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Behold! In sooth it is the turdy-most! An originally flatulent and boring motorcycle with the handling characteristics of an occasional table with castors, one of which is missing, the appearance of a 1940's Belgian croissant delivery cart that makes a noise like a parson farting in the bath. To compound it's horridness large parts of it are missing and acquiring them will mean you will have to spend time interacting with other owners of noxious, antiquated BMW's. Now if old Guzzi owners are notorious for their corn cob pipes and resistance to anything that even hints at modernity BMW owners are infinitely worse! Never mind the corn cob pipes, the BMW crowd all speak in high squeaky voices, have stained cardigans that stop, (Usually because the knitting is unraveling!) above their navels revealing their undergarments that are always covered in unmentionable stains! Their beige trousers have a crotch about at knee level and the bottoms of the legs are always frayed as they are far too long and as a result have been trodden on by their leatherette brothel-creepers. Often the trouser cuffs will have dogshit on them as well because these people are usually accompanied by small, yapping, dogs that crap everywhere. Crowning the whole lot will be a tartan Tam-o-shanter that looks like it's been farted on by a horse. When you talk to these people it's always important to wear at least a mask but preferably an airtight helmet of some sort as they are incapable of normal speech and their shrill utterances are always accompanied by torrents of spittle and half digested food. If you do, mistakenly, go ahead with such a purchase it must be remembered that within 18 months you too will resemble the type of person portrayed above! I'm sorry, but it is inevitable and cannot be avoided. Remember. Just say 'No' to BMW's. It's for your own good.

Under no circumstances cap that port off. The fuel map is designed to meter fuel at a pressure dictated by the regulator which controls that pressure via a bladder with spring pressure on one side and atmospheric pressure on the other. Plugging the vent will seal the bladder from atmospheric pressure and affect the delivery pressure. It was originally used on other applications to regulate fuel pressure to inlet pressure but everyone abandoned the idea early in the piece. The very first injected ducati 851's used it but then discarded the connection. Ciao

A little bit of simple green or C18 truck wash. you dont need much around 3% is enough. I used petrol with some injector cleaner to clean the injectors in my small jewellery ultrasonic bath. I also had it connected up to a 6volt battery supply to hold the injector open while it was cleaning. It was such a dodgy thing to do (outside in the full open air I might add) I stood by with a fire extinguisher the whole time. I was thinking as it was working that this is the sort of practice that ends up on the nightly news. I'm making a home made safe injector cleaner now. Ciao

Run, don't walk away.. unless you have endless time and even more money I see it as a complete waste of your time. Why would you want to spend hours working on that heap when you have a Lemans to ride? but yeah $3-400 sounds reasonable.

thanks! i found the issue: Me being a dummie. (i'd say something else but keeping it family friendly) When I put it all back together i forgot to tighten down the return fuel line properly. thus the "smelling rich" was fuel leaking! ahhh! well, fixed that and seems to be back running like a champion. I even took her adventure riding on some gravel and old rock roads... handled it pretty well --- if it had some knobbies on it could have ripped it up.

Yes, you stopped me from making a mistake. I think the BMW was just an excuse to start setting my garage into a workshop. Obviously, a project of this magnitude would have been a good reason to fight the good battle to get it. Come to think of it, my MG has spent more time immobilized than on the tarmac. So I should start with that before I venture and lose myself somewhere else.

Whatever happened to the "right price" being "whoever drags it out of my sight and doesn't charge me to do so". Seems to me what it's worth in the harsh light of day. Maybe a case of beer, cheap beer that is. Valuing old shitters like this is about what you want it to be. A part it out exercise, full resto, old rat bike, what? and of course the hidden mysteries within. Ciao

When I put the bike together a few years ago for my long trip, I went around looking for a reason for, and solution to, gear lube being forced out of the rear drive seal and onto the rim. I ended up drilling a hole in the filler plug and pressing a grease zerk with ball removed into the hole, and running 3-4 feet of tubing up the swingarm and along the frame, exiting by the rear turn signal. In the main it was ok, but at high speeds and unknown distances it still emptied about half the gear oil out of the box over my 10k mile trip. Whilst overlooking my deficits for the 2021 South'n Spine Raid, the tubing disintegrated. So I went looking again. I replaced the zerk with a brake bleeder, tapped and screwed in. The single hole in the bleeder faced forward, away from the flow of lube inside. Way better than the zerk, but still came home after 50 miles with some drool on the wheel, too much to tolerate. So here's my plan. I looked online at axle vents etc, and found one from a jeep with a plastic skirt under it, and a conical spring inside to 'filter' and decant oil back to the axle. I couldn't make it fit under the drive stay rod... but it did give an idea. I stole the spring out of it, went looking for a skirt and found that a brass PEX adapter was a very nice, very tight press into the underside of the fill plug. I wound the spring into the hole and pressed the adapter in with the bench vice, hopefully protecting the bleeder hole from any direct oil splash. Now, on to the testing. Yes, I've considered that it may shake loose. No, I'm confident that it can't-it's tight but not so tight to worry about cracking or splitting while pressing it.

This, I have done too many times to count . . . ("Back in the day" . . .)

Thanks! I don't have a buff, but I know where to find one not far away. I will try your suggestion. And if it looks too different, I can always do the powder later.

Having restored several Airheads myself and also being a V11 owner, I can make the following comments. 1. The bike pictured is a POS, most worrysome is the obvious rusting and Alu rust on the engine cases. Odds that the internals are in good working shape are low. 2. On the + side, BMW is VERY GOOD about parts availability for old bikes. That is why I switched over to BMW from Honda. When I needed to restore my Honda GL1200A, being more than 10 years old, Honda basically told me to pound sand for parts. Ebay helps, but there is only so far it will go. I have never ordered an old BMW part yet and been told NLA. 3. The V11 will literally run circles around an Airhead, mostly because the Airhead spends so many more miles wobbling as is goes down the road. 4. A well sorted Airhead is STONE reliable. Absolutely unbreakable. Easy to fix if you manage to break something. My Airhead R100GS is simply an awesome bike for touring and exploring in Mexico, it will never let you down. If the motor turns and the gearbox shifts, maybe spend $250 on it. Expect to spend 3-4K and many sweat hours to restore. When done, it will be worth about the 3-4K you put into it. Recommendation, many Airhead owners are past their riding days or dead. Look for a nicely maintained one being sold by a spouse who hasn't checked the KBB valuation.

I'd (no I wouldn't myself, actually) chuck it up into my cordless drill and spend a little time smoothing it out, then zinc primer it and final coat with black gloss Rustoleum. Let it dry well in the sun, or oven if you have no sun. It'll be so hard you'll think it's powder coated.

Fixed it for you.

If you are: 1. Older, 2. Skinny, 3. Have long stringy gray hair, 4. A matching wispy beard, 5. Wear small wire-rimmed glasses, 6. Wear waxed cotton/ancient full leathers, 7. A pudding bowl helmet and goggles, ...it might be just the bike for you.

I hurt my kidneys laughing at this so hard it had to be set as the "answer", imho. Once again P.Roper keeps us honest. Even if it hurts our kidneys. edit: [I tried to read that post again, completely burst a kidney and am off to hospital. Reader beware!

Put $400 a month in jar till you have enough to buy one that runs. You will spend less money and have a running bike sooner. Did you notice the spoke wheel up front and the mag in the back? If it had a pair of good condition "snowflake" wheels, it could be worth $400 just to get the wheels. If it was an R90S, I might sing a different tune, but there is nothing special about a /6.

I was just composing my post saying the same thing. You'll be in it for $2500 just to get it roadworthy. If it was complete with title, $500.

Pull the inlet trumpets out and get your hand or a rag on a stick in there and give it a good clean out. Ciao

'02 V11 LeMans, all original, no mods. Bone stock collector bike with 2400 miles when I purchased last summer. Question: I noticed on the right side of fuel tank an open ended tube. Not sure what is going on here. The '03 LeMans has entirely different fuel delivery setup. Should I vacuum cap this open ended tube or is it a vent to atmosphere?? Thanks in advance.

Thanks Lucky Phil. Really appreciate your quick response.

+1 with Lucky Phil.

After recently rebuilding 3 throttle body sets I use one of these. I've 2 one large 20Litre one and a small one for, well small stuff. Forget the toxic spray and soak junk these work perfectly esp for things like throttle bodies. https://www.amazon.com.au/Ultrasonic-Cleaner-Digital-Durable-Stainless/dp/B08R73QMYR/ref=asc_df_B08R73QMYR/?tag=googleshopdsk-22&linkCode=df0&hvadid=463522662873&hvpos=&hvnetw=g&hvrand=803062948571161468&hvpone=&hvptwo=&hvqmt=&hvdev=c&hvdvcmdl=&hvlocint=&hvlocphy=9071372&hvtargid=pla-1161471464591&psc=1 Here's what a 25 year old second hand covered in grunge throttle body looks like after 30min in the ultrasonic tank. Plus all the internal passages are clean as well. Ciao

I lost my right hand side bar end weight, and the replacement I found (one month wild goose hunting) came rough lathed. I would like to get it painted, but the brake levers and left hand side look powder coated to me. Can anyone confirm?

Docc, I don't know about the V11 vent system. The 'Sport rear takes 250cc, I used Lucas 80/140 'super duper high performance' gear oil, with about a tablespoon of Jet-Lube open gear and cable grease, which appears to be pure Moly with enough grease to make it stick to stuff-I use that on the spliney stuff. So, after ~20 miles of "3 miles in the middle was 80-100mph" The housing temp was 116*F after 5-6 miles home @ 35mph. But yay, there is no trace of oil at the tip of the bleeder, I didn't even put a hose over it so I could be certain. Saturday I'll go beat it up where I can hold 70-100 for 1-15 miles, and take the temp gun with me. I know y'all have recorded drive temps, what's the norm? 116*F isn't even worth talking about in automotive axles.

There is that. I've done in on antique airplanes.. and just old airplanes.. for years. There is a *great* amount of satisfaction on returning a pile of rusted parts to a living breathing machine. As our friend Bill says though Comma but. That is a POS when restored to running condition. If you really want to put the sweat equity in a project.. make it a good one. Just MHO.

I don't think this guy drinks beer... discovery of the hidden mysteries is part of the fun... I am guessing you are married :-)

Where has all the fantasy gone nowadays? we used to get married four hours after having met a lady hanging around the pool in Vegas... we used to take risks back in the days; or was it only me?

I like Berryman B-12 Chem Tool.

As regards the bike at hand - it is a parts bike. If it was an "S", had the limited production Krauser 4-valve heads, and a Reg Pridmore heritage, OK. A garden variety /6...not so much. "Used" bikes that are incomplete but "ran when parked" are often either 1) stripped as they barely ran even decades ago or 2) stripped by the thieves after they thrashed and crashed the whole mess.

Dang, that Roper can put into words what I can barely conceptualize. Nailed it.

My wife sometimes comes across similar "projects." (Not motorcycles) I always say, "Sure. If that is what you want to spend your life doing." Very recently I came across a loop frame Eldorado. Black, civilian, original. Running, well cared for, and seen to. Everything I love about those early Guzzi twins. A rather wise sort (you know who you are!) said [and I paraphrase], " . . . to keep [any bike or car] in pristine condition, will go as long as the next issue. On old cars, and bikes, you can never expect them to run perfectly always . . . " To start with something as harsh as that BMW would take tremendous time, devotion, and resources. It is easy to click glasses with @fotoguzzi . . . "Why would you want to spend hours working on that heap when you have a Lemans to ride? "

I reckon I should add this to the Tank Off Maintenance Checklist . . . Done: [I also edited the topic title to make this more searchable. Hope this is okay with the OP, @leroysch . . .]

And to think that the springs were given so little thought back in Mandello. But - that's exactly why we are having this talk! The one thing they should have copied from Ducati is a desmo shift mechanism.

Inspected the plugs, intakes...cleaned out the sump and strainer...and got around to cleaning the air box which had been laying on the bench. I was surprised by the amount of fluid which had pooled inside (~ 1ml or so) and got curious. Looks like the air box has a false bottom ending near the aft end. In any event set this up to help mop up whatever cares to dribble down. Will rotate it 180 degrees and see if anything comes out from below the false bottom. I know, OCD...but might as well satisfy my curiosity while it's off the bike...

Oh if only all V11 owners knew how much conversation (and ingenuity become reality) those springs have generated.

Some of those solvents are nasty crap, I've seen a few expensive plastic things vanish before my eyes, lol. There was recently a post on WG re Deoxit being toxic to the inner soft rubber sealing membrane of the water proof electrical connectors. I noticed that myself when I worked through the electrical harness on my V11 with Deoxit/Vaseline, membrane turned all mushy/puffy. The cheapskate in me, has kept me from getting an ultrasonic cleaner, but I like that idea of the parts in a sealed bag w solution in a tank full of water, that makes a lot of sense! and sounds much easier to manage.

Asked NAPA for a case of carb cleaner, they came back with about 8 cans of 'Mac's' carb cleaner. Who cares, right? So I'm working on the '89 Mille GT. Had the sump off, tried to clean it with Mac's. No go- simply doesn't cut oil and light, if old, mung. Bleah. Go to the carbs last night, been sitting some time so plenty of varnish. Put all the bits in a cup and make a puddle of Mac's. Doesn't touch the varnish or deposits. Bleah. Then, suddenly, right before my eyes, I watch the o-rings and inlet valve tips expand and disintegrate. Oh, happy day- carb cleaner that doesn't clean anything and destroys carburetor parts in less than 30 seconds. Inlet valve assemblies are $25 each. Just a 'beware'. Don't try to save a penny or a minute using this crap. I returned all of it, not that they cared at all.

No. As it is it's junk. In the best of shape it's mediocre. If you have the vintage-bike-resto-itch, I get it. There are better choices for that.

Hmm. I’ve got a gallon of that in the shop, awaiting my flat slide carb from my old-ish DR350.