By Nigel Thompson
I bought this bike over the Internet from BMW Motorrad in St. Louis, MO. in May 2001. I rode it for quite a while before I decided to do anything to it other than change the oil and balance the carbs.
In November 2002, the minor oil leaks, spongy back brake and generally sad appearance were finally more than I could stand and I decided that a little attention was required before next year's riding. Six months later I had done a complete rebuild, taking about 600 pictures of the process along the way and spending about $1,200 on parts. I also ended up buying a new air compressor, building a bead-blasting cabinet and turning part of my shop into a spray booth. I really only intended to fix a few oil leaks.
The bike was stripped down to a bare frame. Every nut and bolt was removed. The engine and gearbox were all stripped down to their smallest parts. Everything was re-painted. Almost every bearing was replaced. A lot of rubber parts were replaced. Many, many parts were bead blasted either before painting or in the case of the aluminum parts, to get them back to factory condition.
I kept track of all the parts in an Excel spread sheet. The total cost came to around $1,200. I reckon that I spent about 250 hours working evenings and weekends. A lot of that time was spent bead-blasting and cleaning parts. Everything that was bead blasted for painting was cleaned meticulously afterwards and treated before painting. The engine and gearbox casings were scrubbed afterwards inside and out and all threaded holes were blown out and tested with bolts to ensure no blasting materials were left inside.
I decided to paint it black. I don't really like the black-green smoke scheme it came with and in any case probably couldn't have gotten it to look as good as I would have liked. I think the result of the black scheme with just a little chrome is very effective.
The bike is for sale. If you're interested, email me: nigel-t@msn.com
I do almost everything myself. This is mostly because of cost but also because this is a hobby and not a job and I like to learn how to do new things along the way. I've rebuilt several Japanese bikes and a few Triumphs but never a BMW before and as with any new project there are always a few things that make you scratch your head. I got a lot of very useful advice from my local BMW store: BMW of Colorado Springs and help of various kinds from a few other folks.
Thanks to:
Erik Peat, Parts Manager at BMW of Colorado Springs who helped me find all the parts and listened to my silly motorcycle stories. Erik also turned out to know a lot about painting and provided not only helpful advice but also some rubbing compound too.
Mechanics Larry, Al and Matt at BMW of Colorado Springs for a lot of helpful advice. These guys probably thought I was nuts when they first met me. After a while they took pity and actually let me in their shop where they were doing a restoration job of their own for a customer. Thanks guys!
Tom Hagan who got me my parts fiche and suggested we put all this stuff on the Airheads web site.
Tom the bolt guy who supplied the initial stainless bolt kit and then worked with me via email to make up a few different kits for this particular bike.
Ed Korn of Cycleworks, Inc. (www.cycleworks.net) the tools guy who sent me a tool to undo the con-rod bolts in the post with no money up front – a rare thing indeed today. (Turned out I cold have bought the thing at Pep Boys but who knew?)
The folks at Auto paint & Equipment Inc in Colorado Springs who supplied the paint and were patient with me when I went back for advice several times.
My wife Tammy for dealing with me being in the shop nights and weekends.