I have my heart set on an old airhead BMW as my first street bike. Can anyone give me some input on these bikes? I know they’re old and require a lot of maintenance, but I’ve mentally prepared myself for that, and my dad who has worked on them before, said he would help me work on it. I really love the style of these old BMW’s, but what can I expect on my first ride on one? What’s the handling like; are they top heavy? etc. etc. Thanks. =]
Relative to their size no BMW can be considered top heavy, just big! Those Bavarian engineer’s go out of their way to keep it low and even their traverse mounted 4’s have the cylinder heads tipped forward for that exact reason. I really love the look of the 70’s chrome tank side bikes myself. Biggest problem purchasing used BMW is; they maintain their value so well you will find yourself paying the original list price or better to acquire one. I had to pass up 2 in estate auctions that went for far more than I considered their worth.
Any bike requires tons of maintenance to keep them right, even just to keep the mice out of the air box. Crash bars are an obvious must if you plan to learn on a Boxer twin, you don’t want to grind those heads off learning.
I’m keeping my eye out on craigslist for a good deal! There was an R65 here in Oregon that sold for $1000 because it had “carburetor problems”, mind you it disappeared off the listings before the day was up!! haha
Imagine that! Anyways, I’ll definitely invest in crash bars if I can get my hand on one of these. =]
Please Expand on how any BMW's are not top heavy, especially with Hardtop BMW C1 and other powerful bikes such as the BMW R1200GS. The heavy part of this bike is above the wheels and higher than the half way point making it top heavy where do you get your facts from if you love bikes ? Shouldn't you know better ?
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