Finally bought a bike, stoked! But now what do i do? Calling all BMW guys...

O

ONE_LO_SVT

New Member
How's it going all, been lurking here for a year or two now. My names Brent, I'm 26 and live in South Florida. I work as a Chief Officer on a 187' Yacht, currently in Greece. Been waiting for the opportunity to buy my first motorcycle and build a fun Cafe. Well the day has finally come. Just picked up a 1976 BMW R90/6 on ebay. Prolly paid way more than what you guys would have paid, but I fell for it so went for it. Always planned on going with a CB or XS but then i saw this Airhead, and here we are.

Anyways its my first bike and I'd like to do everything myself, but my experience is far from great.

First and foremost, my first plans are Rear sets and Clip ons. I'm happy with the look of the tank, and can live with the seat at the moment.

Going to have a buddy help with cleaning up and relocating the battery/wiring.

What else should I look at doing with the airhead? Who should i look at for parts/accessories, any good companies out there offer anything?

Unfortunately, as stated, I'm working on a yacht in Greece/Mediterranean. We'll be over here till October than back to Florida, so nothing is going to happen quick. Have to get my friend to go pick it up for me this week. He'll tinker with it a little as well while i'm gone.

Any helpful advice will be great, going to be spending all my free time now doing my homework on the airhead.

Here's a few pics from the ebay listing.

KGrHqZiwE4p1hVqPBQHr-9Y960_3.jpg


KGrHqRg4EH2PoERBBQHrE7jw60_3.jpg
 
Join te airheads club and advrider, as they have a very helpful airheads board. Take special note as to how things are put together when you do oil filter and such, there are a couple different types of oil filter and one can muck things up by not using a shim or putting things in the wrong order. Gently try and remove the finned exhaust nuts. If they seem to break loose, then get tight again, stop! Squirt in some PB Blaster, some heat and some time and try again. If doing this a couple times fails, take it in to a shop. It's much cheaper than having your head machined. Same thing with the secondary oil drain plug.

If you do the full cafe thing and get rid of the stock gauges, you'll have to incorporate the charge light into whatever setup you go with, as it is a surprisingly important part of the charging system.

Change all the consumables and ride the shit out of it....
 
And be sure to check ALL fluid levels and don't sweat it of it smokes a bit out of the left side if it's been on the side stand.
 
I agree that it looks very nice as is. I don't know that I'd install clipons - the rear sets perhaps, so you could snuggle with the tank on the highway, but the superbike bars will probably be more comfortable in day to day use. My Monster had rearsets and bars like yours, and even that put a sometimes uncomfortable amount of pressure on my wrists until I became used to holding onto the tank with my knees. I think clipons would make that even worse as the BMW has a similar profile to the Monster I had.

Just my $0.02 - great looking bike!
 
yep save cafe action for ugly bikes that bike looks amazing. Except for those ugly bags. You should definately sell the bags to me. .... seriously I want to buy the bags. Sell me the bags. Please.
 
If that bike were in worse shape id say go ahead and mod away my friend! But it looks to be in good shape. So i hafta agree with everyone else here. Remove the bags, maybe do some tasteful mods like smaller turn signals, fender chop, etc. IDK about anyone else, but every time i get on my dads R100, my feet naturally gravitate towards the passenger pegs. If you find yourself more comfy there, then MAYBE rearsets in that location. Whatever you do, just dont go overboard (pun intended) on this build...the bike is too clean
 
Just clean it, check it and ride the wheels off it. If you still want to mess with it over the winter or next year, at least you will have some idea of how well the riding position works for you and what if anything you want to change.

tearing bits off it makes it even longer before you get to learn how to ride. Projects are cool for guys like me that really get into re-engineering something, but for 99% of people riding is what it's all about. Making it look cool or "making it your own" are a complete waste of time if they don't make it more fun to ride. Bottom line is that motorcycles are to rid- not just to absorb time and cash as a way to feel good about our cool factor.

Just sayin'..................

Great choice of bike BTW. A man with taste.
 
play to a bikes strengths.
Playing dress up is not that bikes strengths.

Leave the bags on , leave it as it is. Just the wheels off of the thing the way it was meant to.
 
dude you have an R90, i wouldn't do anything to it, maybe do a mild cafe look to it but you have an R90 and its pretty rare and a great bike already, you should have gotten a crappier motorcycle, lol. I already want your seat

heres a couple pictures
aag.jpg


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bmw-cafe-4.jpg
 
Thanks all! I'm totally onboard to keeping it as is, I to think it looks soo good as is! Definitely want to clean up the tail by removing/chopping the fender down, smaller/cleaner signals/brake light. I want to ditch the clusters (since there cracked already), and just get a tach or speedo or all in one digital?. thats really it. I'm going to see how i like the bars, clip ons look better to me but comfort is important too.

the bags are definitely going to go. Can't sell them till i'm home in october though.

How is the factory suspension and brakes? worth a upgrade or are they not too bad?

Can't wait to ride her! few more months till i'm home!!
 
If you wanted to go with a new tach/speedo, i would look into getting an Acewell unit. I have one on my CB450 and i like it alot.
 
When you're ready to sell the bags let me know - I'd like a chance to buy them for my BMW which I keep as a long distance bike.

When in October are you back home? You should try to get to Birmingham AL for the Barber Vintage Festival / Annual DO THE TON Dirty South gathering - it's about the biggest get together we have each year :)

Oct 12-14
 
I might hold on to the bags now with the idea if i do a long ride to get togethers like that they could come in handy! I may be back around then not sure yet. The boat heads home to florida the end of september, but it usually takes 3-4 weeks to get across the atlantic.
 
Not a huge fan of that seat but at most I would replace it with an OEM seat off a different year/model and do as the others say and leave it as is. Such a classic, awesome bike.

I like this seat better:
http://www.bmbikes.co.uk/photos/photophotos/R90-6%20Bakker.jpg
 
There are plenty of after market cafe/sports seats out there for airheads that don't require any serious work, they tidy the back end up whilst giving the option of re-fitting the original set up in less than an hour, the other option is to just change the clunky but efficient mudguard for one that hugs the seat. R90,s are gaining collector status so keeping it standard may be a better choice, have a look at flatracer.com
 
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