Finally got to ride my BMW

[jagarra]

I have had this bike since December of 2011, joined this forum about then. I started getting it ready to ride again after it sat in a warehouse for 9 years, plus many more outside previous to that. Rebuilt forks, replaced steering head bearings, rebuilt carbs replaced quite a few items that had deteriorated or just wasn't in great condition. Even put a solo seat on it from Harley and a rack on rear fender.

When I bought it, fellow couldn't find title, so he looked and I searched methods of acquiring a title by another means. Tried the court system, there was a process for getting an Order Vesting Title if you did a number of things, got all paperwork together and when I presented it to the court they stopped that process a couple of months previously.

Tracked down the original owner (the guy who had it before the person I bought it from) as the title was never transferred from him just exchanged. Filled out all the Calif paperwork with the proper notarized signatures. Send to Calif DMV with the $19.00 fee. Got a response back from them saying they wanted the original and by the way I had to pay back registration from 2002 to present to the tune of $750.00!!!!

Same day I received the original title, He found it finally!!!! What a pain in the asse, but lucky as I was losing hope.

Started riding the bike and this leads me to my concerns. The gear box seems really clunky, which I understand, I hear a clunk when I shift and another behind me when I release the clutch. And the front brakes, they are NON Existent!!! If I didn't have a rear brake I couldn't stop at all.
I had bought dual disk lowers, they have been cleaned up and polished, just waiting to be installed along with the dual master cylinder. Parts are in box waiting for install at a later time. Stock set up now.

Making short trips, just to shake things out. It does put a grin on my face though.

gg

[boocephus]

i have a 74, too. the front brake does suck. it gets better if you adjust it. i am sure you can google the procedure. i remember something about drawing lines on the disc with a marker so you can tell where the pads are touching. you adjust that eccentric bolt and the caliper moves... well... eccentrically. i got new pads and a braided cable and fooled around withe the master cyclinder but it never was awesome. it did work, though.

[Ken in Oklahoma]

i have a 74, too. the front brake does suck. it gets better if you adjust it. i am sure you can google the procedure. i remember something about drawing lines on the disc with a marker so you can tell where the pads are touching. you adjust that eccentric bolt and the caliper moves... well... eccentrically. i got new pads and a braided cable and fooled around withe the master cyclinder but it never was awesome. it did work, though.

FYI there is a much better way to align the disk pads to the disk than doing the marker thing. I posted about it recently. Basically you get the brakes ready to go, then squeeze down on the brake lever, then you keep it applied by wrapping a heavy rubber band made from an old inner tube around the lever and grip.

Then you to to the bottom of the calipers and you start moving the adjuster. It will be obvious where the brake pads "want to be" relative to the disk. And that is flat against the disk.


Ken

[Airbear]

Congrats, gg, on getting it on the road. They are grin-making for sure, and the grin will widen once you have brakes.
As to the clunks - yep, clunky gear changes are normal, particularly in the lower gears. The clunk "behind" may well be slack in the final drive to rear wheel toothed cup. It is worth fixing if that is the case, but you should be ok for a while. Another possibility might be the universal joint.
And if you are going to run for any time using the under tank master cylinder POS, it is worth detaching it from the frame and propping up the aft end overnight. There will almost certainly be a pesky bubble of air lurking in the back end of the cylinder. It makes a difference. Do get yourself a handlebar mounted MC. Makes a huge difference that will definitely make you grin. Have fun.

[chasbmw]

The problem with the brakes is down to the incorrect ratios between slave and master cylinders.

It would be better to use your existing single disc MC or even better to fit a 13mm handlebar cylinder from a late 80s airhead.

[Jean]

Check the connection between the driveshaft and the rear flange on the tranny. Might be something loose there too!
There's another post about this...recently!

[jagarra]

I readjusted the pads, just a little better. New question, my gaiters on front forks seem to collapse when I am on bike, not in a nice accordion fashion but more like a crumpled heap. Also when it is unloaded suction seems to pull in on one of them distorting it a bit. Is there supposed to be an air hole in them to equalize pressure?? When I rebuilt forks I put 9.6 oz of oil in there.

thanks,

gerard

[Jean]

I appears your gaiters are shot.
No nice way to say it.
Maybe someone put some sort of dressing on them that caused the rubber to degrade or the bike was in an atmosphere where some gas attacked them. In any event, check other rubber parts for degradation, especially the little nipple that keeps water out of the tranny, where the speedo cable enters.
To be very clear, it's possible there was some ozone generation taking place in the area where the bike was stored; old electric motors, welders, etc running in the vicinity perhaps. Sparks make ozone.

[Duane Ausherman]

Don't follow the BMW thing about adjusting those worthless brakes. Do it Ken's way.

Did you test if for fork stiction? Do that first. Get a number from which to work.

[jagarra]

I used Ken's method on adjusting the pads, strapped the lever down tight and adjusted the eccentric, there was very little movement allowed. Ordered new pads, just to see if that would make a difference as I sort of pieced a set together from some used ones I got in calipers. Still not understanding what is up with gaiters as they are NEW ones, not sure of country as they are not marked. Hate to take front end apart again. I did make copy of aligning front end article and adjustments involved. So I will double check what I did previously. I did make a note of the fluid requirements, now the question is did I fill the tubes?