andrew6v
Active Member
Hi all,
I'm a on-again/off-again creeper of the forum, and thought I'd throw up a post for the Beamer I got over the weekend. I have a Suzuki SV650 as my daily driver and wanted something to tinker on over the summer (I'm an accountant, so I have no spare time over the winter), and I always loved the look of the old airheads.
Unfortunately that photo was taken yesterday, and there is still a sad amount of snow on the ground.
We drove a couple hours to pick it up, ended up picking it up from a guy in the valley whose toys are probably worth twice as much as his house. He had about 7 motorcycles (Victorys, Harleys, and a new BMW), this BMW, and apparently two Norton Commandos in boxes. He was a Mechanics professor at the local college, and used to own 14 motorcycles, including 7(!) Norton Commandos. I was able to pick it up from him for $2300, which is probably about half what I've seen for similar BMWs (in good working order) go for in my area. He also liked me so he threw in a new progressive suspension set he meant to put on but never got to it. Apparently I'm the third owner, he had it for 15 years, and the previous owner bought it new in Germany while he was stationed there and brought it to Canada. I'm inclined to believe the Germany story anyways, as the Tach has "UPM" and something like "Fernicht" (can't remember exactly) on it with no English.
It's in pretty good shape, no rust or anything (which is hard to pull off in Nova Scotia), but has been sitting for about 10 years so it needs some maintenance to get it roadworthy again.
It has trouble starting, so I'm going to flush out the old gas, and replace the brushes in the starter, and check out the points system. I'm going to see about upgrading to an electrical ignition. The bike actually runs well, but I've only been able to start it when it's connected to a truck battery cause it will kill the motorcycle battery before it fires up. The battery is brand new, so I doubt that's an issue.
Fortunately my Dad is a retired electrical technician who used to service the Navy ships, so motorcycle electronics, no matter how complex, are still not a big deal compared to the couple thousand miles of wiring and all the sensory/communcations equipment in a submarine.
The front brake is seized, so I'll have to fix that as well, and I'm just going to go through the Haynes manual I got with it and replace the fluids, and do the other suggested maintenance.
I hear the tanks can rust out easy too, so I'm going to look into lining the tank, any suggestions?
My current plan is just to get it roadworthy. In the future I'll probably remove a bunch of weight off it (without cutting anything) and look into building a new seat. For the moment I'd like to keep it two-up, but maybe in the future have two different seats, or some sort of convertible cafe hump.
I'd also like to replace the front end with a more modern suspension, but I'd like to try and keep the vintage look, probably by keeping fork gaiters on the new suspension, and similar fork ears.
Does anyone know anyone based in Canada that caters to these motorcycles or is it just the various BMW dealers? The closest dealer to me is in another province, so If I need anything (besides very basic items) I'm probably going to have to ship it anyways.
There are a couple shops in California and Florida that focus on the airhead bikes, but I haven't been able to find one in Canada. That USD/CAD exchange rate is brutal right now, so I'm less keen on ordering stuff from the states.
Andrew
I'm a on-again/off-again creeper of the forum, and thought I'd throw up a post for the Beamer I got over the weekend. I have a Suzuki SV650 as my daily driver and wanted something to tinker on over the summer (I'm an accountant, so I have no spare time over the winter), and I always loved the look of the old airheads.
Unfortunately that photo was taken yesterday, and there is still a sad amount of snow on the ground.
We drove a couple hours to pick it up, ended up picking it up from a guy in the valley whose toys are probably worth twice as much as his house. He had about 7 motorcycles (Victorys, Harleys, and a new BMW), this BMW, and apparently two Norton Commandos in boxes. He was a Mechanics professor at the local college, and used to own 14 motorcycles, including 7(!) Norton Commandos. I was able to pick it up from him for $2300, which is probably about half what I've seen for similar BMWs (in good working order) go for in my area. He also liked me so he threw in a new progressive suspension set he meant to put on but never got to it. Apparently I'm the third owner, he had it for 15 years, and the previous owner bought it new in Germany while he was stationed there and brought it to Canada. I'm inclined to believe the Germany story anyways, as the Tach has "UPM" and something like "Fernicht" (can't remember exactly) on it with no English.
It's in pretty good shape, no rust or anything (which is hard to pull off in Nova Scotia), but has been sitting for about 10 years so it needs some maintenance to get it roadworthy again.
It has trouble starting, so I'm going to flush out the old gas, and replace the brushes in the starter, and check out the points system. I'm going to see about upgrading to an electrical ignition. The bike actually runs well, but I've only been able to start it when it's connected to a truck battery cause it will kill the motorcycle battery before it fires up. The battery is brand new, so I doubt that's an issue.
Fortunately my Dad is a retired electrical technician who used to service the Navy ships, so motorcycle electronics, no matter how complex, are still not a big deal compared to the couple thousand miles of wiring and all the sensory/communcations equipment in a submarine.
The front brake is seized, so I'll have to fix that as well, and I'm just going to go through the Haynes manual I got with it and replace the fluids, and do the other suggested maintenance.
I hear the tanks can rust out easy too, so I'm going to look into lining the tank, any suggestions?
My current plan is just to get it roadworthy. In the future I'll probably remove a bunch of weight off it (without cutting anything) and look into building a new seat. For the moment I'd like to keep it two-up, but maybe in the future have two different seats, or some sort of convertible cafe hump.
I'd also like to replace the front end with a more modern suspension, but I'd like to try and keep the vintage look, probably by keeping fork gaiters on the new suspension, and similar fork ears.
Does anyone know anyone based in Canada that caters to these motorcycles or is it just the various BMW dealers? The closest dealer to me is in another province, so If I need anything (besides very basic items) I'm probably going to have to ship it anyways.
There are a couple shops in California and Florida that focus on the airhead bikes, but I haven't been able to find one in Canada. That USD/CAD exchange rate is brutal right now, so I'm less keen on ordering stuff from the states.
Andrew