95r100gsPD resurrection (i hope)

Fellow Inmates,

I am not sure where to post this exactly, i guess airheads will work.

I purchased this bike new in 1996 It was the last of the Airhead GS, it had been sitting in the dealership for a year. I fell in love with it right away. In fact I don't think I have seen a bike since that looks as good as this one did. (Hey I'm a sucker for that 1980-1990 Dakar look)

Anyway fast forward to October of 2011 and I ran into some trouble, or should I say, some 'trouble' ran into me. On a undivided highway that was running trough a town, a car coming the other way, and waiting to make a left turn across my path, he decided not to wait any longer and when I got close enough he gunned it across hitting me on the left side of the bike. My cylinder head dug into his front bumper and I was ejected. I pretty much walked away from this, the bike did not.

All in all i rebounded pretty quickly and was in the arms of a loving new 2012 Tiger 800xc within a week. It was love at first ride. I test rode and 800GS but it did not 'speak to me'. While the tiger 'sang' to me. It was an easy decision considering the Tiger was also a contender back in 1996 when I bought the PD. I love the power and handling of the tiger it felt like it ran circles around the PD. Modern suspension, frame, power. What was not to like!

As much as I like the new Tiger, I reminisce for the old PD. I would like to bring it back. I know it will likely cost a pretty penny. I am not sure what I want. I considered converting it in to some sort of HPN beast, but it seems that is better suited to an 800 and a monolever. Maybe some sort of Franken-beemer? Or perhaps bring it back to stock. After all it was the best looking bike ever made!

I really don't know where to start or what can be salvaged. Do i need a new frame(i may be able to get insider discount on frame)? Straighten this one? Is there any other Beemers out there I can use as a frame donor, then gusset?








I had just poured a bunch of money into getting the rear transmission, drive shaft seals changed, splines lubed and fresh tires installed when this happened. When I look at the above picture I wonder if it is just the frame that is bent or if the drive shaft could also be tweeked? Most of the damage appears to be in the front as that is where the impact was. Is there a way I could test the alignment to see that it is all straight? Because really, i think the motor wheels and drive-line, and PD tank are really what I am left with.

I would love to have some input, ideas, encouragement to get me going.

I think it's too bad to see with the nakad eyes.

Resurrection Indeed!

You have come to the right place.

There are lots of brilliant minds here.

Sorry to say I'm not one of them.

Give it your best shot.

Ride Safe

I had a 95 R100GS with front end damaged and bent steering head.

Frame man in CA will straighten the frame out.

Did you get buy the bike back from the insurance company?

First step.. take everything off and be honest and look at the
frame and measure with a pane of glass and see how bent
the front steering head.

Did the swing arm crack. Leaking oil.. but you will have to change
out all the seals since it has been sitting.

@ patrkbukly yeah, i have been largely ignoring it

@ brittrunyon thanks I'll do my best

@ walkingbear thanks for the info, was it expensive how much could it run? Shipping from Ontario Canada, wont be cheap either. I will start taking stuff off, I will just have to make some time, after all, this is a priority.

I dont think the swingarm cracked, where should I look, at the pivot where it meets the motor?

When I get to the stage where I need the pane of glass, I will ask for clarification. But i can tell you now with my nekked eyez, she's real bent!

I am hoping you are wrong about the seals!

And the poor cylinder with it's broken fins! What does that mean? Getting a new cylinder? The bike only has 70,000 km, i had just broken it in!

Find someone with a frame jig.

at the risk of looking like a total newb, what's a frame jig do? Tell me it's bent or fix it?

any tips for taking it apart?

ie take lots of photos, put stuff in bags, label the stuff?

where do I start, take the drive shaft off? I guess it's six of one, a half dozen of the other, I could start with the turn signals couldn’t I? In either case, if I don’t start now, I'll never do it.

Always sorry to see a bike in this condition. Looks like a great project to pass the time working on. If you enjoyed the handling as a standard bike, then keeping it original has merit and value. I wanted more from my bike so modified it, and love the improved handling. Some people love seeing the upgrades, some see it as having been butchered, personal preferences

As to where to start, You will need to end up with just the frame obviously, so start at the top and work your way to the back.

Windscreen, indicators, side cheeks, bull bars, instrument panel, mounting brackets etc. Keep it boxed up in associated areas. If wiring doesn't look to be easy to correctly put back together, write it down and or tag it.

Have you got a workshop manual for it? Always good to clarify how to remove or reassemble parts .

Work your way to the back of the bike and keep looking for cracked paint where the frame might have been bent. Hopefully the drive line will be OK, and might only be out because the frame is twisting it. There should be enough clearances to prevent damage, but keep an eye out for play in bearings and joints etc.

If you photograph each area and list what you did, it will be easier to remember when you put it back together. Also there's plenty of inmates who'll tell you you did it wrong....and let you know how to correct it. There are also other threads showing similar dismantling for various reasons.

Good luck and have fun doing it.

Sharpie pens and lots of ziplock bags along with a pad of paper and a pen. As you take stuff off put nuts/bolts back where they came from if possible. Spend time writing clear description of what your putting in each bag. So for instance - left carb. I try to group related bags into a single milk crate/box, so carbs, air cleaner, etc go together.

The pad of paper is to write down everything you see that you know you can't reuse even down to rubber grommets, etc. it'll save you tons of time later when you're on eBay, maxbmw, etc, and save you on postage.

I'd say at a minimum you need another frame, head and engine jug. Good news is that none of those are stupid expensive if you shop a bit. I'd probably look at the kits from siebenrock if I was doing it.

Good luck!

I can't see pics.... Anybody else??

Pictures are showing up for me, J.

It will need to be put in a frame jig to determine how far out it is and how much it will take to put right.

If this is a labor of love, then do it. Financially it would be smarter to find a clean replacement that is ready to roll than restore this one. This is totally a personal decision. It sounds like you are more comfortable having work done on the bike than doing the work yourself. This is not a criticism, but will result in spending quite a bit of $$$ to get this beast road worthy again.

I recently had my R80ST frame straightened.

http://advrider.com/forums/showthread.php?t=1041943

Good luck getting her back on the road. If it were mine I would elect to go back as original as possible within reason.



Mike

I mark everything with blue painters tape And mark with a sharpie. I would make a list of good parts / bad parts.

Do a cost / time estimate and go from there. You can still ride the tiger and get the gs back together as time and funds allow.

Its not the bike you didn't buy but the one "I never should have sold that"! Good luck

Hello from south germany, is it this expensive to get a used frame in Canada?
Plug and play is one advantage from an airhead and you need no special tools.
Good luck from Hans.

@ dazzadm I am not sure where I am going with this, On one hand it would be nice to have a better handling bike, but i do like the stock look. As I get deeper into this I guess I will see the path better. Thanks for the dismantling tips. I do have the original, the haynes, and the clymer manuals for the bike. Do you have any links to your mods?

@dmftoy1 Thanks for the suggestions for keeping it all straight I will try to fight my natural inclinations to make a mess of it. It is also reassuring to hear that you think the parts wont amount to that much. However not sure what I will do about the forks. Not cheap I imagine.

@hardwaregrrl thanks for chiming in... was hosting the pics using google drive and a hack to get a direct url, perhaps there may be an issue if someone is not logged into google? I have also heard they may limit the amount of 'direct' views of the images. In either case i have dusted off an old photo bucket account and uploaded them there. It brings it own set of frustrations it seems. I have resized them all to 1000px width, yet it limits the vertical ones to 1024x768 so they appear narrower than the horizontal aligned pics.

@Jim K in PA You may be right about easier / cheaper to guy another GS, but I guess I am sort of attached to this one. I should be able to to most of this work myself, aside from the frame. I have the tools and just enough knowledge, skill and patience to break things.

@Cogswell Thanks for the link, i will dig into that. I also tend to agree bringing it back as close to stock as possible. I wouldn’t mind better forks somehow. I cant see that being much more expensive than the originals, but i am sure that will affect a lot of other variables that I cant yet see.

@windypoint should be fixed now (i hope)

@ML WYDELL I was offered the bike for 600$ from the insurance. I figured the wheels were worth that much. You are so right about regretting having sold a bike. My first bike was an RD350 LC and i was too young to realize what I had, and I let it go.

@hensmen i think a new frame up here is over $2,200 Canadian dollars, i might be able to get a discount from the dealer


Anyone have any suggestions for a photo hosting service? Luckily I am not committed to any service yet, so now would be the time to settle on one before i post a ton of stuff in different threads.

Thanks for fixing the photos. After looking at the forks and then from the rear, if it was mine I would be looking for a new frame. I know there are guys out there that can perform miracles on bent frames, but if you don't have access to an experienced guy, I would start shopping for a frame. It is a great bike and worth the effort to fix. Hopefully, someone out there (BMW Boneyard etc. http://www.moorespeed.co.uk/bmw-chassis) has what you need at a decent price.

Dayum!!!:huh Now I wish you hadn't fixed the pics What a bummer...... Not that pics tell the whole story, I would strip it down asap before you spend a dime. Remove the plastics, swingarm with the FD, trans, subframe, motor, forks, then take more pics and post them here. I agree that judging from the current photos, I'd try to find a roller or at least a frame.


Beater to the white courtesy phone.....

Thanks for your input, I will certainly be posting some more pics once i get it cleaned up a bit.

Your bike is what I usually start with to do my rebuilds. You have a very desirable model...the black and polished last edition..worth fixing and riding.

Give me a call after you look through the website link below...go to John's G/S" and you'll see a step by step on how to take it apart and put it together..some minor differences but the major stuff is the same.

Walt can do some miracles with frames and wheels but not all can be straightened..and there are plenty of GS frames from the breakers that you may find a clean title last year as a start.