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A story and an Airhead

Aspear

0
Joined
Feb 10, 2015
Messages
4,976
Reaction score
2,069
Location
Stockdale
First Name
Samuel
Last Name
Hastings
So a buddy of mine awhile back got into an accident on his street glide, and decided to step away.(he came out with only a few broken ribs, got hit by a car.) I have not been in the market for a bike, trying to spend time with my 4 year old, make enough money to let my wife stay home, take care of 325 acres and not go insane. I had been getting the itch, and put out feelers for a frame for my wrecked xr650l, and had a little slush money set aside. back to my buddy, he had told me shortly after his wreck that he had an airhead he was going to sell for about $2000, showed me some pictures and told me the back story on the bike. fast forward two months, saw him last tuesday and asked if he had sold it yet. he had not. told me to make an offer, and I told him I wouldn't insult him by offering what I could afford to give him. told him about my plans to find a frame for my xr and rebuild it. "well if you can do all that, bring me $500 and the bmw is yours". Well I am not one of the lucky guys who comes across great deals very often, and I have always loved 70s airheads. Im a young guy(26) but do not see me buying any of the current new bike offerings. so friday, with my begrudging wife in tow, took the pick up and trailer an hour into San Antonio and brought home what is probably the bike of my dreams.

onto the bike. which is the real story, its a true European bike. the po's buddy spend some time in Nigeria, where he knew some police officers. apparently bike maintenance was not a concept they were familiar with at the time. so bikes didnt stay on the road long, and the po's buddy got the permission to build a bike out of the junk yard. which he did. the bike then spent time riding around Nigeria and spent some time in Europe aswell. the frame is a 1976 R60/6, the motor is from an R80, or at least the jugs and carbs. bottom end may be different. so what does it need? tires, battery, carb cleaned and take cleaned. came with losts of spare parts, mag front wheel with disks, front fork leg and master cylinder to convert to disk. it has a rickmann polaris faring and semi recent paint. was last registered in 2008. has "maybe 3000 miles" since its last valve and points adjustment. has 27k kilometers on the clock. i have a tank cleaning and sealing kit from dime city cycles i got for my xr cafe project(another long story). bike came with carb gaskets. so i just have to buy tires and a battery and ride(read: it will take me about a year). if you stuck around to read all that, here is the bike.

if there are any airhead guys/experts in the stockdale/seguin/san antonio/austin area, please let me know. ill be rebuilding carbs, but will need help syncing
 
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btw it is titled as a 1976 R80. i guess when he brought it over they let hime title it that way. only has a 6 digit vin Had to upload photos from my phone. For a young guy, I'm not great with the interweb.
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Hey, if you can post pics, then your a more adroit "surfer" than many of us. Looks a little rough, but nice. There is a internet group strictly for airheads (Airheads. org, I think). It's been around a long time and have a big body of tech articles available. I was a member for years, and at that time there were quite a few Texas airhead riders (there may still be, but I'm out of the loop). They also would have periodic "tech days", some with specific themes, some days would be devoted to whatever "issues" of the bikes presented there. You'll find that maintenance on those bikes is ridiculously easy, and the original tool kit gave the owners the capability to fix most road side problems and many maintenance projects. Buy a good manual (there are Haynes, Clymer, and the actual BMW factory service tech manuals to be found). If the bike hasn't been started in some time, DO NOT slap a battery and fresh gas in it and attempt to fire it up. There are procedures to protect reinitiation of operation; you won't be sorry.
I find my memory is defective sometimes, but there is a guy (Big Mike) in a small town east of San Marcos that specializes in airheads (in thornton, thorndale?). Sadly, Perry Bushong is no longer with us (the original Fort Worth BMW). Surely, there's some other airhead riders on here...
 
Congratulations! That is a very interesting bike. I rode a R100GSPD for 15 years and I do miss its simplicity compared to the new BMWs.

Mikey, at Martindale Motorcycle Works is an airhead expert! Martindale is near San Marcos.

Martindale Motorcycle Works
632 NW River Rd
Martindale, Texas

(512) 357-2842

https://www.facebook.com/mmwtexas/
 
Thanks guys. I'll definitely give mike a call. Will be staying with spending as little money as possible. I plan on joining airheads.org when money allows. I'm decent with a wrench, just need to learn the ins and outside of the airhead. I owned a 96 r1100rt and even it had its quirks.

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What a score! good luck with the project, pretty much guaranteed a winner at the end of that!
 
Nice find. Are you going to leave it all dressed out or strip off the fairing and bags?
 
Nice find. Are you going to leave it all dressed out or strip off the fairing and bags?
Plan is to keep the fairing and bags on. Riding my xrl and a "streetfighter" cbr600 taught me to enjoy having a nice break from the wind. R90s fairings dont quite do it for me. Plus I kinda like the look.

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I'm with you on the fairing, my first BMW (R90/6) had a windjammer on it; it wasn't perfect but the wind protection was great. BTW, Airheads is a free group (or was when I was a member) although they had a nice newsletter (AirMail) for small dues contribution.
 
I'm with you on the fairing, my first BMW (R90/6) had a windjammer on it; it wasn't perfect but the wind protection was great. BTW, Airheads is a free group (or was when I was a member) although they had a nice newsletter (AirMail) for small dues contribution.
Its $25 a year now. There is a free mailing list though.

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Plan is to keep the fairing and bags on. Riding my xrl and a "streetfighter" cbr600 taught me to enjoy having a nice break from the wind. R90s fairings dont quite do it for me. Plus I kinda like the look.

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Plus one on the looks! I think it's a beauty... I want on myself. But I want A LOT of things lol.
 
Great project bike aspr.

Looks like your just up the road from me. Get a dual sport and teach me to ride dirt!
 
Great project bike aspr.

Looks like your just up the road from me. Get a dual sport and teach me to ride dirt!
Your in luck man. Trying to get a frame from bigman for my xr650l soon. Where abouts are you?

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1 mile from Pruski’s gas in Kosciusko . My klr has a lot more ability than me
 
1 mile from Pruski’s gas in Kosciusko . My klr has a lot more ability than me
I'm out there for work all the time, work out of floresville for a land survey company. Hopefully I can get a frame soon.

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Plan is to keep the fairing and bags on. Riding my xrl and a "streetfighter" cbr600 taught me to enjoy having a nice break from the wind. R90s fairings dont quite do it for me. Plus I kinda like the look.

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Good I like that you are keeping it that way. Even matches your trailer.
 
Keeps us up to date on the progress on the BMW. Going to be a fun project.
Will do. I am currently trying to diy electrolysis clean the tank at my place. Once that is done I will head to victoria and try to fire her up. Will get tank set up pics when I'm finally home during daylight tonight or tomorrow.

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Science experiment on going
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First successful session. Buffed the rod with a wire brush, back in the tank.
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WOW and OMG

Subbed
 
cool. what's the power source, voltage and material of the electrode in your experiment? Is there a 2-way transfer? Metal from the electrode to the inside of the tank and from the tank to the electrode?
 
cool. what's the power source, voltage and material of the electrode in your experiment? Is there a 2-way transfer? Metal from the electrode to the inside of the tank and from the tank to the electrode?
Power source is an old 12v battery charger. set on 6 amps but flowing around 4 amps. I believe it is a one way transfer. The flow of electricity is what is causing the electrode to pit, if my understanding is correct. It is just a mild steel rod from home depot. Stuck through the block of wood to isolate from the tank, bent to allow as much rod to stay in the solution as possible. I followed the instructions I found here: https://www.instructables.com/id/Electrolytic-Rust-Removal-From-A-Motorcycle-Gas-Ta/

I was very sceptical at first, just due to the nature of the process. First charger I used was on it's way out and didnt work. So got another old charger and had the first successful session through the night last night.

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