New and airhead challenged

Hi All,

I've always wanted an airhead, so the first BMW mc I purchased was a '99 K1200LT. Not an airhead, I know. This year I finally found the one I wanted. A 1985 R80RT. Luv it (see avitar), but don't know a thing about them. I'll be doing the compulsory searches and hopefully change the fact that I'm airhead challenged. That's also what I've done with the LT over the years on BMWLT.com. Great bunch there, too.
I decided on this bike by lurking here for a long time. Thanks to all!

Have fun,
Jer

Welcome Nice Bike!!

very nice bike. The Airhead thing is that you have a mellow ride. Just the design of the engine "Boxer" makes it smooth due to the natual balance of the design.


Here is a wikipedia link with some back ground info:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_BMW_motorcycles

Good old Warerenville IL - I bought my first motorcycle in Warrenville 1974 Yamaha DT250. Get and ride out by Elburn. Always good riding up Wisconson way.

Airhead just wants to make you ride all day at any speed.

I had an 85 K100 but it just got me in trouble - it always wanted to go 80 MPH.

Enjoy you will find out why these are popular!!

Well, as a fellow LT and Airhead owner here is pretty much the bible: Snowbum's website. I've found that 99% of his advice is excellent.

http://bmwmotorcycletech.info/

Not what you would call well organized, but hey - it's free and all the answers are there! Entertaining as well.

Welcome and enjoy that new toy.

85K100LT said:

very nice bike. The Airhead thing is that you have a mellow ride. Just the design of the engine "Boxer" makes it smooth due to the natual balance of the design.


Here is a wikipedia link with some back ground info:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_BMW_motorcycles

Good old Warerenville IL - I bought my first motorcycle in Warrenville 1974 Yamaha DT250. Get and ride out by Elburn. Always good riding up Wisconson way.

Airhead just wants to make you ride all day at any speed.

I had an 85 K100 but it just got me in trouble - it always wanted to go 80 MPH.

Enjoy you will find out why these are popular!!

Click to expand...

I've got the RT in MI. Need to have a bike in the "other" garage. I get up to WI with the LT as often as possible. No twisties in these parts of IL, as you know. Galena, IL has some great roads, so it's either out to there or anywhere North and West of Monroe, WI.
I do get the wife on the back to go to either of the breakfast joints in Elburn.

Thanks for the link, too,
Jer

RonKMiller said:

Well, as a fellow LT and Airhead owner here is pretty much the bible: Snowbum's website. I've found that 99% of his advice is excellent.

http://bmwmotorcycletech.info/

Not what you would call well organized, but hey - it's free and all the answers are there! Entertaining as well.

Welcome and enjoy that new toy.

Click to expand...

Hi Ron,
Nice to see a familiar name here. Actually, I've seen a few already from BMWLT.com. I'm still going through the "send your pic of your airhead" thread. I haven't seen one yet that has the same top box that I have, yet PO says it came as original equipment and looks like it, too. Has the exact same color and pin stripping. The supports are integrated into the side bag supports. Just can't get enough of looking at airheads and riding this one when I'm here in MI.
I'd already stumbled upon Snowbird's site. Very overwhelming!

Thanks for the reply,
Jer

Hey Jer,
Welcome to Airheadland. The K bikes are neat, but there is just something about these older Airheads. Fun to ride and easy to maintain. And a true classic. Most any motorcyclist with any vintage respects the Boxers (even if they don't desire to own one)..

And you should have no trouble with the routine maintenance. Especially with the folks on this forum. I have had nothing but good, solid (and friendly) advise for any question I had. (Some other forum sites need a kevlar vest to deal with all the sniping).

Please post a pic of your new mount.

154048 said:

Hey Jer,
Welcome to Airheadland. The K bikes are neat, but there is just something about these older Airheads. Fun to ride and easy to maintain. And a true classic. Most any motorcyclist with any vintage respects the Boxers (even if they don't desire to own one)..

And you should have no trouble with the routine maintenance. Especially with the folks on this forum. I have had nothing but good, solid (and friendly) advise for any question I had. (Some other forum sites need a kevlar vest to deal with all the sniping).

Please post a pic of your new mount.

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Hi Steve,

Thanks for the welcome. Much appreciated. The bike came very well maintained, but still have already changed the oil pressure sensor (leaking through the wire, cheap and easy to find), carb gasket and front left turn signal bulb. Pretty easy so far.
As soon as I get to the end of all the airhead pix in this forum, I'll post mine. On page 90 so far...

Thanks again,
Jer

Here she is

Nice looking bike, Jerry. I hear the R80 motor is the smoothest of them all; good choice.

I had an '03 K12RS before I was bitten by the airhead bug. When I was contacted about a trade that included a R100GSPD, I decided to go for it. I haven't regretted the decision for a minute. There's something about the Boxer vibration and sound that is soothing. With the K-bike, I always felt like she wanted to go fast. The airhead just wants to go and go.

Enjoy your new bike.
Tom

Hi Jerry, that's a nice airhead you got there. Be careful, you may not stop at one!
Mine's happiest running on the open road- just purrs along at any clip I want, for as long as I want. Hope yours treats you the same!
I'd be interested in more pics of that rear rack assembly, especially how it attaches to the bag mounts.

Steve

squiffynimrod said:

Hi Jerry, that's a nice airhead you got there. Be careful, you may not stop at one!
Mine's happiest running on the open road- just purrs along at any clip I want, for as long as I want. Hope yours treats you the same!
I'd be interested in more pics of that rear rack assembly, especially how it attaches to the bag mounts.

Steve

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First off, thanks Tom for the welcome. It's great to see a supportive group here as I've found around the K1200LT group.

Steve,

In the "post a pic of your airhead" thread, messages 1599 - 1601 show a very similar rack (specifically 1600). The one I have was installed by the original owner, many years ago, possibly ordered that way with the pin stripping since the color and pin stripping match very well. I have yet to see an RT with that style of top box. I really don't think it's BMW, though.

My spring strut seems quite bouncy in the 1 or 2 position. Is the shock a simple replacement item that you know of?

Thanks for the reply,
Jer

jers99lt said:

First off, thanks Tom for the welcome. It's great to see a supportive group here as I've found around the K1200LT group.

Steve,

In the "post a pic of your airhead" thread, messages 1599 - 1601 show a very similar rack (specifically 1600). The one I have was installed by the original owner, many years ago, possibly ordered that way with the pin stripping since the color and pin stripping match very well. I have yet to see an RT with that style of top box. I really don't think it's BMW, though.

My spring strut seems quite bouncy in the 1 or 2 position. Is the shock a simple replacement item that you know of?

Thanks for the reply,
Jer

Click to expand...

Hey Jer:

Jeez, we even have the same taste in airheads! (I've got a '79 R80).

RE: the shocks, I've found (remember I'm an airhead newbie too - only 6 months) that the OEM shocks just were not up to the task. I got pretty loaded (weight wise) last week to take a trip with full saddle bags and a large duffle. I was REALLY compressed, so much that I opted to park it and take the LT instead.

I wanted to up the spring rate for my 225 lbs. AND keep the OEM look, which on my bike means chrome bodies and black springs. I ordered some Hagons, which are not rebuildable, but can be sprung for your weight. I also like the fact that they are TUV certified - which is nice, but certainly not necessary.

I should have them next week so I'll have a chance to evaluate them soon. The good thing about Hagons is that you can send the springs back to try different ones up to two times. I opted to start with the "correct" spring for my weight without extra gear, since that's how I'll ride it 95% of the time.

You can easily spend big bucks for more sophisticated shocks, but at $291.00 they seem to be well matched to the ride. For my money keeping the correct ride geometry is far more important than the capability of the shocks - especially on older bikes.

You may want to investigate some Progressive fork springs - which I have installed as well. It is very possible your PO already put them in...

Just remember that "heavy duty" shocks DO NOT increase your bike's GVWR (gross vehicle weight rating).

It's an old, but very light motorcycle not designed to carry lots of weight.

Best to treat it for what it is.

lkchris said:

Just remember that "heavy duty" shocks DO NOT increase your bike's GVWR (gross vehicle weight rating).

It's an old, but very light motorcycle not designed to carry lots of weight.

Best to treat it for what it is.

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What - you mean I shouldn't cram the panniers full, put my 300 lb. wife on the rear, poodle on the tank AND pull a trailer?

Go out and get that shop manual first thing...I like the Haynes manual, lotsa folks like the factory and Chilton's manuals... also, 'search' is your friend, I've noticed that a lotta guys will get on forums, including and especially this one, and ask a question that's not only been asked and answered dozens of times, but might even have been asked and answered that very same day!!!

I was in your position just a few months ago, had lotsa questions, so when I discovered this forum, I roamed back quite a few pages just to see if my questions had been answered already, and I found that often, they had been!! Also, it seems like a lot of guys will just blurt out a question instead of going to the manual, which on some forums will getcha flamed! This forum is made up of real polite and helpful folks...fortunately...

Yarddog said:

Go out and get that shop manual first thing...I like the Haynes manual, lotsa folks like the factory and Chilton's manuals... also, 'search' is your friend, I've noticed that a lotta guys will get on forums, including and especially this one, and ask a question that's not only been asked and answered dozens of times, but might even have been asked and answered that very same day!!!

I was in your position just a few months ago, had lotsa questions, so when I discovered this forum, I roamed back quite a few pages just to see if my questions had been answered already, and I found that often, they had been!! Also, it seems like a lot of guys will just blurt out a question instead of going to the manual, which on some forums will getcha flamed! This forum is made up of real polite and helpful folks...fortunately...

Click to expand...

Not really my style as stated above "I'll be doing the compulsory searches and hopefully change the fact that I'm airhead challenged." I've been lurking here a long time, also, stated above, "I decided on this bike by lurking here for a long time."

I've noticed from being on forums that some folks just read what they want to read. But I do apologize for going off-thread. I'll get a better answers if I address my question to the collective group than to one person, if it hasn't already been addressed a million times before, that day.

Well, back to the search engine...
Jer

RonKMiller said:

What - you mean I shouldn't cram the panniers full, put my 300 lb. wife on the rear, poodle on the tank AND pull a trailer?

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So Ron, minus the sarcasm about your better half, have you checked the shim thickness on the final drive before hauling that load? I would bet the preload is affected by the load. But, that's a topic for another forum.

My R80 will just be a short tripper as opposed to the LT, unless I get a different seat. How is your seat project turning out for your R80? I'd really like to see the results.

Have fun,
Jer

jers99lt said:

My R80 will just be a short tripper as opposed to the LT, unless I get a different seat. How is your seat project turning out for your R80? I'd really like to see the results.

Have fun,
Jer

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I can safely say it's the most comfortable and coolest seat anyone has ever made for an airhead, but I have a slight bias.

RonKMiller said:

I can safely say it's the most comfortable and coolest seat anyone has ever made for an airhead, but I have a slight bias.

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How possible would it be to cover my old Corbin and add a removable driver's backrest? I know Corbin can do it, but I just don't like how the alligator material wears.
Just curious. Send a PM w/ cost info.


Thanks,
Jer

jers99lt said:

Not really my style as stated above "I'll be doing the compulsory searches and hopefully change the fact that I'm airhead challenged." I've been lurking here a long time, also, stated above, "I decided on this bike by lurking here for a long time."

I've noticed from being on forums that some folks just read what they want to read. But I do apologize for going off-thread. I'll get a better answers if I address my question to the collective group than to one person, if it hasn't already been addressed a million times before, that day.

Well, back to the search engine...
Jer

Click to expand...

Well, I'm a little confused as to what yer tryin' to say...but I do agree that folks read only what they want to read on forums, but for me, it's cuz there's just a lotta crap written that's either been covered dozens of times before, or it's just so basic that I wonder why some posters even try to work on their own machines if they're unable to puzzle simple things out...I'm NOT saying that's the case with you, at all, but sometimes I just scratch my head! Like that classic "What size is this or that bolt?"...sheesh...

But, like I say, these forums CAN be very useful if they are used as a fall-back, rather than the very first resource used...like, what did we do in the days before the 'Net? Ya know?

I've found a TON of information on this particular forum, and I bookmark lotsa threads for future reference...works pretty well...

Good luck!