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BMW R1150R Long-term Review

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jeffyjeff
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PostPosted: 20:16 - 16 Jan 2022    Post subject: BMW R1150R Long-term Review Reply with quote

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I purchased my 2002 BMW R1150R in February of 2018. It had 20,600 miles on it at the time. As of today, it has 46,778 miles on the odometer. This is a long-term review based on my experience with this motorcycle; I’ll likely update this periodically as the bike ages and miles accumulate.

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OILHEADS R1100 (1994-1999) and R1150 (2001-2005) models are known as oilheads. Identified by a rectangular shaped 4 bolt valve cover. They use engine oil to cool the cylinder heads, and incorporate a pair of oil coolers and a thermostatic valve to control oil temperature. Oilheads utilize chain driven camshafts located in the cylinder head – but it is an in-head, rather than an overhead cam design; short pushrods actuate the valve train. Valve adjustments are accomplished by screw and locknut design.

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Over the years I have enjoyed pretty good success in resurrecting old garage queens, restoring them to roadworthy condition, then riding the crap out of them. Here is a video review of the bike that sums up the features pretty well, although it does contain a fair amount of sales BS: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jaxrqxXk2-Y. The BMW roadsters age pretty well and can often be found at very attractive prices. This bike met my standards for mechanical integrity, cosmetic condition, and odometer miles. It had several upgrades, and came with a list of accessories as long as my arm.

First order of business was to change out all the fluids and upgrade the left side cam chain tensioner. The OE tensioner allows sloppy cam chain movement on start-up that eventually leads to guide rail failure. OE plastic fuel line quick-disconnects become fragile over the years, and were replaced by stainless parts.

UGLY RUMOURS: Read up on these bikes and you’ll probably find some pretty forceful opinions on several key operating characteristics. In my lifetime, I have owned one oilhead; my sample size is one. Take if for what it’s worth, but my experience does not align with internet scuttlebutt in these areas of complaint:

1. Oilheads burn oil excessively: When I started out on this bike, the oil consumption was around 3000 miles/litre. According to the internet scholars, this is considered perfectly acceptable oil consumption for the oilhead boxer. Over time I began to notice very slight weeping around the fill cap. The amount was so small that I hardly gave it a second thought. One day I swapped out the fill cap o-rings for new. The effect was immediate, oil consumption cut in half to 6,000 miles/litre. Later, oil consumption again began to climb. Careful inspection found oil weeping from the bottom of the right-side valve cover. New gaskets fixed the problem. IMO, these bikes can develop small, barely detectable leaks that can leak way more oil than is immediately apparent. I have added less than a litre between oil changes (6000 mile oil change interval) over the past 18,000 miles.

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2. The second ugly rumour is that BMW boxer transmissions are clunky: If you completely roll off the throttle between shifts, the BMW boxer transmission will reward you with all the clunkiness their reputation has earned. But if you learn to finesse the throttle action during shifts, you will be rewarded with very smooth gear transition. The key is to back off the throttle only enough to unload the powertrain. It doesn’t take much, but with practice, the BMW boxer 6 speed transmission can shift gears as smooth as any bike.

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3. Many internet "experts" say the telelever forks suck, and that the telelever is less sensitive than conventional forks. Really? I cannot discern a lack of sensitivity. Color me numb, but I just don’t see it. In fact, I am way more comfortable riding this bike aggressively on twisty mountain roads than my VFR. Probably has more to do with the seating position and weight distribution than anything else. The front mono-shock has a damping adjustment, and suspension design limits front end dive under hard braking.

4. Finally, there are many reports of engine surge at low speed: The dual spark design on the 2004 oilheads was reportedly engineered to correct engine surge at residential street speeds. Mine is 2002 model; I haven’t seen it. Synch the throttle bodies and use a single electrode spark plug; my engine runs smooth over its entire rpm range.


UGLY TRUTHS: My experience does align with internet scuttlebutt in some other areas of interest:
1. It’s impossible to find a windscreen that works: Some folks have invested serious cash into trying to find the perfect windscreen for the R1150R without success. My advice: if a windscreen is that important to you, get an R1150RT. My bike came to me with a Ztechnik windscreen. I promptly removed it because it interfered with my preferred riding position. Oddly, the instrument cluster acts as a sort of windscreen on its own, directing the air blast right at my chest, leaving my neck and helmet in clean air. I can ride very comfortably up to 80 mph without being forced into a tuck.

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Shown here is the ABS servo. Six bleed screws on the servo plus one on each caliper combine for a comparatively complex brake bleed procedure.

2. Brakes: Some oilheads come with servo assist ABS brakes. People call them “whizzy” brakes due to the sound of the servo action when you apply the brake. The bad: they are unnecessarily complex, they are a chore to bleed, and when the servo/ABS unit takes a shit, they are prohibitively expensive to repair. Owners perform a “servo-ectomy” to remove the unit and convert their bikes to conventional (non-assist, non-ABS) brakes. The good: a properly functioning, well maintained system works very well. These are the best freaking brakes I have ever had for scrubbing off speed in a hurry. On the downside, at parking lot speeds or when bringing the bike to a complete stop, they have a tendency to get a little grabby. Aftermarket brake pads can cause drag on the rear brake rotor, elevating temperature and premature rotor wear. I have found the OE Brembo pads minimize this effect.


RIDE AND PERFORMANCE: There is really a lot to like about the ride quality of the BMW Roadster. The telelever fork and paralever swingarm work well. The bike can be pushed hard on twisty roads and leaned way over; the engine has plenty of grunt and pulls hard out of the curves. The suspension handles road imperfections pretty well. The limiting factor (for me) is the bike’s mass. Internet specs claim 238 kg, but to me it feels more than that. Forget all the crap you read about carrying the weight low, when you are trying to change direction in a hurry, Newton rules.

The bike really excels out on the motorway, crosswinds and lorry windblast don’t affect it. It charges through high-speed sweepers, and will easily cruise at any speed up to 100 mph. The bike tops out a little north of 120 mph, (so I have been told.)

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ENGINE: The 1130cc boxer is a real gem. It produces 84 horsepower @ 6750 rpm and 72.3 lb/ft torque @ 5250 rpm; and pulls hard from the lower reaches of the rev range. Vibrations are unobtrusive, and easily overlooked until you look in the mirrors. It reminds me of riding a Harley, sans vibration. Engine design has chain-driven cams located in the cylinder head, with stubby pushrods actuating the valves through rocker arm assemblies. Adjuster screw and locknut design makes valve adjustments easy; 6000 mile service intervals. An upgrade cam chain tensioner replaces the OE unit, which allowed excessive chain slap on cold start. Another common upgrade involves the fuel tank line quick connects; after two decades, the OE plastic parts are prone to failure. Aftermarket stainless quick-connects are a substantial improvement. Two oil coolers reside in pods located on either side of the fuel tank. Oil level is checked by sight glass on the lower left front of the engine.

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TRANSMISSION/CLUTCH: Aside from their reputation for clunky shifting, the Boxer 6-speed transmissions suffer from a manufacturing defect that really puts a damper on my enthusiasm for this motorcycle. Some of the transmissions were manufactured with mis-located dowels that offsets the transmission/engine centerline. The result is accelerated wear between the transmission input shaft splines and the clutch disk. I replaced the clutch on my bike at 38,000 miles, and wear on the clutch hub splines was significant.

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According to the pundits on BMWsporttouring.com, the fix involves removing the front cover from the transmission and bolting it up to the engine (sans clutch). Measure the offset runout with a dial indicator to determine the amount and angle of the offset. Then find a machine shop to fabricate offset dowels to properly locate the cover to the engine. Reassemble the transmission, install with the offset dowels and a new clutch. Easy peasy….Shit. Nobody knows how many bikes were made with this defect, and it grinds me that BMW chose to turn a blind eye to the issue.

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DRIVELINE
The shaft drive works well, and I haven’t run into problems with seal leaks or the like. But another abnormality built into the final drive involves the final drive pivot bearing. BMW put a caged needle bearing in an application that does not articulate very much. As a result, the bearing rollers Brinell into the race, and the bearing locks up. This causes the bearing assembly to rotate on the pivot pin (that is supposed to secure the bearing inner race).

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You can see where the pivot bearing inner race has been working against the pivot pin.

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Fortunately, an aftermarket bushing is available that incorporates a zirc fitting for periodic lubrication. The bushing spreads the load over a larger surface area than the inner race/pivot pin wear point on the OE design.

Well, that’s about all I have for now. I may add to this post in the future as new developments come up. Hope this is of benefit to somebody. Had I known in 2018 what I know now, I probably would have held out for an R1200R.
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jeffyjeff
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PostPosted: 07:04 - 23 Aug 2022    Post subject: Reply with quote

Recently passed the 50,000 mile milestone on my R1150R; time for a major service that includes:
1. Engine oil change
2. Transmission and final drive oil change
3. Air filter and airbox inspection
4. Valve lash inspection and adjustment
5. Servo-assist brake fluid flush, fill and bleed
6. Hydraulic clutch fluid change
7. Lube the final drive pivot pins

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Engine oil and transmission fluid changes on the BMW are pretty straight forward. The final drive drain plug has a magnet that needs to be wiped clean before reassembly. Some pundits claim that petroleum based gear oil must be used in order to avoid leaks in the final drive seal. I do not personally subscribe to this line of thinking, and have not experienced leaks using Amsoil Severe Gear 75-90 synthetic gear oil in the final drive and transmission.
Capacity: Final Drive 230 cc
Transmission 850 cc

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The cylinder head design on the oilhead boxer engines is rather unique. I suppose you could call it In-the-head rather than overhead cam design. You can see the cam chain and sprocket in the lower right corner of the photograph. But the engine utilizes short, stubby pushrods acting on a wishbone design rocker to actuate two valves at a time. One cam lobe actuates two valves.

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The Clymer manual suggests that after removing the spark plugs, you can engage the transmission in 4th gear and turn the engine over by rotating the rear wheel ! (?) I prefer to remove the alternator belt cover and bar the engine over at the front crank pulley. That way, I inspect the condition and tension of the alternator drive belt at each service. I placed a paint mark on the pulley to aid in locating the engine to TDC.

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Due to the wishbone rocker design, both valves need to be measured and adjusted simultaneously. Overtighten one intake adjustment (shown) and the companion valve will become loose. With practice, you develop a fine touch like a safecracker to obtain a uniform pull on both feeler gauges.

The battery, air filter, motronic ECM, and ABS module all reside under the fuel tank, necessitating its removal. Someone on BMW SportTouring.com suggested making up a cardboard template to temporarily house the fasteners taken out during tank removal. I took this one step further and added the steps in order and torque specs on a template fashioned out of an old Amazon box.
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Tank removal affords a good opportunity to inspect the oil cooler cores….
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And the air filter…
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Mahle makes a pretty robust air filter for the BMW oilheads. This one has been in service approximately 4 years and 30,000 miles. After vacuuming out some debris in the bottom of the airbox, I lightly brushed surface dust off the pleats. The filter looks like it will be good for another 30,000.

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Many owners are unaware of the airbox drain, located on the lower left side of the airbox near the rear shock preload adjuster. Remove the twist-off plug to drain any oil accumulated in the airbox onto a rag.

The BMW servo-assist brake system used on the R1150’s really works well, however, it is complex and a chore to service. Altogether, 10 separate steps are required to bleed air from the servo unit; 11 steps if you consider each of the two front calipers to be a separate step.

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In order to service the brake system, you will need to modify a 7mm combination wrench in order to access the bleed nipples on the servo brake unit. I used a propane torch to heat the wrench red hot (clamped in a vise), then used a hammer to tap it to a 90 degree angle.

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You will also need to obtain or fabricate a funnel fill adapter to artificially add capacity to the front and rear brake fluid reservoirs on the servo unit. Bleeding the brakes is pretty straight forward, and is really not much different than bleeding any other brake; except that the brakes each have 3 control circuits and one actuator circuit per wheel. These circuits need to be bled in a prescribed sequence. I have attached a copy of the instructions I used to perform the service at the bottom of this post.

Use the funnel to fill and bleed the front and rear (pictured above) caliper circuits. Install and fill the funnel as shown, then turn the ignition switch on (Key On Engine Off – KOEO). Apply the brake and crack open the bleed nipple. The servo will pump fluid to the caliper and the circuit can be bled in one step. Pretty trick. Re-fill the funnel and repeat for the opposite front caliper. Then move to the rear reservoir (shown) and repeat for the rear brake caliper.

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Once the front and rear caliper circuits are bled and the reservoirs filled, there are only 8 steps left. Front brake control circuit bleed nipples are shown above in red, rear in green. Fill the reservoir on the front handbrake lever and bleed the control circuits in order as shown above. The first nipple bled in sequence is also the last, hence it is marked 1 and 4 on the photo above. The first nipple bled on the rear control circuit is also the last, hence it is marked 5 and 8 on the photo above.

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This photograph illustrates why a modified wrench is necessary. The bleed nips on the servo unit are so close together and so recessed, that it is impossible to get an unmodified wrench in there to crack the bleed screws.

The clutch slave cylinder is buried down between the swing arm and the transmission. Fortunately, there is a remote bleed fitting tie located on the upper right side of the rear wheel well, near the evaporative emission charcoal cannister. The fitting itself is encased in a neoprene sleeve and tie wrapped to the seat release cable.
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Remove the allen head pipe plug to find a check valve seated in the closed position. You’ll need a speed bleeder to do the job. You might be able to off-seat the check valve with some type of probe, but it would definitely be a 2 person job and you would probably make a big mess.

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The speed bleeder I purchased for the job bottomed out in the fitting before the threads could catch, and required modification. I cut it short and used a hacksaw to cross cut two slots for the fluid to pass. Then I pressed an 8 mm flat washer into one of the slots and worked the assembly into a point on a bench grinder. The speed bleeder has an internal check valve that prevents air from entering the bleed fitting. Just fill the clutch master cylinder and pump the clutch until clear fluid flows out the bleed hose.
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A100man
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PostPosted: 11:32 - 24 Aug 2022    Post subject: Reply with quote

Interesting stuff. I'm not in the market for one and judging from the ABS faff not likely to be..

Sorry but did you say 'pushrods' ? Thinking
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blurredman
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PostPosted: 12:08 - 24 Aug 2022    Post subject: Reply with quote

Cool read! Cool
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jeffyjeff
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PostPosted: 20:57 - 24 Aug 2022    Post subject: Reply with quote

A100man wrote:
Interesting stuff. I'm not in the market for one and judging from the ABS faff not likely to be..
Sorry but did you say 'pushrods' ? Thinking

The servo-assist ABS is unnecessarily complex and a bit of a chore to service, but it is a walk in the park compared to the valve adjustments on a VFR.
Yes indeed, I said pushrods. Why on earth would BMW go to all that trouble to design and manufacture an engine with camchain, tensioners, and in-head camshaft if they won't go all the way with an OHC design? It's not like this is a high performance engine by any stretch of the imagination. Cam-in-case with pushrods and rockers would have been much less expensive to build, and effects on power and performance would have been negligable. 2 pushrods per head, $53.95 each on ebay. A bargain! Neutral

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Irezumi
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PostPosted: 22:42 - 25 Aug 2022    Post subject: Reply with quote

One of those unanswerable questions but if you had to choose one out of the two mentioned, R1150R or VFR as an only bike. Based on overall ownership, so including riding and servicing/maintenance?
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Pete.
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PostPosted: 06:55 - 26 Aug 2022    Post subject: Reply with quote

Yeah that bronze bush seems like a great idea - except that running anodised ally against bronze is a poor choice of materials mixing and also the grease fitting is removed except when actually doing the greasing, leaving almost no clue that there IS any periodic greasing required unless you're the one that installed it.

So you sell the bike to some poor unsuspecting mug after already neglecting the lubrication of said bush and then several thousand miles later the grease dries out, dissimilar metal corrosion sets in and then this happens:
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132.9mph off and walked away. Gear is good, gear is good, gear is very very good Very Happy
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A100man
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PostPosted: 10:17 - 26 Aug 2022    Post subject: Reply with quote

Pete. wrote:
Yeah that bronze bush seems like a great idea - except that running anodised ally against bronze is a poor choice of materials mixing and also the grease fitting is removed except when actually doing the greasing, leaving almost no clue that there IS any periodic greasing required unless you're the one that installed it.

So you sell the bike to some poor unsuspecting mug after already neglecting the lubrication of said bush and then several thousand miles later the grease dries out, dissimilar metal corrosion sets in and then this happens:


A wonky arse! Could turn out OK on anti-clockwise oval circuits maybe?
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jeffyjeff
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PostPosted: 23:31 - 28 Aug 2022    Post subject: Reply with quote

Irezumi wrote:
One of those unanswerable questions but if you had to choose one out of the two mentioned, R1150R or VFR as an only bike. Based on overall ownership, so including riding and servicing/maintenance?

VFR without a doubt. I would still be riding one if I could. Junior crashed my Y2K 5th gen so hard that he tweaked the steering head and bent the forks. Put himself in the hospital for 42 days, and was off work for 42 weeks. After that my wife said, "no more VFR." I consider myself lucky that she did not force a choice between a motorcycle or marriage. I love my wife dearly.

Picked up the BMW because I need an affordable bike with ABS, and the R1150R met more of my requirements than most. But after riding it for a few years, I have become somewhat less than enamored with German build quality and commitment to customer satisfaction. Funny thing; in the USA, the European manufacturers have the reputation as building "Premium" motorcycles, when in fact, the Japanese manufacturers actually produce premium motorcycles. Cool
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jeffyjeff
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PostPosted: 23:41 - 28 Aug 2022    Post subject: Reply with quote

Pete. wrote:
So you sell the bike to some poor unsuspecting mug after already neglecting the lubrication of said bush and then several thousand miles later the grease dries out, dissimilar metal corrosion sets in and then this happens:


Here is an alternative; install the OE bearing and soon the rollers will brinell into the race. The inner race will turn on the pivot pin; you get all the action of a bushing without the dissimilar metal corrosion! EDIT: I wonder if it is corrosion or if it might be electrolysis. Either way, the end result is not good.
https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/51822439782_073a148edd_n.jpg
https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/51823727864_718e92ba8e_n.jpg
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Zen Dog
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PostPosted: 14:14 - 29 Aug 2022    Post subject: Reply with quote

I always liked the idea of the telelever front end, as a weird sort of half way house between forks and hub centre steering, and as a different approach to separating the suspension, turning and braking forces.

Do you find it makes a big difference under braking? Do you think it's worth the extra weight, as a system, for the kind of bike the R1150 is?
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jeffyjeff
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PostPosted: 21:50 - 29 Aug 2022    Post subject: Reply with quote

Zen Dog wrote:
I always liked the idea of the telelever front end....Do you find it makes a big difference under braking? Do you think it's worth the extra weight, as a system, for the kind of bike the R1150 is?

Extra weight? Probably is not worth the extra weight. The telelever works and works well, but there are lighter alternatives, such as the anti-dive forks used on the VFRs. The anti-dive forks and telelever seem to work equally well under hard braking. That said, I feel I can ride the R1150R more aggressively than I could my VFR. Probably has to do with the riding position and the fact that I don't support my upper body on the handlebar like I tended to do on the (slightly) more aggressive riding position of the VFR. My chicken strips are narrower, I touch down the pegs more often, and generally feel like I am riding faster than I did the VFR. Am I really riding faster? Probably not, but the ride is more enjoyable.
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Zen Dog
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PostPosted: 23:16 - 29 Aug 2022    Post subject: Reply with quote

jeffyjeff wrote:
My chicken strips are narrower, I touch down the pegs more often, and generally feel like I am riding faster than I did the VFR. Am I really riding faster? Probably not, but the ride is more enjoyable.


It's weird the way it works sometimes. By contrast, I'm convinced I ride much better/faster on either of my VFRs than I did on my Street Triple, even though dynamically the Triple was the better bike in every way. Partly that's just my familiarity with VFRs I'm sure, but still, some bikes you just gel with. They talk to you in a way that suits your personal riding style, the feedback you like to get from the bike, your temperament, whatever it might be, but they give you confidence. Clearly that's the case with the BMW, for you.

I've test ridden a load of different bikes in the last 6 months (only because my mates have been buying new bikes and we always give each other a go), but the only one that immediately gave me that confidence was a tatty old ER6F. Laughing
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Pete.
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PostPosted: 23:09 - 30 Aug 2022    Post subject: Reply with quote

jeffyjeff wrote:
Pete. wrote:
So you sell the bike to some poor unsuspecting mug after already neglecting the lubrication of said bush and then several thousand miles later the grease dries out, dissimilar metal corrosion sets in and then this happens:


Here is an alternative; install the OE bearing and soon the rollers will brinell into the race. The inner race will turn on the pivot pin; you get all the action of a bushing without the dissimilar metal corrosion! EDIT: I wonder if it is corrosion or if it might be electrolysis. Either way, the end result is not good.
https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/51822439782_073a148edd_n.jpg
https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/51823727864_718e92ba8e_n.jpg


My bike is on 113k miles now and still has the standard bearings since I swapped them out after the above failure which was around 50k or so. The pic above shows something screwy happening. The rollers have escaped end-wise and beaten their way into the races. I think it's more of an installation failure than a design one.
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jeffyjeff
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PostPosted: 00:48 - 31 Aug 2022    Post subject: Reply with quote

Pete. wrote:
...The pic above shows something screwy happening. The rollers have escaped end-wise and beaten their way into the races. I think it's more of an installation failure than a design one.

Could be, but if it is, then more than likely it would be the result of mis-assembly at the factory. I've owned the bike since 20,600 miles. The bearing was removed at 38,238 miles when I had the bike apart for clutch repair.
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jeffyjeff
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PostPosted: 20:51 - 11 Nov 2022    Post subject: Reply with quote

10 November 2022, 50,786 miles.

At the 45,000 mile oil change, I noticed some flakes in the drain pan after I emptied it into a jug for recycling. It did not look good, but I did not carefully inspect the pan before draining the oil, and thought that they might be left over from another vehicle. I cut the filter open and found no debris between the media pleats; that made me feel better. At 50,000 miles, I noticed more debris; now I am concerned. I ordered an oil analysis kit for the next oil change, which I have yet to use. Last week I noticed some debris in the sight glass when I checked the oil. Holy crap! Today, I drained the oil and filtered it through a nylon stocking. The photograph shows what the stocking caught. I replaced the oil filter, and will cut the old filter open after it drains. This time, I'll stretch out the media to perhaps reveal more than I saw the first time. Hard to believe that with this much stuff in the sump that the filter isn't near to being clogged. Maybe the pickup tube screen is near to being clogged, but I haven't seen the oil pressure light flicker yet. To my best estimation, all the debris shown was generated in the last 786 miles.

https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/52493215689_dd8ab7f1a3_b.jpg[/url]

The coin is a US dime, 18mm diameter, placed in photo for size comparison.

The debris are non-ferrous (not attracted to a magnet), but appear to be metallic.

The pieces resemble aluminum, but they are way too fragile to be aluminum (in my experience) they crumble way too easily. Rub between your thumb and forefinger and it turns to paste.

I thought it might be babbitt, but if it is bearing material, there is little evidence of any wiping action. The one exception is the off-color piece close to the dime.

The flecks resemble foil. The dimples may be a clue to their origin, but I have never had an oilhead engine apart, and cannot venture a guess as to what is coming apart inside the motor.

The size of the flakes concerns me. In my mind, big pieces shedding off internally foretell catastrophic failure.

The bike runs great; no performance complaints whatsoever. It starts right up, good power, consistent fuel economy (43mpg) since day one of ownership, no exhaust smoke. The motorcycle has been in my care for about 5 years and 30,000 miles.

Internet pundits think this is foreign material, introduced into the engine during an oil change. Responses can be viewed here: https://www.bmwsporttouring.com/topic/105041-unkown-debris-in-engine-oil/
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A100man
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PostPosted: 21:38 - 11 Nov 2022    Post subject: Reply with quote

Intriguing but soft, non-ferrous isn't worth worrying about unless it could block an oil-way - but if the filter is doing it's job as it seems I reckon you'll be Ok.

I also saw a few speckles in my XJs oil this year - it all sounded OK so I chose to ignore them..
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Pete.
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PostPosted: 21:43 - 11 Nov 2022    Post subject: Reply with quote

Kinda looks like the foil seal under an oil container cap.
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jeffyjeff
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PostPosted: 00:17 - 12 Nov 2022    Post subject: Reply with quote

A100man wrote:
I also saw a few speckles in my XJs oil this year - it all sounded OK so I chose to ignore them..

You gave me pretty good advice on those Mitas tyres. Maybe I should follow your lead on the flakes in my oil as well. As stated elsewhere, I'll probably just run it till it grenades, then get something else. But it probably won't grenade. In all likelihood, I will wear out before the bike does. Cool
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A100man
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PostPosted: 09:18 - 12 Nov 2022    Post subject: Reply with quote

jeffyjeff wrote:
A100man wrote:
I also saw a few speckles in my XJs oil this year - it all sounded OK so I chose to ignore them..

You gave me pretty good advice on those Mitas tyres. Maybe I should follow your lead on the flakes in my oil as well. As stated elsewhere, I'll probably just run it till it grenades, then get something else. But it probably won't grenade. In all likelihood, I will wear out before the bike does. Cool


Ah yes but please understand as a graduate of The University of 'That'll Do' I always follow the principles of least work Wink
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stinkwheel
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PostPosted: 09:46 - 12 Nov 2022    Post subject: Reply with quote

I think my approach to those alloy flakes would be as follows.

They aren't steel, so good.

This is why bikes have sumps and filters.

If it is an indication of a major failure, it has already happened and going looking for it will most likely be just as much work as fixing it when the issue makes itself more apparent.

If it is something minor, it is something minor.

Like Pete., I think it looks like a bit of oil bottle lid.


Here's a take on your earlier mentioned mis-aligned housing. I got this off Indian street mechanics so it's not a recommendation, just a slight ramble. Classic Enfield Bullet engines don't have dowels between the vertically split crankcase halves. The closest they come is a couple of ground diameter studs which often get mixed-up, lost or their holes become worn or they weren't a particularly tight fit int he first place. So how do you get the crankcase halves together with the crank properly centred?

They do up the nuts finger-tight then bribe/threaten a small child into slowly rotating the crank while they go round gradually tightening the nuts. So my thought with your housing is that the function of dowels is to hold things in alignment until it is tightened home, they don't really play a role in keeping it there. If they are misaligning it, why not leave them out and let it centre itself by rotating the shaft while tightening it down?
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jeffyjeff
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PostPosted: 20:26 - 13 Nov 2022    Post subject: Reply with quote

stinkwheel wrote:
If it is an indication of a major failure, it has already happened and going looking for it will most likely be just as much work as fixing it when the issue makes itself more apparent.
Thanks for this insight. Sometimes it is too easy to lose perspective when you see something as abnormal as this. Total disassembly to find the cause would satisfy my curiosity, but does not justify the cost. In my younger days, I dreamed of a career in destructive testing. Now is my chance to "run her till she blows." Honestly, that bike is running so good right now that I doubt that catastrophic failure is looming any time soon.

stinkwheel wrote:
Here's a take on your earlier mentioned mis-aligned housing. So my thought with your housing is that the function of dowels is to hold things in alignment until it is tightened home, they don't really play a role in keeping it there. If they are misaligning it, why not leave them out and let it centre itself by rotating the shaft while tightening it down?

An intriguing idea. I could mark the case/block interface to gauge any movement before and after. Afterward, it would be possible to refit to the clutch housing to check runout.
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stinkwheel
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PostPosted: 23:14 - 13 Nov 2022    Post subject: Reply with quote

jeffyjeff wrote:
stinkwheel wrote:
If it is an indication of a major failure, it has already happened and going looking for it will most likely be just as much work as fixing it when the issue makes itself more apparent.
Thanks for this insight. Sometimes it is too easy to lose perspective when you see something as abnormal as this. Total disassembly to find the cause would satisfy my curiosity, but does not justify the cost. In my younger days, I dreamed of a career in destructive testing. Now is my chance to "run her till she blows." Honestly, that bike is running so good right now that I doubt that catastrophic failure is looming any time soon.


I got that idea off a mechanic friend talking about a mates Alpha Romeo. It was due a timing chain change. An endless timing chain in the middle of the engine like a motorbike. The mechanic said it was almost as much work to replace the timing chain as to fix an engine where the timing chain had snapped.

So they left it and eventually, the timing chain snapped and took out 4 valves and 2 pistons. They duly split the engine, replaced the bent valves, decided they'd just replace all 4 pistons and fitted a new timing chain. The initial advice proved to be good because when the chain eventually broke was past the time it was scheduled for its second replacement.
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I did the 2010 Round Britain Rally on my 350 Bullet. 89 landmarks, 3 months, 9,500 miles.
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jeffyjeff
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PostPosted: 06:52 - 14 Nov 2022    Post subject: Reply with quote

Cool story. All the more reason to take a "wait and see" approach. For the first few years of ownership, I was logging 8,000 miles a year on the bike. This year I only got to 5,000 miles because I spent more time on the YBR in Morocco. Should the BMW last another 40,000 miles, at the rate I am riding it I'll be in my late 70"s, and probably ready to downsize to a CB300 or a SuperCub. Cool
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blurredman
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PostPosted: 12:30 - 14 Nov 2022    Post subject: Reply with quote

Don't bottle lid foils typically have a plastic lining to them too these days? Unless it may have burned away??
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