Forums > Adventure Touring > Vintage BMW Enduro bike

Hey Smithy-

 

That there is an R65 with a WR450 front end. The rear swingarm was not lengthened. I know hte guy who built it. Thats a Bultaco gas tank. He eventually sold it to a guy in the Carolinas.. 

 

I am working on a similar project based on an R60. It currently got a beefed up frame (extra gussets) and a while we were thinking of a Showa XR650 front end, we have decided to use a WR250 front. 

A lot of motor case was machined off, in my case, and is inteneded to be run as a total loss electrical system right now. That means the starter is removed and all alternator parts. Running a single battery for spark usage only. No lights. Should come in at 300lbs. Should also be able to get at least 3 hours of running out of it. Went with points ignition becuase it will run better on low voltages that will be experienced when the battery is winding down. Kickstart only!

We also have not lengthened the swingarm/driveshaft at this point, but am going to in the future, after some testing. 

All thats left is to design the sirbox system and an exhaust. We will probably run K+N pods just to get the project off the ground, but will most likely go with some sort of Airhead GS design.

Exhausts were intended to  run UP and under the tank and seat, go two-into-one and come out high under the rear subframe, but again, to get this pig rolling we decided to go for low headers and dual upswept rear cans. 

 

CHeap? HAhahahaha. Can probably e-bay a lot of stuff. 

 

 

When you get this thing rolling, I say we should BOTH enter and race our silly little heads off :LOL

 

 

Here are some super-secret test photos before it underwent further frame strengthening:

 

 

 

Great project Jason!  That is exactly what I am thinking about. 

 When I say cheap I mean that I don't want to spend $6K+ for a real nice specimen just to chop/beat. 

What are the rear shocks/springs?  Any science to the angle that they are mounted?  How much do you expect to lengthen the swingarm (if any)?

I will begin my search for a neglected R60/65...

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Shawn in PA ________________________________ ___________________________ ________ many thanks to these guys for helping me out with Vegas to Reno 2008! ________ ________ *Adventurers Workshop* - Custom Accessories for Adventure Touring Riders ________________ *MAXBMW* - The Northeast's ONLY exclusive BMW Motorcycle dealer

No science that I know of to the rear shocks-- these are Progressives, 15" I think.

They say that lengthening hte swingarm is usually done not more than about 100mm. Thats around 4". I think that is HPN's number on the R1050's.

but its dependant upon the geometry of the whole bike. Could be only 30mm (1.5") We are figuring that the front end is easier to mess with, and we can run with it for a while till we get some idea of whats going on. Do the rear at a later date.

What we have thought is that usually just using a LWB /6 era rear diff will require adding either a piece of tubing to the forwad of the rear square mount on theswingarm (if you look at SWB vs. LWB, you'll see that this is what BMW did.) , or I've seen someone make up a square peice that mates to the rear diff instead. Does that make sense? Either way on the dual shock models the left hand side needs to be extended as well, and both sides need new shock mounts, and mock up is required to find out what the acceptable range of motion in the driveshaft is.   The driveshaft can be lengthened by mating two shafts together, or adding a piece of stock in the middle of one, but I like the one-seam idea better. 

 

They say the R65's have a shorter stroke, so the heads dont stick out as far, and also they are mounted higher on the case making a good case for an R65 as a starting point, but they are sort of hte red headed stepchild of the BMW motors, parts being a little weirder to find as that is the only motor that isnt necessarily interchangable with all the other models.

 

I believe it should be possible to end up with the monster bike youre looking for for $5-6K even with the work done, front end bought, etc. 

I am crazy hot to finish mine, but there are lots of fish to fry, lately. :D

I love the idea of Rat Bikes. Sign me up for a big thumper in a Rickman frame. Still get excited at a Hodaka. Bultaco runs deep in my past. But why not a modified R80 G/S if you want vintage and enduro? Just curious. Not my game anymore as I live in a part of the country where there is no public lands to ride on...................Bob

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"Go out, things happen. Stay at home, they don't" .....................Ted Simon

You make an excellent point. I am led to believe that modifying a dual side swingarm is less complicated, but I certainly could be wrong. (about ANY of this :deal) 

I think you can find more lower geared rear diffs that arent mono.

One would probably change the front end, anyway.

As far as a power plant, I dont think it would matter; in our neck of the woods you only use the bottom half of the speed range, anyway. Its low end grunt, and they all have that. I dont know the weight difference between these bikes, just that a regular R80 is heavy, and I think the R60-65 is lighter to begin with.

 

Plus I would feel MUCH better about hacksawing an R60 than an R80 :-) I would feel bad about destroying a good R80.  A Rallye R80 is something to think about, (hmmm...) It just feels more right to have a small displacement unit for this job.

http://www.airheads.org/content/view/222/49/  (Thanks Solo!)

So it seems like maybe there are more options for Lower geared rear diff's on the R60/65's.

ratio	ring/pinion teeth	rpm @55mph	rpm @70mph	speed @7200rpm	speedometer ratio	usual model
2.91	32/11	3050	3881	130	1.078	R100
3.00	33/11	3147	4005	126	1.112	R90S-R100
3.09	34/11	3241	4125	122	1.144	R90-R100/7
3.20	32/10	3357	4273	118	1.186	R75-R80
3.36	37/11	3525	4486	112	1.244	R60-R75
3.44	31/9	3608	4592	110	1.259
3.56	32/9	3734	4752	106	1.318	R60-R65
2.62	34/13	This was for racing, /5 and later

If you have not seen the articles, you might want to look at a Terramostro. These guys are taking Monster 625s, lengthening the swing arm, beefing up the frame a bit and putting the Showa Honda 650 forks on there with some heavy duty spoked wheels.  Nice guys to talk with .  Great looking, but expensive bikes.  May have experience you could use.

 

http://www.terramostro.com/index.cfm

 

Bob 

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"Go out, things happen. Stay at home, they don't" .....................Ted Simon

Holy Cow! That R65 Bumblebee is my bike! I am actually selling it if you know of anyone looking for one ready to go!!! Not too much left to do to this one other than upgrading to a newer paralever.

 

If anyone wants details of the R65 "HP1"  Drop me a line.

 I'll probably bring it to the MOA event at the Performance Center next week.

Cheers,

 

Jason

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Jason Slutsky Charleston, SC 2003 BMW GS1150ADV Farkles: Rhinewest Chip, K&N Air Filter, PIAAs, Touratech Hardparts, Jesse's...looking for a Remus or Leo Vince Exhaust with Y Pipe...

Here's a couple of shots I got of a sweet little thing at the Color int he Catskills event yesterday.  I dont know hwat kind of forks are on it, and it doesnt look like the driveshaft was lengthened. Otherwise a nice clean look, and it appears to have a good geometry. Hardto tel from sitting in the back of a pick up, though :-)

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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