Airhead Rides Again

Over the weekend I got my old BMW Airhead running again. It's a 1988 R100GS, the original 'adventure bike', and the first bike to use BMW's Paralever rear suspension. It was out of commission for over a year with major final drive problems and some electrical issues.

These bikes offer such a different riding experience. The high seat height takes some adjustment. The suspension has a lot of travel and is well damped. The flat twin shakes at low RPM but gets nice and smooth at speed. It has a broad power band with loads of torque from just above idle. The best feature is the light weight. At about 450 pounds it handles surprisingly well. It sure feels different than the F6B!

http://dchealy.com/valk/r100gs.jpg

Looks like it would go places that the B can't go.
I like the color too.

Nice condition.

Sweet! Love the color combo! I had a 1985 K1000, inline 4 cylinder, cylinders run F to R. Hmmm a old BMW with electrical issues, imagine that.

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Originally Posted by olegoat345

Sweet! Love the color combo! I had a 1985 K1000, inline 4 cylinder, cylinders run F to R. Hmmm a old BMW with electrical issues, imagine that.

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Yes, the old 'flying brick' engine layout. I almost bought one of those, but ended up getting a Kawasaki Concours.

It was the original 'Bumblebee' color scheme.

It looks nice now, but the inside of the final drive was not pretty. Luckily I found a replacement on eBay.

http://dchealy.com/valk/fd-case.jpg

http://dchealy.com/valk/fd_crown.jpg

I have owned 4 BMWs over the years, three airheads and a 1990 K75S, all stone reliable. If there is to be another new bike after my current B, it will in all likelihood be a new R1200RT. The new GL1800, although a beautiful bike, just isn't what I need in a long distance tourer. When I consider the ease of maintenance, larger capacity quick detachable luggage, a hugely better nav system and the duo-lever front suspension it's a no-brainer. Hope Honda is listening.

I love my old BMW. It's a real pleasure to ride and gets more attention that any bike I've owned. But as much fun as it's been, it hasn't been very reliable. Here's a list of problems:

• A carb began leaking the day I bought it new. The other soon followed. A Ducati salesman joked that he could tell Airhead riders by the fuel stains on their boots.
• There were oil leaks, too. The first I noticed were the pushrod tube seals. Many owners call this 'weeping'.
• The alternator failed.
• A head gasket blew out.
• The shift lever broke.
• One of the saddlebag mounts developed a crack.
• The transmission bearings wore out and had to be replaced.
• The engine began to die whenever it rained. I heard this from other owners, and finally learned that early R100 coils tended to develop cracks in the case. Once I knew that it was an easy fix, but at around $200 those coils aren't cheap!
• The turn signal switch stopped working. When I opened it for cleaning I was surprised that it was made in Japan!
• The final drive became noisy then suddenly locked up. My guess is that a bearing race broke and caused the catastrophic damage shown in my earlier post.

Admittedly this is a 30 year old bike with over 59,000 miles, but others (non-BMW) I've owned from the same era have had far fewer problems. In my experience Honda's Goldwing platform has been more reliable than anything else I've owned. My '99 Valkyrie Interstate has only had 2 problems in nearly 100,000 miles. A choke cable broke, and the bolt that anchors the side stand spring snapped off. The Wing's reliability was a big factor in my purchase of an F6B over a K1600.

I agree with your comments about the BMW's...Fairly reliable but nothing like the Honda in my opinion...Had a 99 Valkyrie Tourer that never had any issues in the 6 years I owned it....Other than the brake recall, absolutely none so far with my 2013 F6B and it runs like a charm!....Regards and ride safe