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And now moving into the current period.
Have been riding my 1981 R80G/S since new in January 1981. Has taken me 6 or 7 times to Mexico, twice to Alaska/ Yukon and everywhere (dirt) in between.
It is like the Energiser thing -- goes and goes .... and I can pick it up myself!!

I would be interested in seeing others who have made modifications on their bikes and like playing in the backroads.

You could just reply to your first post, rather than start a second thread.

That said, here are my same old two pictures of my R65, sometime around 1985 or so.
I did have a second rear snowflake for a while, and I mounted a Sahara on it and would swap them out when I knew I was going exploring in southern Indiana.

I would buy topographic quads and look for the dashed lines.... I refused to give up my low bars, though!

R65 Rob wrote: I did have a second rear snowflake for a while, and I mounted a Sahara on it and would swap them out when I knew I was going exploring in southern Indiana.I would buy topographic quads and look for the dashed lines.... I refused to give up my low bars, though!

Hey Rob, how'd it go w/the dirt-y tire in the back and the street tire (I'm assuming) in the front? I ask because I wanna take my R65 a little further afield than usual ASAP but doesn't appear to be much in the way of dual sport tires for our 18" front wheels.

godot wrote: Hey Rob, how'd it go w/the dirt-y tire in the back and the street tire (I'm assuming) in the front? I ask because I wanna take my R65 a little further afield than usual ASAP but doesn't appear to be much in the way of dual sport tires for our 18" front wheels.

It has more to do with the rider's enthusiasm and skill (I relied on enthusiasm ) than tire tread. Especially for 2-track and mild single-track.

I would recommend a class, and don't forget to carry plenty of water!

I should add, that I have never ridden a real dirt bike, and have no experience blasting through corners at high rates of speed. I was a real pussy out there in my day - just taking my time, exploring where few others (well, on street bikes, anyway) went.

There was only one time I got in over my head (trying to drag my bike over an six-inch fallen tree).
I guess I didn't go out enough!

G'day Chris. Great choice of bikes, and wow, you have really been places. Africa in 1974 must have been quite an experience. I love the dirt roads around here (south east Australia). I have explored a couple of thousand kms so far and there are thousands more to do.



I was very pleasantly surprised with just how sure-footed and forgiving my old girl is, especially when fully laden. We have bravely headed down all sorts of perilous tracks looking for camping and fishing spots, and so far have never been stuck. So far everything is stock, but I think my next set of tyres might be a bit chunkier. I don't like sand much.

R65 Rob wrote:You could just reply to your first post, rather than start a second thread.

Duh!, Afraid my brain wasn't firing right that night. Agree, how simple.

The R65 is a perfect off-road machine even with street tires most of the time.

godot wrote:

R65 Rob wrote:
Hey Rob, how'd it go w/the dirt-y tire in the back and the street tire (I'm assuming) in the front? I ask because I wanna take my R65 a little further afield than usual ASAP but doesn't appear to be much in the way of dual sport tires for our 18" front wheels.

You might want to look for ties that are classified as universal, i.e. designed for front/ rear fitment. Here is one example
http://www.motorcycle-superstore.com/2/ ... -Tire.aspx
They seem to do a 3.00 and 3.50 x 18"

Airbear wrote:G'day Chris. Great choice of bikes, and wow, you have really been places. Africa in 1974 must have been quite an experience. I love the dirt roads around here (south east Australia). I have explored a couple of thousand kms so far and there are thousands more to do.


I was very pleasantly surprised with just how sure-footed and forgiving my old girl is, especially when fully laden. We have bravely headed down all sorts of perilous tracks looking for camping and fishing spots, and so far have never been stuck. So far everything is stock, but I think my next set of tyres might be a bit chunkier. I don't like sand much.

Great picture , Charlie. You have it set up well for camping and exploring. If you looked at my first picture you might have seen the Kangaroo on the horizontal Craven pannier. I grew up in Oz, (Sydney) and was still flying those colours at that time. Now, it has been the Maple Leaf for the last 35 years or so.

Don't think any BMW airhead likes sand. They live up to their moniker at that point - 'rubber cow'. That said, up on the pegs , lean back and give it some 'wellie' seems to help.

I spent my first 20 years in Sydney too, Chris. Lived at Ryde.
How do you like Canada? It's a place that appeals to me. Are Canadians worth owning?

Airbear wrote:I spent my first 20 years in Sydney too, Chris. Lived at Ryde.
How do you like Canada? It's a place that appeals to me. Are Canadians worth owning?

I like it a lot as I am still here. Canada is like OZ, both very large countries with relatively small populations. In Canada's case 90% of the population is in the first 100 miles or so above the US border and for OZ it is probably 90% around the eastern perimeter. That leaves a lot of land to explore with not many people. Especially in B.C. it means you can travel miles of forestry service road and Hydro gravel roads, never see anyone and basically have the ability to camp anywhere.
This allows my airhead to be the ideal vehicle to get to isolated spots. It can carry the camping gear, it has the fuel range and it has the ability to go most places in comfort.

In the late seventies our local BMW dealer used to arrange camping weekends off into the hinterland. GS's hadn't been invented then, so we had stock /6's, /7's with regular street tyres and we did fine. Some weekends proved a challenge if we had a lot of rain but even so we always got through, just had to get inventive at times. (mud blocked front mudguards stopping the wheel from turning)

Yeah, the only time I packed mud in the front fender was playing on my conversion rig.
I'm glad I wasn't on 2 wheels when I learned the physics of a non-rotating front wheel!
I couldn't steer for shit, and I would imagine on two wheels you would fall over in a hurry if you weren't expecting it!