Back to business, Luke's disassy.

Here ya go, just some samples to show how Luke started documenting how things came apart, where wires go and the condition of things at disassembly. Remember that if you click on these pictures you can get the full size picture with a lot more detail.
There is no official list yet but the assumptions are that the frame and misc needs to be blasted and painted so that no more Barney is visible, something needs to be done about the tank, fenders and seat (more on that in the next blog), new bearings in wheels, steering stem, etc., all new cables, ... that is just the start.

I confess that I stole the peanut head rocker box covers from this bike and put them on Gilera. Hence the Black /7 head covers here.

Worn, but acceptable.

Sept. 28, 2007 (Luke tears it up, Paul ships out)

We had a day when Paul was supposed to be packing up and leaving for AZ but he was spending his time putting the Atlas back together instead. Luke was out there with him and he got a lot done on the disassembly. I was pleased to see him making good use of the digital camera to document things as they came apart, especially wiring for color codes and stuff like that.

Somewhere along the line I found another under $2000 BMW. This one came from the owners of Beemer Hill. It is a little R60 that I kept for just a short while; long enough to realize that I was overextended. I made some very small repairs and adjustments to it; essentially spent nothing on it and sold it for $200 more than I paid for it. I never had an R60 before. The experience taught/reminded me of 2 things:

1. A pushrod 600cc engine in 1974 didn't have a lot of horses and a few of those horses died since.



2. oops, that pinging noise is because you are not burning leaded high-octane in this poor engine.

None the less, having this Duetsch, the German bike, provided us with a couple of historic moments. One was when Paul and I rode Gilera and Duetsch to Morrie's Place in Richmond IL to get some Norton parts. The other was when Luke on Duetsch, Paul on Gilera and myself on Sharona went out to breakfast and took a very short putt around. My first rides with my grown up boys!!

Duetsch, the "German bike" 1974 R60/6 600cc

Norton guy dancing at Morrie's Place.

R60/6 and R100 at Dog n Suds.

Sept. 11, 2007 (disassembly begins)

After I finished up Gilera's repairs (wheel bearings, steering stem bearings, shaft drive spring, final drive rebuild, new tires, brakes, etc. etc. etc.) she gave up the lift for this project to begin. I have since purchased a motorcycle jack, I will prolly never afford a lift unless I build one my self, so for the time being this rigging from the rafters worked better than lying on the concrete. Hey, it works so just shut up yer laughing.

Paul was busy with finishing up his Norton Atlas project and preparing to move to AZ but Luke showed some interest in getting in on this. We talked about a wait and see, let's see how this goes, cooperation on this project. He has since put some hours in on disassembly and some eBay parts and we figure that towards the end of this project we will have some options for me to buy him out, him to buy me out or develop a joint ownership.

Family picture

Now here is the proper use for a "one car" Model A garage built into the side of a hill. Starting from the foreground:

• Sharona, my 1988 R100RT
• Paul's (son) Honda CM450C (since sold)
• 1974 R75/6, the subject of this blog.
• Paul's Norton Atlas, not assembled yet but you can see the pretty new red paint.
• Hanging from the rafters is Gilera, my 1980 BMW R100, getting some pretty big repairs done. That could be a whole nother blog.
  

August 18, 2007 (you fool!!)

Hmmm... Just after seeing and test driving this thing Paul and Luke and I went to our first Rockerbox in Milwaukee. I had never been to this annual gathering but I can assure you that I will go every year from now on out! Clink on the lick to get some idea of what that is all about. Well, being at Rockerbox and seeing so many cafes, street fighters, ratbikes, vintage bikes, etc. well it kinda clouded my judgement. I called back the dude and made him a higher offer. This went on later in the week but we finally ended at $1200 which I thought might be a tad high but, hmm, I haven't seen a running BMW go for anywhere near this price since and I am always sniffing for a deal. Suffice it to say that Luke drove me out there the next Saturday to seal the deal and pick this thing up.

August 10, 2007

I want to use this blog to document the rebuild (not restoration) of this 1974 BMW R75/6 motorcycle. The first posts are gonna be ketchup to date but then I will keep this current as things progress. Today is actually 1/27/2008 but with blogger I can back date these as I go.

I answered an ad in craigslist and made an appointment to go see this thing on August 10, 2007 according to the dates on the pictures that I took then. The craigslist pictures were really small and not very detailed so I was a little surprised when I first saw this thing. I laughed. A 1974 BMW R75/6 750cc motorcycle that has the frame painted Barney purple and the tank and fenders painted Big Bird yellow with stickers and lettering all over it. The engine and running gear were painted black. To make matters worse, the tank was from a /7 model and the seat was from an R65. The exhaust was a MAC 2-1 and loud. The gauges were missing entirely, it had straight drag bars, the headlight was on some after market stays and an aftermarket copy of an 'S' fairing was floppying loosely on the front.
The story that I got was that this was a certain Danny King's bike and that he had died of cancer a few years ago. His widow was selling off his bikes, apperently there were a few others out there for sale, and the individual that I was buying this from was kinda brokering that (?).
I was able to take a short scarey test drive. It seemed to have enough strength and shifted well. The front wheel bearing was shot, the brakes and clutch were hard to manage because of some bad cables and I wasn't sure about some of the switches and stuff. Yet the running gear seemed stout and that is what matters because everything else need to be replaced with out a doubt.
If I remember right the asking price was $1400. If I made my offer there or did I call back later I don't remember but I offered him $900 and left it at that. No deal.