BMW R65 Restoration - Part 1

Greetings friends,

I've definitely sent myself down a rabbit hole with this project. There's a lot of skill and knowledge needed to undertake this project, but I'm excited to get into it. This will probably be updated over a long period of time, very likely a year at least.

I've done what no wife wants to hear her husband has done... I bought a motorcycle...

Now before you get too worked-up, I'm sure you'll be relieved to hear it has no engine, and in fact has no chance of travelling at any appreciable speed for the foreseeable future! 

This was a lucky find on Craigslist, a previously wrecked frame, which in essence are just parts for the eventual rebuild. A seat was included with the bike, but I removed it for the following pictures.

Pre-cleaning, the bike has a fair amount of grime and dirt on it.

A quick pressure-wash makes quick work of it and leaves it looking nice!
Or at least, a good starting point.

The forks sustained the bulk of the damage, so will need to be rebuilt, or replaced outright. The rear fender is broken, but probably easy to replace. Originally an R65LS, I plan to restore this bike with mostly stock-parts, but I plan to add some light mods, and make it a little more minimalist. I very much enjoy the cafe-racer style, and I think that would suit this project well especially since this will not be an all-weather or highway-driven bike. Ideally, at least to get the bike operational, I'd like to source used parts and do as much dirty work myself as I can. I'll start with the components needed to actually get the bike moving, and focus more on aesthetics later on in the project.

Wheel & Forks Repair

To start things off, I am removing the front wheel. It appears as though the only damage to the rim is the obvious dent... I'll be taking this to a rim repair specialist to see if they can salvage it; I don't trust myself to fix a dent this big. I'm eager to hear whether or not it can be fixed.

With the wheel off, I can really get an idea of how bad the forks are. At the very least, the tubes will need replacing, and it's possible I could salvage the sliders. In any case, I think ordering a used replacement is in order. Will update on the next post what I'm able to find.

Thanks for reading,

Juju