It Runs!

The R75/5, now fully functional

So, the bike is up and running. I took it to Steve Prokop's shop in Dundee, and he got it working. It isn't fully restored, but it is fully working. As I'm not restoring the bike, I wouldn't look for many, if any, more posts here. I'll be out enjoying my ride. If anything interesting happens, I'll post about it in the main blog.

I need help

OK, I'll admit it. The restoration process isn't happening. Other priorities in life keep trumping it, and, I am sure, will continue to do so for the foreseeable future. So, I turn to you, dear reader.

Anyone know of a good Airhead mechanic in the Portland area?

Speedo

Just got the quote back for the speedo. $329. Ouch! Well, it will look good. At that price, I think North Hollywood and Palo Alto are in the same ballpark.

Small Update...

Just shipped the speedometer to North Hollywood Speedometer. They estimate it (without seeing it) will be between $120 and $150 to rebuild. Their competitor, Palo Alto Speedometer, said it would be around $300. Both came recommended on the list.

I'm getting some good tips on the list about the frozen seat bolts. I've just ordered some Kroil from Kano Labs. It sounds like this stuff is supposed to be the cat's meow of penetrating oils. I hope so, but I guess the seat isn't coming off very soon...

Disasembly Started

A little slower that I would want, however. The first thing I went to do was remove the seat. This is done by removing the hinges that are bolted into the seat. Well, those bolts didn't want to budge. I was getting close to stripping the heads, so I stopped an will ask for some tips.



Next on the agenda was removing the instrument cluster so I can send it off to be rebuilt. That went much better, but I hated prying off the chrome ring around the headlight. There didn't seem to be any way from taking a small nick out of the paint. However, it is out and ready to be sent off.

I got a great note from Bondo about my rims. Seems that the /5 rims were all aluminum, just some people have polished theirs up. That's good news!

Another "Discovery"...

My rims are not the standard /5 chrome rims. They look aluminum. From doing a little research it looks very hard to get chrome rims anymore. Time to start looking.

In other news, I did get my battery in today. Don't know why I ordered that so early. Thanks to a sale at Sears, I now have a full tool set and am ready to take this girl apart!

More Inspections

Tear in the drive shaft boot

The first thing I noticed tonight was the tear in the drive shaft boot. While this can be replaced without removing the tranny, it is giving me more motivation to go with option 3 and redo everything from the ground up.


Flat spot on the front wheel

The flat spot, seen above, might be a bigger issue. I'll have to put a query out to the list and ask what they think. I don't want to replace it, but will if it's a safety issue.

A few more things in the photos. As always, please leave a comment here or in the photo galleries if you have any info. Thanks!

First Part Ordered

And it is... A battery! A nice little sealed Panasonic from Digi-Key (part #: LC-X1220P). Tomorrow I think I will be ordering the carb rebuild kit, fork rebuild kit, and stainless steel bolt kit. Need to figure out the part number for the new petcocks...

Renaming Ceremony

Peter just informed me off the bikes former (current?) name:

I think Eliza is a good name, but you had better perform a renaming ceremony. Her former name was(is?) Bernice. It sounded Germanic and for me represents inner beauty, strength, a pretty face, peasant calves, and a big caboose......

He then offers a link to a renaming ceremony. I guess I'll have to have a little party before her maiden voyage...

On the map!

In yet another cool use of Google Maps, the Boxerclub has set up a way to map out all of the BMW Airhead owners around the world. You'll find me just South of Portland, Oregon.

Eliza

Audry Hepburn as Eliza Doolittle in My Fair Lady

Eliza. Yes, as in Doolittle. She speaks with a bit of a rough cockney accent now, but before long, she'll be a Duchess. Care to wager on that, Colonel Pickering? Plus, in her classic chrome and black, I don't think Audry Hepburn would bat an eyelash to swing a leg over.

I'm glad she has a name. My Subaru still doesn't...

Initial Inspection

The right-hand side engine badge

This morning, I went out and found the vehicle number. This was in the days before standardized VIN's, so the number is basically a BMW serial number. In this case, it is:

Engine number 2988116

2988116. This number is also matched on the frame badge on the steering head. The date of manufacture is also there and shown as 1/72. That is confirmed here. So, I don't have a 1973 like I thought (and what the title says), but a 1972. That's fine with me, as that was the real year of the chrome /5's. They took the chrome away in '73. Also, it is certainly a Short Wheel Base (SWB) version, which, while squirrelly at times, is supposed to be quicker handling than the later Long Wheel Base (LWB) models. Fun to think that when this bike was built, my sister was about a month old, and I was still two years away!

I just went out with my camera tonight. I wanted to see and document the current state of the exterior and to start to come up with a game plan. All of the pictures are up in a PBase gallery.

Main things I need to do:

• Rebuild the speedometer/tachometer
  
• New exhaust
  
• New seat
  
• Recondition the gas tank
  
• Rebuild or replace the petcocks

If you have any hints, tips, ideas, etc., please leave a comment!

Up To Date...

The two posts on the main blog that deal with the bike before I set up this blog:

• Back on Two Wheels
• Motivation

She's home!

The trip up to Seattle went pretty much as planned. I got a call from Peter early saying they would be at the bike (in the Wallingford area of Seattle) early, which worked out. I drove straight up there and met Peter and his friend. We were quickly into the garage to see the bike.

It's in pretty good shape. It's been down on the left side and there is a decade of garage dust (thank God it was under a cover) that needs to be cleaned off. After looking her over for a bit, we put it on the trailer. The little U-Haul motorcycle trailer worked pretty well. Easy to get on, and I got the bike off by myself.

After securing the bike, it was down to Des Moines for a nice dinner with my grandma and aunt, a little visiting, then back down the road.

Tunes for the trip:

• Stars of Track and Field
  
• Death Cab for Cutie
  
• Nickel Creek
  

Now, the big question. There are three ways I can see going about this:

• A basic "change the fluids" and get on the road
  
• Take some time and rebuild the important parts (shocks, carbs, etc.)
  
• Go for the Full Meal Deal (as they would say at the Dairy Queen of my youth). Take it down to the frame and clean/redo everything
  

I would kind of like to do the third option. Do I have the patience for that? OK, mom, I could hear that snicker from here...

Tonight, the camera and I will go over the bike documenting it's current condition.

Welcome to the Motor Inn!

First off, why the second blog? Well, I intend to do updates of the restoration of the BMW R75/5 motorcycle down to the minutia, and didn't want to "pollute" the main blog with this stuff. I looked into switching over to WordPress like Zia, as it has "categories", but I really didn't feel like dealing with a MySQL database. So, this blog is my "category" for BMW motorcycle restoration.

It's all in a name... So, why the name "Swiftcurrent Motor Inn"? Well, first I have to answer why Swiftcurrent. That name is a pure and simple rip-off from one of my favorite places on earth; Glacier National Park. There you will find many things Swiftcurrent: a lake, falls, glacier, mountain and the like. The beautiful Many Glacier Hotel sits right on Swiftcurrent Lake. I always liked the name and the feeling is conveys in me. Now it is part of my Swiftcurrent Photography business, and the main blog, Swiftcurrent Reflections. So when adding a new blog about an old Motorcycle, Swiftcurrent was fitting to be in there, but luckily there was a perfect piece of nostalgia waiting: The Swift Current Motor Inn. While I don't agree with their spelling (Swiftcurrent is one word on every map I've seen), the name "Motor Inn" speaks of a time when the motor vehicle was viewed as the ultimate key to freedom. The romance of that era may be gone to some, but I would like to think it is still out there. Maybe this three decade old machine will be my tool to find it once I bring her back to her glory.

Stay tuned here for updates :)