My BMW R1150 conversions

[cooperplace]

do dukes and guzzis both fire the same in relation to the full 720 degrees that the crank goes thru in any one 4-stroke revolution? I heard a guzzi with Contis and it yes it sounded nothing like a duke; actually, it sounded..... like a guzzi.

 

Had a girlfriend with a guzzi and we used to go touring together, we even swapped bikes (!); I liked the guzzi but found the sideways thing when revved disconcerting. I remember my bladder had a ca. 200km range but hers was about 80-90. Enough reminiscing.

 

 

[Yenn]

Yes I remember the Yamaha Virago, but there was a BMW earlier, although I could be muddling the Virago up and it was not a BMW in 2nd gear. I will have to see if I can find the articles.

 

 

[facthunter]

The Yamaha powered plane crashed at Yarrawonga early in it's career from memory. That's always a pity. Nev

 

 

[Yenn]

All this talk of bikes and drooling over them. 60 years ago I used to ride BSA M20s, now that was a bike to remember or maybe forget. Mine were all olive drab in colour and usually needing maintenance, owned by the Queen. How I hated the bloody things and have hardly ridden since.

 

 

[Oscar]

do dukes and guzzis both fire the same in relation to the full 720 degrees that the crank goes thru in any one 4-stroke revolution? I heard a guzzi with Contis and it yes it sounded nothing like a duke; actually, it sounded..... like a guzzi.Had a girlfriend with a guzzi and we used to go touring together, we even swapped bikes (!); I liked the guzzi but found the sideways thing when revved disconcerting. I remember my bladder had a ca. 200km range but hers was about 80-90. Enough reminiscing.

Um, the phrase: 'too much information' comes to mind. Somehow, it reminds me of my ex-wife, with the ' No, I don't want a milkshake, I'll just have a sip ( meaning 3/4's ) of yours..

 

But I remember vividly riding across Commonwealth Avenue Bridge (Canberra) at the head of around 5,000 motorcyclists on the 'anti-headlight-on Rally' we organised in 1980, with my then wife sitting backwards on the pillion seat taking photos. ( Canberra 1980 "No Lights On" Protest Run memories) We had split the run across the two bridges, I led one stream, a mate led the other.

 

Of all the 'BUGGER' memories I have of that: the head of the ACT motorcycle police - with whom we made great friends in organising the Rally - had invited us to dinner on the night before the run, with a 'mate over from NZ'. We declined in order to stay on the campsite that evening. Turned out: his mate was Graeme Crosby - yes, 'CROZ', one of my all-time motorcycling heroes. They used to street race together in Pukekhoie as lads. FARK Bugger SH1T.

 

But as a result of that event, motorcyclists got a dedicated place on the Motor Vehicle Performance and Safety Standards Advisory Committee.

 

 

[Oscar]

A Ducati with Contis decelerating into a corner is the most stirring sound in motorcycling. At Bathurst one year there was a 900 SS and a LeMans in the same race. Both 90 degree twins, similar capacity.(Edited) they were both fitted with Contis. Very different sounds, however. Must be down to cam profile.

OK, I was at Amaroo Park for the Castrol 6-hour in 1977. Mike Hailwood's return to racing, on a 750SS Duc. Sitting at the top of the Loop, between a bunch of Rebels and Hell's Angels, smoking non-commnercial tobacco substitute and drinking Blue Heavens.

 

You could hear the 750 coming up the hill, and after a few laps, EVERYBODY on the Hill stood at the fence watching Hailwood slice through the pack through the Loop. In bloody silence, just listening to the Duc exhaust. Mike slipped his shoulders through the pack, with his knees clamped to the tank and using the toes of his boots as lean indicators - none of this 'off the tank and use the knees' nonsense. Absolute magic.

 

 

[facthunter]

Bikes likes are worse than politics or religion. Lots of bias/prejudice. When you work on them all you find most are junk made to last only a few years . This is my first comment on this post.

 

I like riding most Ducati's, but you can own them. I'm not interested in pulling new stuff to pieces. I like a bike you can come to a dirt road and not have to go back and find another way also. The way a Moto Guzzi or most Beemers rotate does have to be taken into account when you are riding them. You either like it or don't. Moto Guzzi are a lovely company who live bikes, and I understand most parts are still available. The british stuff has pretty much gone although there are lots of unit Triumphs around. I don't mind the British "scramble" models. Look good even if they aren't much really. I like their speedway bikes, TD Yamaha's. Harleys XR 750 flat tracker. Hagon Eso Jawa DT 500 trackers. and more... Nev

 

 

[cooperplace]

Um, the phrase: 'too much information' comes to mind. Somehow, it reminds me of my ex-wife, with the ' No, I don't want a milkshake, I'll just have a sip ( meaning 3/4's ) of yours..But I remember vividly riding across Commonwealth Avenue Bridge (Canberra) at the head of around 5,000 motorcyclists on the 'anti-headlight-on Rally' we organised in 1980, with my then wife sitting backwards on the pillion seat taking photos. ( Canberra 1980 "No Lights On" Protest Run memories) We had split the run across the two bridges, I led one stream, a mate led the other.

 

Of all the 'BUGGER' memories I have of that: the head of the ACT motorcycle police - with whom we made great friends in organising the Rally - had invited us to dinner on the night before the run, with a 'mate over from NZ'. We declined in order to stay on the campsite that evening. Turned out: his mate was Graeme Crosby - yes, 'CROZ', one of my all-time motorcycling heroes. They used to street race together in Pukekhoie as lads. FARK Bugger SH1T.

 

But as a result of that event, motorcyclists got a dedicated place on the Motor Vehicle Performance and Safety Standards Advisory Committee.

I saw Cros doing wheelies around Adelaide International.... smiling all over his face; great to watch.

 

 

[cooperplace]

OK, I was at Amaroo Park for the Castrol 6-hour in 1977. Mike Hailwood's return to racing, on a 750SS Duc. Sitting at the top of the Loop, between a bunch of Rebels and Hell's Angels, smoking non-commnercial tobacco substitute and drinking Blue Heavens.You could hear the 750 coming up the hill, and after a few laps, EVERYBODY on the Hill stood at the fence watching Hailwood slice through the pack through the Loop. In bloody silence, just listening to the Duc exhaust. Mike slipped his shoulders through the pack, with his knees clamped to the tank and using the toes of his boots as lean indicators - none of this 'off the tank and use the knees' nonsense. Absolute magic.

I saw Magic Mike at Adelaide International. Actually he came to a Ducati Owners Club dinner, he and I joked about the relative performance of my VW beetle and his Ducati at Bathurst. At AIR he rode the 750 amazingly. He did wonderful, beautifully controlled high speed slides all the way around the speed bowl. I've never seen anyone, before or since, ride as well as Mike. He was sooo smooth. And that 750 was amazing. He was doing faster lap times than anyone else, regardless of what bike they were on. He was lapping faster than than any of the 900 dukes. And he was a great guy in person. Much missed.

We're well off topic here. My fault.

 

 

[microman]

Getting back to the thread - I would be interested to know if anyone has any experience with the BMW 1150/1200 - good or bad - anyone?

 

 

[Litespeed]

I can only comment about in bike use. They are bloody tough motors but the early ones had box and drive unit problems.

 

But that is irrelevant for a aircraft.

 

I would happily have one in a aircraft and given a choice between a rotax and a BMW even at the same price- (they are far ,far cheaper). Would go the BMW.

 

 

[Marty_d]

Getting back to the thread - I would be interested to know if anyone has any experience with the BMW 1150/1200 - good or bad - anyone?

Not personally, but at one stage I was quite interested in getting one with the German TakeOff unit. I spoke to a bloke from South Africa who'd had a lot of experience with them. His advice was - only if you're the sort of person who likes fiddling with engines a lot. I'm not that sort of person so that was kind of it for me.

 

 

[Old Koreelah]

OK, I was at Amaroo Park for the Castrol 6-hour in 1977. Mike Hailwood's return to racing, on a 750SS Duc. Sitting at the top of the Loop, between a bunch of Rebels and Hell's Angels, smoking non-commnercial tobacco substitute and drinking Blue Heavens.You could hear the 750 coming up the hill, and after a few laps, EVERYBODY on the Hill stood at the fence watching Hailwood slice through the pack through the Loop. In bloody silence, just listening to the Duc exhaust. Mike slipped his shoulders through the pack, with his knees clamped to the tank and using the toes of his boots as lean indicators - none of this 'off the tank and use the knees' nonsense. Absolute magic.

I missed that year; I was getting my Ducati ready to go to that race and discovered every tooth broken off the top cam drive. Spent weeks replacing bevel gears and getting clearances right by trial and error (no guages, just clean oil off bevel gears with kerosine and listen for clearance noises...)

The next year I recorded Hailwood thru the Stop Corner on my Super 8. He was a machine- every lap on precisely the same track.

 

 

[DairingDave]

Hello to all I am restoring a 2002 xair and I would like to use the BMW engine as well so I'll keep up with you on your site looks like it's a very nice engine setup please keep me posted on your work good job daring Dave

 

 

[DairingDave]

...and here it is:[ATTACH=full]40135[/ATTACH]

The hardware looks great on your plane I really like it what does one cost ready to fly and what's the weight?

 

 

[Marty_d]

The hardware looks great on your plane I really like it what does one cost ready to fly and what's the weight?

It's not my plane Dave - if you see the previous post I said "I've seen a 701 with a converted Harley motor - I thought they were asking for trouble, Harleys convert 90% of their power into vibration..."

 

I'm not mechanically minded so will most likely get a used 912 for my plane. If you're interested in motorbike conversions the best I've heard of is the BMW with TakeOff reduction unit, but again you may like to talk to the South African guys about it, they've had varying levels of success.

 

 

[Guest SrPilot]

Getting back to the thread - I would be interested to know if anyone has any experience with the BMW 1150/1200 - good or bad - anyone?

I bought an R1150GS new in 2003. Rode it across the Southeastern U.S. to practice. Picked up another one just like it in Istanbul that year and rode it around most of Turkey. Came home, rode my bike in the 2003 Iron Butt Rally. Then I rode it across the U.S. and back coast-to-coast-to-coast in 92 hours and a few minutes It never gave me any problems so I picked up another one in Istanbul and rode it around the Black Sea with some guys who - like me - had nothing better to do. So 3 R1150GSs ridden long and hard. Never a moment's trouble with anything other than an electrical disconnect caused by a screw-in post bolt on the battery backed out. We had to lift the fuel tank, replace the bolt with a shorter bolt, and hit the road. I have a Honda Gold Wing too. Both bikes are set up for long-distance riding and both perform admirably although they are two greatly different steeds.

 

Another rider's R1150GS on the Black Sea circumnavigation ride blew its rear wheel gasket and sprayed all the full synthetic oil all over the place. We loaded it on a truck in Bulgaria which took it back to Istanbul and brought back a Moto Guzzi. At that time, there were a number of reports on blown seals in the rear hub, but I only saw that one.

 

The only problem I ever had with the engine on any of the 3 I had experience with was when I dropped that horizonally opposed bike on uneven ground after a 20 hour ride. The right cylinder landed on my right foot and fractured the bone just behind my large toe. That was in Pennsylvania. I rode to Maine, then across to western Montana and back to Alabama with the injury. My orthopedic was not pleased. Never been chewed on by a doc like that before or since.

 

Great bikes though. I still have the 2003 model in my hangar.

 

 

[facthunter]

Most of the later large Harleys have balancer shafts and a low level of vibration. Having a small number of cylinders of large size will provide a fairly "LUMPY" idle . FLAT twins and fours have a particular problem with the fact all the pistons STOP and start twice per revolution so you get a "Pulsy" flywheel effect that is hard on props You rely on the prop for flywheel effect as well so a redrive has a lot to put up with. A Vee twin direct drive has some advantages. I understand about 67 degrees is optimum, but don't take my word for it. Nev

 

 

[Old Koreelah]

I saw Cros doing wheelies around Adelaide International.... smiling all over his face; great to watch.

A mate and I sneaked up and peered thru the gap between Armco panels on the exit to the The Dipper at Bathurst. We could see the bikes come down from Skyline. Croz lifted the front wheel whenever the bike was anywhere within about 30 degrees of vertical. Apparently he only needed the front wheel to be on the ground when changing direction.

 

 

[Old Koreelah]

I bought an R1150GS new in 2003. Rode it across the Southeastern U.S. to practice...

A mate and his wife rode their NSW-registered /6 BMW around Europe and the USA. Their main problem was getting their kangaroo-skin fairing thru customs. They got a trophy at the National BMW rally for the longest trip, then had a minor prang. The dumb insurance assessor wrote off their bike after he looked down from above and noticed what he thought was major crash damage. One cylinder stuck out a bit behind the other.

 

 

[facthunter]

Didn't know a lot about horizontal twins did he?. The cylinders are a bit vulnerable in that configuration but it's hard to bend them backwards.

 

 

[Old Koreelah]

Didn't know a lot about horizontal twins did he?. The cylinders are a bit vulnerable in that configuration but it's hard to bend them backwards.

...but they can be bent upwards. Was it Reg Pridmore who campaigned Beemers in prod. racing in the US?

I believe that to get better cornering clearance, one version was a shallow V-Twin.

 

 

[facthunter]

They just sit them very high in the frame and keep the pistons etc short. I must confess I don't like motors turning that way . You can always feel the effect of the engine torque, when changing gear. Nev

 

 

[skeptic36]

They just sit them very high in the frame and keep the pistons etc short. I must confess I don't like motors turning that way . You can always feel the effect of the engine torque, when changing gear. Nev

At your age, you shouldn't be riding that hard

 

 

[boleropilot]

my favourite bike was my big white/blue Honda CBX - six cylinders across the frame, fed by 6 tiny carbs. nobody could tune it until I met a motorcycle mechanic who had 4 of them and was a genius - first ride after he tuned the big beasty and I found out what those six cylinders could really do....and the sound...omg, six into two exhaust system and it howled like a banshee all the way to top revs...God I miss that bike - sniff, sob...at 100km/h you could drop it back to third, crack the throttle - and hang on tight or else!

 

not sure, but I think I might have a few problems fitting a CBX motor to my Drifter...wouldn't go any faster but crikey it would sound good!

 

BP