KEEP 'EM FLYING The Work Continues by Matt Parkhouse

The work continues...

By Matt Parkhouse #13272

IT FEELS KIND OF STRANGE TO BE THINKING

about the Rally time already. I’m writing this in mid-April to have it in the editor’s hands in time for the June issue of BMW Owners News. In the last couple of weeks, with the first signs of spring, folks have begun to come by with their Airheads, and I’ve helped out a couple of them sort out long-parked ‘70s era bikes. Along with cleaning up carburetors, changing fluids and getting the ignition timing where it should be are a few tasks that just aren’t in the manual. Other tasks are things like spinning off the exhaust nuts to apply anti-seize, checking center-stand bolts, servicing the throw-out system and cleaning and greasing the rear brake linkage. On a couple of the bikes I just worked on, some of these areas looked like they had not been touched since the motorcycle left Germany when the bike was new. Even the Slash Five Owner’s Manual, which resembles a shop manual, leaves out a few of these necessary service points.

I’ve run across owners who had no idea that the control cables needed cleaning and lubrication on a fairly frequent basis. There’s a reason that 95% of clutch cables break right at the hand control. The throttle cam and sleeve do wear out with the '70s era airheads, but with meticulous attention to service, they’ll just last much longer if cared for. The Owner’s Manual interval of every 5,000 miles is a good stretch of time and distance.

The center-stand bolts? BMW really should have used left-hand threads on the large bolt on the right side of the bike that secures center stands from 1970 to 1984. With right-hand threads, the act of heaving the bike up onto the center-stand tends to unscrew that bolt. Reaching down there with 17mm wrench every now and then is a very good idea!

The early Airheads (’70 to ’84) also require periodic service for the rear brake pivot where it goes through the rear drive. It’s kind of a set-up to collect dirt and corrosion which can really cause resistance to the rider’s braking force. It’s one of those “every 10 or 15 years” jobs but it doesn’t take a lot of time to pull off the brake shoes and disassemble and clean up the moving parts that work inside the rear drive. The rear brake can really show an improvement in how it works with a good clean up and lubing.

The Denver-area Airhead folks have been discussing a new tool

This is the throw out lever from a R 75/6 I'm working on. I'm pretty sure this friction point has never had any grease applied. The bottom photo shows it after I cleaned and greased it.

that Christopher Sutton, a fellow in Pennsylvania, has started making. He has turned out a set of fixtures that make it much easier to install O-rings on the Bing carburetor jets. I remember someone made similar tools out of Teflon many, many years ago. To be honest, I don’t find it a struggle to install O-rings on the jets, with the exception of the idle-air adjuster screw. That particular O-ring is a real tight fit and I always find it a bit of a struggle with my increasingly stiff fingers. Via Facebook, I found out Christopher’s contact information and found that he was happy to send me the one piece of the four-part set of jet tools. He sells the set of tools for $50 plus shipping and tells me the original idea was from Bob Sipp, who has created a couple other airhead tools. He charged me $15 plus shipping for the one tool I wanted. He can be contacted at csutty400@gmail.com or 610-554-8774.

I’m very involved with medical issues right now. I had an “episode” about a month ago that most likely was a TIA (transient ischemic attack) or a “not-quite a stroke.” After a visit to my doc, a very fast referral to the Emergency Room and now a complete work-up with a cardiologist reveals I’m among the third of the older population that has atrial fibrillation. It’s a defect in the heart that results in poor circulation of blood that can cause clots which, in turn, can lead to a stroke. One of the symptoms is fatigue and shortness of breath. I’m definitely doing less these days, but I’ve been blaming it on the pandemic and the cold weather. Susanna and I are hopefully, like so many of you, planning on a lot of travel in this upcoming year, and I’m planning on carrying on with the Airhead fixing (did two gearboxes yesterday). I’m curious to see how I do with riding any sort of distance. I know there’s an end to this way of life, but I’m not quite ready to say, “right now.” My Slash Five is by the front door and under a cover with a couple inches of snow on top (it’s the 16th of April here in Colorado). It was 49 years and two days ago that I enjoyed my first BMW ride, bringing that bike home from Denver. Since then, Strider and I have ridden 433,000 miles, traveling as far as Istanbul and so many places in between. I’ve put on miles with other bikes I’ve owned (we have a pair of old Airheads waiting in Germany right now, wondering where we are and what is going on), but the farthest I’ve got on any of them has come nowhere close to the mileage on Strider, my first BMW.

A new tool! I don't really have much trouble installing new O-rings on Bing jets, except for the one that fits on the idle-air adjuster screw. Chris Sutton, the fellow who makes these devices, was kind enough to sell me just the one I wanted, out of the kit of four. A quick trial using some old jets showed it to be quite helpful on getting that O-ring in place.