Poor mans BMW project - 1981 R65 confused bike

[tete]

well guys i started a thread a while ago about my 77' Yamaha XS400. A great steed however i've sold her off and moved into a little more bike. Better for freeways etc.. and I believe this will be a bit more reliable. I use my bikes everyday, to school, to work, etc.. so my project are on the road the same day i work on them.

I got it in great shape. just bald tires and ugly bars and seat. also ugly color but that is subjective. My plans include going with a more flat seat or a more "cafe" styled seat. also to replace bars w something more R90s like and then polished fenders and paint the tank. relocating the headlamp and replacing the intrument panel are a must as well. it will take time however as I am broke. but I have started off ok.

I made a seat pan of MDF and dropped it off at "Joes" so he could do his thing. $50 bucks later Im good to go.

here are before and after pics. ( i also removed the side covers as the look weak to me. )
Before

After

Here I changed the seat to a more flat one that I and chicano Joe came up with, as i hated the 2 up OEM seat and rear cowl.
also removed side covers. The look of the R65 is not my favorite of the R's from BMW's but i think with a little creativity i will be very pleased. So far I am going the right direction. Bars should be here Thurs. After that it will be tail light and rear fender as well as battery box.

please feel free to leave opinions etc.. also keep in mind this is a budget build' and is my daily driver

 

[boingk]

Good start, be interesting to see where this goes. There is another BMW cafe floating around here somewhere, looks very schmick indeed. As for the colour, it sure is subjective. I love it!

See if you can't manufacture (or buy) a 2-1 exhaust, that'd be real nice IMO.

Cheers - boingk

 

[VonYinzer]

great start man! Id love to get my hands on an old BMW one of these days... Theres a crazy guy who lives near me (who thinks hes a nazi, seriously, i hate this guy) who rides an all original Zundapp w sidecar and machine gun mounts. Its a killer bike, i just wish the guy who owned it would fall off at highway speed.

 

[BCBarker]

Airhead!! WooHoo! There are some SICK ones out there! Looks like you started with one in pretty decent shape!

This is one of my personal Favs! I know It's a bobber, But it's also an Airhead!

keep us posted! I'll be watching for sure!

 

[rjz5400]

i just saw one of these for sale in wilmington with the fairing and everything though and i thought " i wonder what kind of awesome cafe that would make" if anyone really wants one of these the odometer was super low and it was 2500 if i remember correctly. great looking start!!

are you gonna make some wee pegs for the short one?

 

[tete]

OK well since the seat now I have put on some bars and plan some more changes.

The bars are supposedly similar to the R90s but to be honest I have no clue and really dont care. I like them. The only thing is they are a paint o get on properly because of all the shit the R65 has around the instrument panel. the brake hose is not kinked but I need to get a new shorter one asap ( from Master Cylinder to underneath the bars ). I believe it to be too tight of a bend ( has not effected braking what so ever but the tight "S" bend is not something I dont like to look at and could perhaps cause problems later) . Other than that the new bars add a much higher level of control on corners and the bike feels much more agile. perhaps because my previous bike had a really low Cafe setup, these just feel more comfortable.

My next changes are to remove the rear fender completely and make a bracket for the OEM tail light and signals. I would also love nothing more than to get rid of the hideous instrument panel and make room for some headlight ears and clips on. I would like to find someone to make me an aluminum battery box as well. In these pics it shows the imperfections in the seat but in person they are not very noticeable. Also once I remove the fender the seat should sit more flush.

 

[mikeadamstattoo]

very cool! im hoping to own an r60/65/70 at some point soon.

 

[noahdog]

Yeah that instrument cluster is a bit clunky. Other than the gauges I'm liking it. I think once you clean up the front and get some smaller signals all around it'll look very nice.