a cheaper, likely harder tire......Shinkos are likely some Chinese brand.....but I guess about everything is Chinese these days......we'll see how fast they wear out.....With the sidehack attached the softer "grippier" tires aren't quite so necessary.....I put some cheapo hard tires on a solo Yamaha 850 years ago and they were terrible, slippery and harder than a rock...no good for solo use and they scared the crap out of me more once.....

also bought an Odyssey dry cell battery via EBay. Never tried a Dry Cell battery before but I've read that the Odyssey is a good one....we'll see.

Had some Pay Pal play money sitting so figured I'd better use it for things needed, rather than for things not really needed.....

R100s slowly coming to life.....

Installed the new throttle cables and choke cables....ends up that these carbs are later carbs which use a different type choke cable...was able to rig the stock cables with some spacers and the new clamp bolts I got from Huckys. Unfortunately they bind up a bit and don't want to fully open when lever is pulled up...not too big a deal.........

Last weekend I pulled the sidecar wiring harness from the /5 and installed it to the R100...also wired in the saddle bag lights. They are dual element so will now have a total of 4 tail lights and 4 brake lights.......missing one flat three pin connector for one saddle bag light so had to order that. Next I'll have to finally wire in the right front blinker mounted to the sidecar fender.....and the new Acewell unit....
Still need to : Change out the front tire
: Lube the front and rear wheel bearings
: Fill / bleed out the front brakes (hope not to rebuild but will likely have to)
: Adjust the front fender.....(now that the hack is mounted the shocks rub in the fender detent area)
: Purchase a larger battery....using the/5 battery now
: figure out a mount for the right floor board
: figure out a frame mount for the /5 steering friction steering damper
: complete engine tuning , timing. etc, etc, etc................

Ordered this Acewell Speedo unit tonight for the R100s....it has a lot of features....speedometer, tachometer, odometer, 2 trip odometers, accumulative ride time hour meter, resettable hour meter, clock, plus idiot lites for neutral, high beam, oil pressure, turn signals. I'll need to rig a separate generator light. The speedometer is calibrated from the actual diameter of the front tire so should be accurate. Price was $119.00 + shipping.......

Decided to sell a few a few left overs on EBay last week.....a pair of pretty decent R90/6 side covers......

The old 1978 R100S gauge assembly which was in pretty fair condition......

A pair of new Krauser saddle bag latches...I spent $15.00 a piece for them a while back.....lost a couple of bucks on that one.....

An early style BMW saddle bag mount and luggage rack...........poor chrome in a couple of spots.....

Also sold a pair of R100S handle bar perches, levers and switches..........All told these items brought in $223.00.....not too bad for left overs............

Back on three wheels..........

Today was spent installing the sidecar sub frame and then spent a few hours attaching the hack......had to reposition both lower mounts to fit the sub frame......everything came together pretty good....still need to fine tune toe in and lean out but things look pretty close.

I removed the Califia Fairing as I still need better access to the chassis. Looks like the upper front sidecar mount will be a tough fit with the fairing mounted...we'll have to wait and see.....I want to get any "gremlins" that may arise before wiring in a fairing and making access harder than it already is.........



This sub frame will be much more stable than the mounting system I used on the R75. The down side is that the I-beam sub frame crowds the oil filter access....may have to pull things apart to change out the oil filter....Upon removing the upper rear mount from the R75, I saw where the mount wore into the frame a millimeter or two....looks like it would have eventually ate through the frame.....obviously had some movement going on there but it was not noticable.


The old R75/5 will now get a rest and likely retire to solo use after 15k rough sidecar tug miles....she served me well......

R100S Sidecar Tug Progression

We are settled in Montana for a time so now have a garage to work in. Installed clutch, throttle cables and went about double checking wiring and connections....could not get oil pressure dummy light to function so rigged a separate oil pressure light.


Rigged a small old syringe for a fuel feed as I wanted access to the electrics while running the bike up. Tried to kick start the bike but compression is such that kick starting proved difficult. Plus it is 14 degrees outside and around 50 in the garage. The electric start was not working so jumped the starter relay to turn over...engine fired although was not hitting full time on left cylinder. Ran it up a few times and engine sounded good...have good compression and spark so carbs will need a little tweeking. Swapped out the starter relay for another I had on hand and starter worked just fine......got the stock oil pressure light working too......

Received some vintage Bates Saddle Bag mounts via EBay so fit them to the bike.....
These "old school" mounts utilize the muffler for support the lower mount.....
never thought I'd find these mounts in a million years....EBay find for $9.99.....I had bought another set of mounting frames for $9.99 but they were damaged and did not fit....
Lower mounts in place.....Bags are solid....had to make up some spacers for the sub frame to center the bags to the frame...........

Had old early 70's period Califia Fairing in storage so went ahead to check for fitment with the earls fork....fairing fit just fine and hopefully the sidecar mounting lugs will clear the fairing mounts.....
There is a gap in the fairing mount which appears to be large enough for the upper front sidecar mounting lug......

The protection of this fairing is great and also has a lot of storage in it...it was originally on my /5 Toaster but I removed to access the headlight electrics and never reinstalled it....I was going to sell it for $50.00 but shipping was a hassle so kept it.......glad I did now....

I love the old school look of this fairing...I have never seen another one although I'm sure they are out there......The stock gauge assembly will eventually be replaced by a modular electronic gauge which contains all functions in one unit......The fairing will need to be removed for the remaining electric work necessary........

I installed the "new"muffler / header shields...took me a while to hunt down the 9mm Euro hose clamps needed.....also won a front / rear set of "Henrys" floorboards for $80.00 on EBay....... Still have a lot of small issues to sort out but will continue with one issue at a time......might be on the road this spring.(?)

Was able to get all "dummy lights" functioning on the instrument panel so now I know wiring is ok. I will likely order the "Acewell" gauge soon.......

Spent some time setting timing and discovered that the spark plugs in use were bad....swapped out plugs and engine purred......Installed some fuel pet cocks on cop tank & mounted. Added a bit of fuel for tweeking things while running.

"The Earth without People"

We made a mad rush from Texas over to Yuma AZ. in the past two days. A lot of things have happened in the past two weeks and we are "reeling". My Mom, at 88, recently fell and broke her hip and has been in a nursing home for the past few weeks. We made the commitment to move in with them in a house and help take care of Mom. This decision brought forth a huge number of logistics to deal with in a short time. We found a house close to other family members and the house has been purchased. Dad will move in on the 18th and we will be moving in at the same time. I had to make arrangements with my employer and also deal with the storage of our motor home & trailers. The over all situation is going to work out fine. Plus I'll have a garage to work on my motorcycles! Once things settle in I'll concentrate on getting the R100S running. I picked up another crate of misc. BMW parts I had in Yuma and hopefully have most of the parts I need.

Arriving in Yuma we were greeted with a vision of a forest of weeds......When Dad lived here he would clean up the lot and spray it each year before we arrived so we never saw it in its' "natural" state. I have a landscaping company coming out tomorrow to clean it up and spray....just don't have the time to do it myself.
I'll need to winterize the motor home tomorrow before we head north...looks like we will be heading into some cold ass weather........

Weeds................

and more weeds.................

BMW Odds & Ends....Wheels & Deals......

Been trying to figure out what to do about the gauge situation for the project R100S. The R100S engine utilizes an electronic tachometer and the R90/6 used a mechanical tachometer. Both sets of instruments I possess are in pretty rough shape......after a little snooping around I found the speedometer / tachometer below.....

This one is all electronic and also has the signal indicators / oil pressure light / neutral indicator / high beam indicator / odometer / clock and two riding hour timers. Also has two resettable trip odometers, I think it will be used to replace the existing set up. Retails for $119.00 plus $10.00 for the electronic speed pickup which is calibrated from the front tire circumference. Wiring should be pretty straight forward from the existing gauge set.

This thing here is kind of crazy...this WW2 German Military Leather Motorcycle Sidecar Gunners Helmet came up on EBay on an auction. I ended up winning it for $40.00. I see other ones now coming up for a "Buy it Now" price of $500.00 to $650.00. So far the dealer has listed about 5 of these. They are very rare. The European Antique Dealer selling them came across an old warehouse full of captured WW2 German Military Equipment which has been untouched since 1945. These and hundreds of other items(many medical equipment / surgical items) are being auctioned. The vast majority of captured German Equipment was destroyed at the end of the war. This warehouse was uncovered in Eastern Europe and the seller is in Bulgaria.

Not really sure what the hell I will do with this thing....guess maybe I'll try to wear it in cold weather! I don't foresee any sidecar "gunnery" practice in the near future.....

This odd assortment of "junk" I found on EBay for $12.00......Those big clamps are old Bates Saddlebag lower mounts....they actually clamp around the mufflers to form the lower bag support. Never thought I'd find a set of these in a million years......and I needed them.

I'm currently bidding on this front & rear floor board set on EBay......doubt if I will win them but you never know. (?) I may end up extending the R100S motor mount bolts since the new sidecar subframe also bolts there....this may not leave room for the floor boards mounts.....

Song Writer Kostas Lazarides

Kostas at his Montana Antique Store .....I can see a lot of wonderful treasures peering through the window.........

(Taken from Kostas My Space Page)

About Kostas
Kostas and his family immigrated to Montana from Greece when he was seven years old. He now has homes in Montana and Nashville, and aside from songwriting and performing, he enjoys hunting, fishing and raising vintage guitars on his "guitar ranch." Kostas received his first No. 1 Country hit with his first single release. The single entitled, "Timber I'm Falling In Love," was recorded by Patty Loveless. He also penned the songs "The Lonely Side Of Love," and "On Down The Line" for her follow-up albums which also reached Top 10. Kostas went on to write many more Top 10 singles including: "Heart Full Of Love," by Holly Dunn, "Turn It On, Turn It Up, Turn Me Loose," and "Nothing's Changed Here," by Dwight Yoakam, "Lord Have Mercy On The Working Man," by Travis Tritt, "Going Out Of My Mind" and "Love On The Loose, Heart On The Run,” by McBride and The Ride and "Life ..9" by Martina McBride. He also scored two more No. 1 country hits with Dwight Yoakam's "Ain't That Lonely Yet" and Patty Loveless' first Epic release, "Blame It On Your Heart," which was BMI's most performed country song of 1994. His songs have been recorded by Wynonna, Trisha Yearwood, Allison Krauss, Brooks and Dunn, Etta James, Vince Gill, George Strait, The Dixie Chicks, Jo Dee Messina, Marty Stuart, Conway Twitty, Emmylou Harris, The Bellamy Brothers, Sammy Kershaw, Tracy Byrd, The Mavericks, John Berry, Neal McCoy, Rick Trevino, Freddy Fender, Marie Osmond, Kelly Willis, Joy White, Buck Owens, Great Plains and Prairie Oyster


An odd series of coincidences brought forth my acquaintance with Kostas.....One of my Brothers was a musician and had known Kostas for many years. I believe my older Brother also knew him.
Back in the late 70's I was dating a gal who was associated with Kostas through her musician ex-husband. Kostas invited us over to Jackson Hole Wyoming where he was playing a gig at the "Mangy Moose Saloon". We spent some time with him and his (then) girl friend. After visiting with him I found that his step Dad was a co-worker of mine in Billings MT. We both worked for the same construction company. His Step Dad, "Max" was very proud of him. Max was a great guy , him and I were always friends.....

In 1981 I met my wife-to-be and during one of my first visits to her house she just had to have me listen to a new album she had purchased and just loved.....Hearing the first cut on the record I immediately recognized that it was Kostas. I asked my wife if she wanted to meet this guy and she was amazed that I could know a recording artist......"Thanks Kostas , you really helped me impress my soon to be wife" We made sure and went to all his gigs around Billings and on one New Years Eve Gig he allowed me to set up some recording equipment and record the nights' music...I still have the reel to reel tape we did that night but the back ground noise from all (us) the drunks was atrocious and drowned out a lot of the music...bummer....I really enjoyed the nights we were entranced by his wonderful guitar playing and singing.....Of course all these things happened before Kostas became a world known recording artist and song writer.
I have not seen Kostas since the mid to late 80's but I don't imagine he has changed much....other than a bit more gray hair, like me.....
Kostas was ,and I am sure, still is, a very down to earth guy who never let the "fame" thing affect who he is. I hope to run into him one of these days just to say hello and thank him for his (unknown to him) role in impressing my now wife of 28 years......

BMW R75/5 "Cigar" Mufflers

A beautiful 80 degrees here today so I pulled out the BMW "Hag" minus the sidecar and installed to "New to me" stock /5 cigar style mufflers. These are an original pair from a 1972 BMW R75/5. The 1970 thru 1973 BMW "R" bikes used this style of muffler. They were very prone to rust so there aren't too many original survivors left in the world. The BMW replacements were the later style mufflers. There are a couple of manufacturers selling this style muffler in stainless steel but the are quite expensive and tend to turn to a gold color from the heat since they are stainless steel.

The mufflers have some chrome loss where the attach to the header pipe but the muffler shields I installed hides that problem...the left side muffler has a ding but it is down low and not very visible....I took the bike for a 30 mile run and the mufflers are very quiet. As I age I now appreciate quieter exhaust systems. I should get a lot of years out of these....they have a couple of surface rust spots underneath at the seams but it doesn't appear to be very deep.
I hadn't run the bike without the sidecar for quite a while and was surprised at the amount of power with the 900cc engine running solo. With the 37:11 final drive it winds up quickly off the line and actually hauls ass. I found that the engine oil temperature was running the same with or without the side car attached.


Uncovered the R100S / R90/6 to wipe it down as it has been covered up for 3 weeks and has weathered a few rainstorms.....below is a photo of the 1973 R75/5 Long Wheel Base sub frame after installation.
I temporarily mounted the Bates Bags...they will go on some different mounts and eventually go to the R75/5...the stock BMW suitcase style bags & mounts will go to the R100S.

The QSL Solo seat is just sitting on the bike. It will sit higher on the frame when the mounting assembly is in place.....I loaned the stock QSL seat mount to a friend so he could have one fabricated for a QSL solo seat he has....he bought one with no mounting frame...mine is being used as a template.....

EBay BMW Parts....buyers beware

Found a few decent EBay purchases recently...I needed foot peg rubbers for the R100S and these square ones are $20.00 each new...found an EBay pair, new, for $10.50........pretty good deal.


This left side BMW Toaster Side Cover came on EBay as a "Buy it Now" for $19.00...that is a steal. A new reproduction one will run over $100.00. I happened to be on EBay when this came up so bought it immediately......it looks find of "gold" in the photo but came to me as chrome and in excellent shape.


This Right side Toaster cover came up with no "Buy it Now" but I picked it up for $34.00......a nice pair for a total of $53.00 + $12.00 total shipping ...not too bad. It showed up yesterday and is in great shape.......I sold my original Toaster Covers from my 1973 R75/5 for $136.00 on EBay and they weren't in as good of condition as this "new" pair......

From a "Buyer Beware" standpoint this pair of Toaster Covers (below) are now on EBay and the bid is over $100.00 for the pair with 5 days remaining on the auction...the bidders are not looking at the photo or don't know what they are looking at, as the right side one has a big chunk cut out of it and the seller is not disclosing that fact. He describes them as in "very nice condition". I emailed him to ask if one was cut up one or was it just an illusion on the photo? He replied : "That's how it came off the bike", and didn't add anything to his auction description........The new owner / winner is going to be pissed when he receives them....the buyer better brace himself for some "negative feedback" unless he discloses that one of them is "junk".....someone likely cut the piece out for a sidecar mount......I had to cut the same area to mount my sidecar but I cut up one of the later style plastic covers....no way would I butcher a Toaster cover...the plastic one ares much cheaper and easy to find.....

I bought these Bates Saddle Bag mounting frames a while back and got them for $9.99....upon receipt I see that a piece is broken on one of them......For the $9.99 purchase price I felt that it was not worth the effort to complain to the seller...he likely did not realize they were damaged....besides he sold me a nice pair of Bates Saddle Bags for $75.00 a few weeks ago....
These old Bates Bags will hook up to the Bates frames with a little modification......they are in fair shape......a bargain for $75.00........

Received this pair of original /5 "cigar" style mufflers yesterday...$71.00 for the pair....they don't look too bad and have one ding in them....new reproduction pairs cost $525.00 + shipping.....