89 BMW R80RT. Rotter to Racer!

[Dirty1]

Its about time I posted up some pics of my project BMW.

After years off roadbikes as I gave them up and went racing dirtbikes I tried to insure a Supermoto KTM540 (another project) but having no history the insurance was too much so I decided Id get something cheaper to insure and build up my NCB so I can eventually get the KTM insured cheaper!!

I had recently convinced my Dad to buy a BMW as he was after something old and a Street Tracker/ Scramber style bike to commute on! He already has a 1980 GS and our reasoning was the BMW would be easier to maintain, should anything go wrong with the motor compared to Jap mulites and it had a nice sized motor compared to smaller singles! He picked up a 1981 ex Police R80RT and we removed as much crap as we could! That transformed the bike and after riding it I was impressed and he felt it was better/quicker than his old African Twin!!! Parts are cheap too and since we've being riding dirtbikes, the removeable sub-frame is a cool feature!!

My Dad had a wanted ad on a local website from when he was looking for a BM that he'd forgotten about and one day he had a call from out of the blue abot a neglected RT that was an unfinished project!! I was away for the weekend so I sent him to look at it an to buy it if it suited my needs!!!

It did, it was cheap and it ran!!! Cosmetics where not an issue!!

The bike had been crashed and the owner had bought it off his friend with the intention of fixing it up!!! It never got finished and lay in his garden for years!!

This is how it looked when I first saw it in my yard!!

 

[jay_kent]

rotter is right. You've got your work cut out for you, but when it's done, going to be cool as hell.

 

[Dirty1]

I quickly threw off all the panniers, and the mis-matched fairings that came with it and stripped it down before anyone started to question my sanity!!

My Dad had heard the bike run, altough it wasnt charging and the fuel was years old and the carb rubbers where split!! I ordered new rubberes and a carb service kit and a full set of cable to get the bike running properly before I start building the rest of it.

The first think I did was to clean the carbs!!! They where black with dirt and blocked up!! Hours went into these, this is where an ultrasonic cleaner would be handy, rather than the old fashioned way!

I halfway there!!!

All parts cleaned!

I removed all the corrosion from the carb tops and painted them satin black

They were rebuilt with new diaphrams and service kit!

 

[Dirty1]

Next I stripped the front end, the fork seals where leaking so I put in new seals and fresh oil. I cleaned up the head bearings while I was at it and repacked then with fresh grease. I Didnt paint the lower legs yet as they have a nice patina, but also as im building it up first and when its done I'll tear it down and paint the frame, tank etc!

I stripped the controls too and cleaned them up adding a splash of satin black too!! The needed a bit of reworking to get them to slide up onto my new SES clip-ons! The Clip ons too needed a little adjusting as they are 39mm going onto a 38.5 fork, they wouldnt tighten up so I had to cut the gap wider and nip them some more!!!

The headlight came in for some attention too, the shell was painted up and then I wrapped the chrome ring in matt vinyl trying to reduce the visual size of the stock unit!! If it looks too big I will get something more suitable but right now its a budget build.

 

[smvirili]

Awesome man! Meticulous so far, I'm looking forward to seeing this come back to life!
Are you gonna change the frame at all? What kind of plastic surgery are you forcing her to do.


on a side note, what did you clean your carb with man. That is the best outcome i've seen.

 

[Dirty1]

I just used a regular parts washer with Jizer or Gunk in it, after hours of washing I decided to take out the Dremel with a wirebrush attachment, I should have done it from the start!

 

[jay_kent]

the transformation has really started. Carbs look great

 

[Maritime]

great work so far. looks like you will have a nice ride when done if you keep up that level of work throughout!

 

[JustinLonghorn]

Keep it up, sir.

 

[vtwin650]

I cannot wait to see where this goes! Looking GREAT so far. Great find!

 

[Erskine]

Sweet! Airheads are the new black.

 

[cafematty]

Sweet! Airheads are the new black.

I'll +1 that... ;D

 

[SquadraCorse]

You're keeping the fairing on it right?!

 

[Dirty1]

Thanks for all the positive comments, who knows where it will end up, my taste ould be up my a-hole for all you know!!!!

Anyway, these shots are taken over the last couple of weeks, Ive been working on it most evenings after I get home from work, Ive got a deadline for the first unpainted build (A big vintage bike jumble in Dublin on Nov 12) but Ive a 2week holiday in the USofTexas coming up that will put a big spanner in the schedule!!!

Heres a pic of the SES clip-ons, I dont know whether it was the think powdercoat or the BMW controls but I had to sand down both to get them to slide on!!!

No Ace bars here!!! ;D

My Dad is riding his R80 to work, its a rolling project and was running with no mudguards and the Irish rain was playing havoc with his electrics so I cut down his original one. I thought I had better do the same for my build so I did a rough cut on mine to make a hugger front fender, i'll shape it better later but it wont be on the bike on dry days!!!

Next up I sate all the bits back onto the bike and mocked up a seat using an old small Kawker Z tail piece and a Meed Speed seat. I just wanted to take a few shots to figure out the best seating position and the proportions of the bike and how high I want the seat!

Everything is only sitting loose right now, it was just to get an idea of how high the bars would be and how low I could get the headlight!! I tried the original clocks on too but binned that idea, too big!

I had another seat lying around it was higher and a different shape but gave me another option!! I prefer the proportions of the first though!!

 

[Dirty1]

Well all this has given me an idea of what I want so I broke out the Chartpacks and started sketching to see what way I am going to approach the rear end!

I goal is to build a subframe for the single seat and fabricate the seat onto it! I also want to be able to swap the subframe back to the original one so I can carry a pillion!! The standard seat and subframe will be chopped down of course!!

Heres some early sketches, taken on the mobile!!!

 

[Andreas]

My vote is on the light blue cowl

Thanks for all the positive comments, who knows where it will end up, my taste ould be up my a-hole for all you know!!!!

Anyway, these shots are taken over the last couple of weeks, Ive been working on it most evenings after I get home from work, Ive got a deadline for the first unpainted build (A big vintage bike jumble in Dublin on Nov 12) but Ive a 2week holiday in the USofTexas coming up that will put a big spanner in the schedule!!!

Heres a pic of the SES clip-ons, I dont know whether it was the think powdercoat or the BMW controls but I had to sand down both to get them to slide on!!!

No Ace bars here!!! ;D

My Dad is riding his R80 to work, its a rolling project and was running with no mudguards and the Irish rain was playing havoc with his electrics so I cut down his original one. I thought I had better do the same for my build so I did a rough cut on mine to make a hugger front fender, i'll shape it better later but it wont be on the bike on dry days!!!

Next up I sate all the bits back onto the bike and mocked up a seat using an old small Kawker Z tail piece and a Meed Speed seat. I just wanted to take a few shots to figure out the best seating position and the proportions of the bike and how high I want the seat!

Everything is only sitting loose right now, it was just to get an idea of how high the bars would be and how low I could get the headlight!! I tried the original clocks on too but binned that idea, too big!

I had another seat lying around it was higher and a different shape but gave me another option!! I prefer the proportions of the first though!!

 

[johnu]

Very nice project!

 

[SwissGuy]

Am I the only one that hates the wheels that come on alot of these Airheads? the "crossed H" or whatever the technical term is? This thing would like very very sexy with some blacked out spokes. Great looking build so far, I love the style on these bikes, if only I had a BMW budget instead of a CB one. C'est la vie.

 

[deepwaterimports]

epic build so far mate bike will look awsome when its done. well done

 

[Dirty1]

I hate the wheels too but it's a budget built so we'll see how it ends up, if I like it it may warrant me getting a set of wire wheels! The wheels restrict you along with the shaftdrive on tyre size too. Ritmo Serrano run a more modern 3 spoke on their bikes but probably crazy money.