Oilhead vs. Airhead - what are the differences?

I've owned at least 15 airhead BMW's - and am now riding a GS1150. I've searched for why these new bikes are called "oilheads" and for a list of what differentiates the oilheads from the airheads - but I can't find anything. Can someone summarize what the differences are?

thanks

It would be easier to post the common piece between the two designs: the rubber timing plug in the engine block.

Can you be more specific about what you want to know? The bikes are totally different.

They both have two cylinders, a shaft and two wheels. Aside from that, they're entirely different.

They call them Oilheads because the new twins (soon to be replaced by the newer twins!) are oil cooled.

But, yeah. What exactly do you want to know about oilheads?

To me they are worlds apart but the most obvious are:

1. The brakes

2. The horsepower

3. The incredible telelever front end

MarkF

Gotta love that FUEL INJECTION

I've searched for why these new bikes are called "oilheads" and for a list of what differentiates the oilheads from the airheads - but I can't find anything. Can someone summarize what the differences are?

Click to expand...

Oilheads have oil coolers. Oilheads REQUIRE oil coolers, unlike the airheads which sometimes have them for additional cooling (R100GSPD). Airheads are more reliable and user-friendly to service. Oilheads get better gas mileage when they're not surging or stalling because of improperly engineered or adjusted Botched Moronic Fool Infection. Airheads don't break transmission castings unless you kick start them just wrong. Oilheads break transmission castings because of where the pivots are. Airheads have four valves to adjust and you only have to adjust them once to get them adjusted. Oilheads have eight valves and you have to adjust each of them at least twice (maybe more) to get them right. Airheads were designed and built during a time when BMW felt that reliability and longevity were reasonable and honorable goals. Back then, BMW felt that the bikes SHOULD be owner maintained and provided both the tools and instructions in the owners manual to do so. Oilheads are from the era when marketing and accouting run the company. What few tools are provided are cheap and insufficient. But there is no information available from BMW to try to maintain it yourself anyway. The owners manual simply says, "Don't sue us" and "You are supposed to take the bike to the dealer for service." Oh, and Bring More Wallet when you do.

They're both so damn much fun.

Re: Re: Oilhead vs. Airhead - what are the differences?

flash412 said:

Oilheads have oil coolers. Oilheads REQUIRE oil coolers, unlike the airheads which sometimes have them for additional cooling (R100GSPD). Airheads are more reliable and user-friendly to service. Oilheads get better gas mileage when they're not surging or stalling because of improperly engineered or adjusted Botched Moronic Fool Infection. Airheads don't break transmission castings unless you kick start them just wrong. Oilheads break transmission castings because of where the pivots are. Airheads have four valves to adjust and you only have to adjust them once to get them adjusted. Oilheads have eight valves and you have to adjust each of them at least twice (maybe more) to get them right. Airheads were designed and built during a time when BMW felt that reliability and longevity were reasonable and honorable goals. Back then, BMW felt that the bikes SHOULD be owner maintained and provided both the tools and instructions in the owners manual to do so. Oilheads are from the era when marketing and accouting run the company. What few tools are provided are cheap and insufficient. But there is no information available from BMW to try to maintain it yourself anyway. The owners manual simply says, "Don't sue us" and "You are supposed to take the bike to the dealer for service." Oh, and Bring More Wallet when you do.

Click to expand...

I dunno, mang. I've got three oilheads out in the garage with an aggregate of 100K+ miles on them and I haven't had any of those problems. I use two sets of feeler gauges and only have to adjust the valves once. I've never heard of a pivot breaking and I hang on the AdvRider list where they regularly thrash them to within an inch of their life. The service manuals are easily available and I can do almost all the maintenance, short of pulling the trans, with the tools under the seat. Virtually everything I learned on my airheads transferred directly to our oilheads.

After owning airheads for years, I'd say that oilheads are at least, if not more, reliable. They're about a wash to work on. Compared to airheads, you can forget about issues with carbs, charging systems and forks.

Surging seems to vary with the bike, some do, some don't. One of ours does occasionally, but the other two are fine. If I put some time into it, I could probably eliminate the surge.

YMMV, of course.

Airheads suck. I had no confidence on going to a rally on my 86 R80. Every time I went on a long trip something or other would break or go wrong on the bike. I've got a k75s about a month ago and have put more non-rally going miles on it than I did on the R80 all summer. BTW this bike had 100000 miles on it and had never had a break down for the previous two owners, wheras my R80 had a terminal get a pickup truck or trailer breakdown on me twice on 30000 miles, along with misc. crap that went wrong and needed fixed. So yeah, there is a biggg difference between the the airheads and the rest of the BMW lineup.

Ain't anecdotal evidence fun. It doesn't prove much, but it is fun.

I have a 1976 R90/6 motor in my conversion bike and I would not trade it for anything BMW makes.

Very little maintenance. Never had a breakdown on the road from which I could not limp home. Incredibly easy to fix. No boards or excess electronics to mysteriously fail. Having both electric start and kick start is great.

I guess the bottom line is that it is right for me.

"Never had a breakdown on the road from which I could not limp home."

I suppose that I had to limp home a few too many times for my tastes. K-Bike solves that.

Originally posted by richc Can someone summarize what the differences are?

Click to expand...

I have both versions...

An airhead is one that you can do some serious global touring on. In other words, it is roadside repairable.

An oilhead is one where you want to remain near civilization, unless you get lucky and nothing fails, because if it does, you can't really fix any of the items. They get replaced.

A little help for this new guy here. Airhead / Oilhead. So what's a Chromehead?

Airheads are the first generation BMW twins - R100, R75, R90, R60, R65, R50, etc.

Oilheads are the second generation twins - the R850, R1100 and 1150s and R1200s.

Chromeheads are the R1200C and CLC guys.

In my world

A chromehead and a jughead are just names the cruiser folks came up with to seperate their bikes from the rest of the oilheads. But, an oilhead is an oilhead regardless of the valve covers. Just look at the 2001 Roadster - a R1100RL with chrome valve covers. Oilhead or chromehead? YES!

MarkF

KBasa said:

Airheads are the first generation BMW twins - R100, R75, R90, R60, R65, R50, etc.

Click to expand...

Ahem. Hardly.

<pedantic>
There's about 50 years worth of BMW twins before those bikes came along. The "hanging tank" bikes from the 20s, the pressed steel framed bikes from the 30s that introduced telescopic forks to the world. The welded tube framed bikes from the late 30s, rigid and then plunger framed, and continued after the war. The so-called /2 bikes from the 50s and 60s with the Earles forks. Only then do we get to the "airheads", as commonly understood. (Of course all those other bikes are airheads, too.)
</pedantic>

Shows you what I know.

.and then theres me,with my 84 R100RT.Must be a Roilheads an oil cooler but it is also carburetted and air cooled.Ailhead?
I had a 1971 R75/5 and with my rudimentary skills I managed to limp through most everything.My R100 died when the diode board burned,but if I had had the wit to buy and strap on an auto battery,it would not have been a tow job.Other than that,the R 100's mechanical problems have mostly been within my reach.Have done roadside tire changes on both.

The oilhead is the natural evolution of the airhead.

During the time periods involved the regulatory climate changed drastically, especially with respect to noise.

The K-bike was BMW's first attempt to address engine noise by featuring water cooling--the water jackets do a nice job of absorbing noise, and the better temperature control afforded by water cooling and a thermostat permits closer engine construction tolerances.

When it quickly became clear that BMW's traditional customers rejected the K-bike, the reemergence of a new boxer twin became imperative.

The new twin features more metal in the engine and a more significant "jacket" of oil flow to provide the required noise abatement and cooling. Probably closer tolerances, too.

It appears a significant advance, as the owner's manual notes an oilhead can be run at idle for 30 minutes, something to never attempt with an airhead. For police models of oilheads, there is even an optional electric fan to draw air through the oil cooler to provide even better cooling.

During the same time period headlight-on requirements and the emergence of heated grips and clothing occurred, and the oilhead consequently has much better electrical generating capacity.

The rest of the bike is upgraded accordingly, too, especially the handling and brakes. This airhead owner finds oilheads a bit rough riding, but they're sure stable (boring, almost).

The 2-piece seat of oilheads is NOT an improvement IMHO, as much like the airheads, the oilhead is not particularly good for 2-up riding except possibly for smaller, german-spec, people, and this attempt fails, as it's uncomfortable for a rider of any size.

lkchris said:

The oilhead is the natural evolution of the airhead.

During the time periods involved the regulatory climate changed drastically, especially with respect to noise.

The K-bike was BMW's first attempt to address engine noise by featuring water cooling--the water jackets do a nice job of absorbing noise, and the better temperature control afforded by water cooling and a thermostat permits closer engine construction tolerances.

When it quickly became clear that BMW's traditional customers rejected the K-bike, the reemergence of a new boxer twin became imperative.

The new twin features more metal in the engine and a more significant "jacket" of oil flow to provide the required noise abatement and cooling. Probably closer tolerances, too.

It appears a significant advance, as the owner's manual notes an oilhead can be run at idle for 30 minutes, something to never attempt with an airhead. For police models of oilheads, there is even an optional electric fan to draw air through the oil cooler to provide even better cooling.

Click to expand...

If regs required the redesign of the boxer why has H-D continue to produce a twin without these changes? Even Triumph, Kawaski and Yamaha have new traditional air-cooled twins.

MarkF