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'81 R100 rear wheel removal

G

gcmacarthur

Guest
I have an '81 R100 Standard. I had to remove the rear mag wheel for some paint work. I imagined I would have to remove the left luggage rack, but was disappointed when I ended up having to remove the left shock, and still had to wiggle the wheel between the left swing arm, brake drum, and the fender. I'm new to this bike but have restored other BMW's. Am I missing something? Really concerns me that I would have to do all this to fix a rear flat.

Any hints are appreciated.
Regards
Gary
 
Hey Gary, welcome aboard.

Rear tire removal on my '73 R75/5 goes pretty much the same, although I don't have to remove the rear shock.

I have a scissors lift that I elevate the bike with; high enough for the tire/wheel assembly to be pulled out the back. I also deflate the the tire so it is easier to get passed the brake shoes.

Read through these too:

http://forums.bmwmoa.org/showthread.php?t=50675&highlight=rear+tire+removal

http://forums.bmwmoa.org/showthread.php?t=44101&highlight=rear+tire+removal
 
Thanks. Not really good news, but a couple techniques that would work in a pinch. I thought about hinging the rear fender, but shuddered at the thought.
 
I have an 81 R100RT and I just let the air out of the tire,folder the mud flap up and wiggle it off! Perhaps you have a 120 tire but it should still come off with out shock and rack removal.

Do you have a users manual?
 
No owners manual. I did not deflate the tire. That probably would have helped. Most of the interference is with the left swing arm (it's dual swing) and the brake hub. I guess I'm pretty used to my R80 single sided swing arm.
 
I didn't see my suggestion in those past threads, but I also deflate the tire. I then slip some pieces of cardboard between the tire and shock on the left and the brake drum on the right. That provides a much more slippery surface and while not that much wiggling, the tire comes right out.
 
Ahhh. The cardboard sounds like a good addition to deflation.

Thanks to all of you.
 
I have to add my 81 has a rear disk brake which makes it a different situation.
 
Some folks, besides deflation, will go ahead and take off the front wheel, then lean the bike down onto the fork legs. This raises the rear of the bike REAllY high and it pretty well drops straight down rather than dragging it by the hub.........

God bless......Dennis
 
Supposed to have 4.00X18 rear tire.

There are NO metric substitutes.

Kind of makes a difference what sort of rear shocks you have, too.

On my '84 RS I usually removed the left muffler but that was all--I had to do that so I could get the axle out, since Koni shocks didn't droop as much.

It isn't going to come off without tipping the bike or removing front wheel first and setting the front on the bottom of the forks.
 
gcmacarthur said:
I have an '81 R100 Standard. I had to remove the rear mag wheel for some paint work. I imagined I would have to remove the left luggage rack, but was disappointed when I ended up having to remove the left shock, and still had to wiggle the wheel between the left swing arm, brake drum, and the fender. I'm new to this bike but have restored other BMW's. Am I missing something? Really concerns me that I would have to do all this to fix a rear flat.

Any hints are appreciated.
Regards
Gary
Click to expand...

Hi Gary,

Real easy without having to take everything off to remove the rear wheel. Your not alone, as I used to do this and cursed whenever I had to service the machine. I found that putting a scissor jack under the oil pan with a 1 X 4 scrape piece of plywood between the jack and the oil pan. Raise the whole bike about 2 - 3" higher than the centre stand is extended. Slid your wheel back towards the fender, push the bottom of the wheel towards the differential slightly to clear the fender and licence plate guard. Once the wheel has cleared set the bike back down on centre stand. Caution, make sure the front end is secure, as a second set of hands comes in handy to steady the whole process.
 
DennisDarrow said:
Some folks, besides deflation, will go ahead and take off the front wheel, then lean the bike down onto the fork legs. This raises the rear of the bike REAllY high and it pretty well drops straight down rather than dragging it by the hub.........

God bless......Dennis
Click to expand...

If you do this, tightly strap the centerstand forward to the front forks so the forks won't turn (or to a front exhaust crossover) so the centerstand can't fold back. Otherwise "Oh $#!&" and crash bang!
 
My '81 R100 standard is unmodified (with the exception of a sidecar hanging off it, but that's irrelevant here) with the stock tire and I can assure the rear wheel can be removed without taking everything apart. Follow the tips above but particularly getting her up high (and make sure she's steady). You need those extra inches to drop it down, and it helps to bend the mudflap out of the way first rather than letting it bind as you pull it out. It does help to take the front off but I'm not sure this is necessary. I tie the stand with a cargo strap so it cant fold up.
 
DennisDarrow said:
Some folks, besides deflation, will go ahead and take off the front wheel, then lean the bike down onto the fork legs. This raises the rear of the bike REAllY high and it pretty well drops straight down rather than dragging it by the hub.........

God bless......Dennis
Click to expand...

say what ??????

never had to do that even with oversize tires on an old airhead
that would be fun on the side or a road

shoot if your gonna do that, then you also need to pull the seat, gas tank and left head and cylinder oh and dont forget the headlight bucket and right foot peg

can you tell Im full of "sheep"
 
To remove the rear wheel is no reason for me to take the front wheel off, but I have done this from time to time. When I get new tires on my bike (I do not wrench them off myself any longer) I tie the front forks to the center stand, then remove the front wheel. I then place a board under the forks before they hit the ground to protect the finish and lower the bike down. I then remove the rear wheel. Once both wheels are removed it is off to my dealer to have new tires installed. As they say in the manual, reverse the above procedures to reinstall the wheels.
 
Somewhere in one of the piles or books of photos I've taken over the years is one taken at the National Rally in Missoula, Montana in 1984. It was taken near one of the tire vendors. The motorcycle was on its tied-forward centerstand on the ends of two 8"x16" concrete blocks. The front tire was on the ground and the back end was about 3 feet up in the air from level. There were six (6) people engaged in removing the rear wheel/tire: one on each side at the front and one on each side at the back to stabilize the motorcycle, and two crouched down removing the hovering wheel/tire from the bike.

I have forgotten if this was a Goldwing, Voyager, Venture, or what, but it was a truly scary sight. I wandered off before they dropped it and hurt somebody.
 
Last edited:
easy way

Well if you had a lift with the removal panel you would raise the bike up on the lift and removal the panel then drop the rear tire straight down would not have to remove the luggage rack.

Besides that the option of removing the front wheel to get the rear end up high in the air is a good idea!!:type
 
kstoo said:
110/90-18 is a good metric substitute.
Click to expand...

There's several things to consider other than just width. I ran metric tires for a number of years on my /7 after first using inch-sized tires. I couldn't understand why my sidestand held the bike so close to vertical...to the point that it could fall over to the other side with a puff of wind. Because of the metric vertical profile, a metric tire is typically 0.5 inches smaller in radius. Doh! Because of the metric tires, the bike was sitting 0.5 inches closer to the ground. That made the sidestand ineffective and also reduces ground clearance...changes the steering geometry as well.

Inch-sized tires have a circular profile...they're as wide as they are high. Metric tires are not circular. The "90" in the tire designation means the height is 90% of the width.
 
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