Turn signals on my R75/6, and restoration questions

[crazydrummerdude]

I just joined BMWMOA, so bear with me.

9 months ago, my friends parents said they would give me one of their BMW's in exchange for me cutting their grass this year. So, uh, I did. Haha.

I'm now the proud owner of a 1974 R75/6.

The first thing I did was take the ugly Vetter Windjammer II fairing off (which, by the way, is now for sale). When I did that, I noticed the turn signals were missing, and the posts were bent up to accomidate the fairing. Now, the back has aluminum turn signals, and I want to have matching turn signals all around..

So, why do I see so many "restored" bikes with the new plastic blinkers?

I might as well also ask:

Where can I send the chrome pieces of my bike for rechrome? Do any of these places have websites? Do any of these places have free quotes?

The front end was exposed to the weather for 20-some years, so some parts (handlebars, wheel(s), etc) need to be smoothed out and chromed up again.. but the rest of the bike is in great shape.

I'm just outside of St Louis, MO, and of course, I would like to not have to ship too far.. unless it's definitely worth it.

Thanks, guys.

(Oh, and also... I'm going to try to cut some trees down for them in exchange for their 1974(?) R90/6. Haha.. yes!)

[lkchris]

The plastic turn signals are way cheaper, and still available from BMW.

[Mar]

The first thing I did was take the ugly Vetter Windjammer II fairing off (which, by the way, is now for sale). When I did that, I noticed the turn signals were missing, and the posts were bent up to accomidate the fairing. Now, the back has aluminum turn signals, and I want to have matching turn signals all around..

So, why do I see so many "restored" bikes with the new plastic blinkers?

Where can I send the chrome pieces of my bike for rechrome? Do any of these places have websites? Do any of these places have free quotes?

I'm just outside of St Louis, MO, and of course, I would like to not have to ship too far.. unless it's definitely worth it.

You might want to contact Dave Clark at Forever Endeavor Cycles in Allenton, MO. He's a former tech from the old BMW Motorrad of St. Louis and he's in business for himself now. He's pretty good with old bikes and has been around long enough to have contacts. Contact him at daveclarkbmw@earthlink.net or see www.abcbmw.com. Dave will also be set up as a vendor at the Falling Leaf Rally so you can talk to him in person there.

[campari]

[QUOTE=crazydrummerdude]So, why do I see so many "restored" bikes with the new plastic blinkers?QUOTE]

i may be wrong but i believe only the 1974 /6 had the chrome signals, after that they switched to black plastic. i've seen used sets for sale many times on ebay or the internet bmw site though. and ikchris is right (of course), the plastic ones are way cheaper...

[crazydrummerdude]

The plastic turn signals are way cheaper, and still available from BMW.

That's kinda what I figured. I bought two on accident, and returned them soon after.

I've got a few sources in mind for new aluminum ones, but I'll keep checking ibmwr classifieds for some good used ones.

[crazydrummerdude]

You might want to contact Dave Clark at Forever Endeavor Cycles in Allenton, MO.....

That's exactly what I'm looking for. Thanks!

[sgborgstrom]

Welcome to the MOA, now surf on over to www.airheads.org and soak up some wisdom from them too.

Most of the parts you might need are available from various sources, it may well be easier and cheaper overall to buy high quality used parts from some of the vendors you'll find in the Owners News than hunting around for a shop to re-chrome your parts.

I think on some of those vetter fairings the stock turn signals were relocated onto posts on the fairing, I was hunting for a set for my '77 GL1000 and "discovered" them attached to the fairing in my garage. :doh

Steve

[paulfinney2]

I am glad you are restoring an R75/6. I need some support. I recently bought a '76 that had been left outside under a tarp (mostly) for 4 years. I think it will look pretty good cosmetically once I clean it up, except for badly pitted chorme like yours, but never again pristine. First thing tackled was removing the front brake - so badly frozen it took an Easy-Out. Just finished lubing the splines, which looked like they may have the 33,000 miles showing on the odometer. Carbs took a lot of cleaning, cause of the 4 yr old gas, have been remounted but not run yet. Any one have suggestions about what might be done to the gas tank before new gas goes in?
It has tube tires, so that is a new area to me. My 86 R80RT has tubeless.
After cleaning, I read that it may be an advantage to run a line of duck tape around the inside of the tire, covering the base of the spokes, rather than the standard rubber band, as the duck tape will slow down the loss of air in the event of a leak. I an considering putting a dab of silicone on the base of the spoke inside the tire rim also, for the same purpose. Anyone have any comments about that?

[manicmechanic]

At our shop we usually apply duck tape on the rims of dirt bikes, as it's tougher than the rubber rim strips. Just tear a strip half the width of the roll of tape and make two wraps around the rim. The RTV is not needed. The purpose of the tape/rim strip is to protect the tube from any exposed spoke ends.

[James.A]

Use proper rim bands, and check your tires regularly. Air leeches out no matter what you do. Also, if you change your own tires, powder the tubes and/or inside of the tire with corn starch or baby powder before inflating and inflate very slowly. Use liberal amounts of lubricant on the tire beads. I have experienced difficulty in getting the beads of modern tubeless tires to fully seat on the older spoke rims. There are a great many tire threads archived on this forum.

[paulfinney2]

How difficult or safe or reliable is it to switch from tube-type to tubeless tires?Bike is 76 R75/6.

[jmerlino]

How difficult or safe or reliable is it to switch from tube-type to tubeless tires?Bike is 76 R75/6.

My understanding - and I could be wrong about this: You can use tubeless tires, but you must use a tube with them. (Weird, I know.) If you want to use them tubeless, you'd have to get new wheels.

[James.A]

First off, you can take anything manicmechanic says right straight to the bank.

Regarding tubeless tires on tube-type rims; you will have difficulty finding new tires that are not "tubeless". You must use a tube in spoked rims and you must insulate the spoke nipples from the tube on the inside of the rim.
The only tube-type tire I have on the ground right now is a NOS rear tire on my R27. That was arguably a mistake because even though it has only 800 miles on it, it is starting to show the alligator skin checking on the sidewall. The bike has a new, tubeless Continental on the front.(with a tube) That operation was where I discovered how difficult it can be to get tubeless tires to seat on tube-type rims. I have worn out dozens of tubeless tires on /5 and /6 rims without incident, however, you must use an inner tube.
Use the search feature on this forum to find other discussions of "tubeless tires" and "tubes". There was also a recent discussion of going tubeless in BMW "snowflake rims". A great discussion with a variety of opinions.

[manicmechanic]

Thanks for the vote of confidence, Jim, but I have been wrong/mistaken before, and will probably be so again.

Back to the subject at hand - tube-type rims have a different bead area profile than do tubeless rims. As I understand it, also, so do the different types of tires. There are some brands and models of tires that are able to be used either way. I'm not telling anybody that it's recommended to use one type on the other type rim, though you could probably get away with it. Just remember that tubeless rims and tires are designed to stay seated upon deflation, making them harder to break the bead when changing. The beads on tube-type are (usually) a bit easier to break, but there are always exceptions.

When replacing the tire, whatever type, lube the bead area well, it makes life a whole lot easier. For tubes, talcum powder works well. What I usually do is to slide one side of the tire on the rim, get the tube in and inflate it a bit to give it some shape, then slide the other side of the tire on. This usually helps avoid pinching the tube.

[crazydrummerdude]

Carbs took a lot of cleaning, cause of the 4 yr old gas....

Wow. Dig this, though.. the gas in my carbs, and 1/4 full tank was about 21 years old. It smelled like sugar, and looked like syrup, with varnish covering everything.

I used some acids, some creams, etc (see Kreem Tank Liner, I think).. and the tank's A-OK now, and the carbs were cleaned out with no real problem.

Oh, and for the longest time, I always heard of people using 00 steel woll on stuff to shine it up. I was always too scared to try it.. until today. Oh, man! It is awesome. I wasted so much time before with a liquid polish which gave me a fraction of the results.

[James.A]

0000 steel wool and Mothers Billet polish will make your aluminum shine like chrome.

[paulfinney2]

Yeah, and how about a dab of chome polish on the steel wool? :brad