Useful
URL's, ETC.
Links to technical sources, people, websites, companies.
How to get special characters printed or sent from your
computer.
©
url.htm-78A
***NOTE!
This is article 78A. There is also a References
page; it is 78B,
which has a LOT of
information! If what you want is not on 78A, try 78B.
I suggest you look at 78B in depth!
Below are Internet sites that, somewhat differently, give you part numbers, or allow you to look up part numbers from sketches; also these have prices, etc. Each of these websites does things differently...so if you need some sort of tech or? information on a part, you might want to try them all.
When entering part numbers most sites do NOT want the hyphens nor spaces between the numbers groups.
http://www.ascycles.com/illustrated_parts_catalog_main.aspx
This will take a considerable amount of time to load up
if you are on dial-up.
Chicago BMW, is a $
discounter. NOTE that delivery times from
Chicago BMW are often QUITE LONG. If you do not need it in a
hurry, Chicago BMW Motorcycle can be a choice if price is
super important. NOTE ALSO that this website demands
you enter the part number, so you need to know that number first. If
you get the wrong part, because you goofed, particularly because
you don't know finer details about various part numbers and
allied changes BMW made...you are on your own. I
think that this website is useful, perhaps, for prices, saving
the last small bit of money...and not much else.
www.chicagobmwmotorcycles.com
Here is one more with lots of information:
http://www.maxbmwmotorcycles.com/fiche/fiche.asp
Do
NOT forget your local dealer, who may well offer a discount, if
you are a good customer and you ask! If that
local dealership has a knowledgeable parts person, you are doubly
benefited.
NOTE!...
A
BMW independent service company that I can recommend is Ted
Porter's Beemershop. They are very knowledgeable about parts and
service, and STOCK airhead parts! It is OFTEN to your great
advantage to speak to someone in a parts department that KNOWS
airheads!!! Many a time (!!!), these folks will steer you
in the correct direction; when just ordering from someone else
via a part number YOU provide (or they provide!), might get you into trouble.
I can recommend Beemershop
for quality and honest repair work of all types on your BMW bike.
www.beemershop.com
Located in California.
The PRIMARY
source for technical information, especially if you need it fast,
is the Airheads Beemer Club mailing LIST, also called the Airlist.
Information on subscribing is at the top of my technical index
page:
techindex.htm
yes, that is hyperlinked.
I say PRIMARY, because while my website is intended as a major
reference source, that LIST covers anything and everything, and
you can usually get a reply rather quickly. Once a
LIST member, you also have access to the list archives. A
MAJOR reason to join that LIST is the LARGE number of Airhead
owners on it; and the various Guru's; who will reply.
For those who are already Members, here is the archives address:
http://micapeak.com/archives/airheads/login.php
A
lot of information is also on Anton Largiader's
website.
http://largiader.com
Lots of GOOD stuff.
You can also use:
http://www.largiader.com/tech/
Whilst some of the 'guru's' on the Airlist tend to discourage
direct inquiries (I do!... as they would benefit only one
person), at least one does not:
Oak Okleshen: AskOak@aol.com
Oak writes a new technical article, published every month in the Airheads Beemer Club magazine called AIRMAIL. See joinclub.htm for information on joining the Club. Oak has an index of past articles available. He also does SUPERB repair work! Oak was MY personal mentor/guru....or whatever you want to call the relationship; from AFTER I worked as a BMW wrench for myself and for a BMW dealership.
My personal recommendations for repair work are OAK (Chicago area, and noted above); Ted Porter who is on the West Coast and does business as www.beemershop.com; and Bob Clement in Montana who does business as BMW Montana. There ARE others I CAN recommend.
Tom Cutter is in the East Coast area, doing business as the Rubber Chicken Racing Garage.
Electrics:
A source for
all sorts of electrical items for all BMW motorcycles; and some
Guzzi and even Laverda!....is
http://www.Euromotoelectrics.com.
They are at 18195 Augusta Drive, in Monument, Colorado.
(719) 487-9397. They stock electric's
items, including ignition items, starters, alternators, parts to
repair these, and so on. They also repair these things...and
also have the EnDuraLast Alternator (it is THEIR product); and,
many items that are NOT available from BMW, such as internal
diodes and regulators for the oilhead and K bike
alternators.....and so on. Compare their prices with
BMW's on BMW-sold parts. I don't have any
financial stake here, this is just a hint. They carry Bosch repair parts, Valeo repair parts, and new Valeo starters (both 8 and 9 tooth,
with the updated magnet structures).
I have NO financial stake or other interest in ANY company
or product I recommend!
There are other sources for some types of electrics, such as Thunderchild, and Motorrad Elektrik (Rick is very helpful, and their alternator product is the Omega). www.motoelekt.com
Here is a good source:
Jim Davis, owner, Eastern Beaver Company:
http://easternbeaver.com/
Motorcycle Relay Kits, Modulator Kits, Powerlet, Centech, Posi-Lock,
and other parts. A knowledgeable guy, with a somewhat different
viewpoint at times. Quality products, some of which are
VERY handy.
Here is the URL for the Chicago Region BMW
Club, the source for their various repair manuals.
http://www.crbmw.com
The tuneup manual; 10K manual, tire manual, etc., is
still available.
The
Electrics manual, now priced at $30 (?), is simply THE best
electrics manual for airheads, and Oak was primarily responsible
for that manual. HIGHLY recommended. This is THE
Airhead electrics manual to own!
That website also has some information on the background of
that Club, and the background on Oak, etc., and those various
manuals. There is a CRITIQUE of the electrics manual on MY site: chitechelmn.htm
If you own one of these manuals, I suggest you use my critique,
to update your manual.
Here is a URL for a website page that
I suggest you IMMEDIATELY print:
An excellent schematic and
discussion of the basic charging system. I SUGGEST you PRINT a copy and keep it in your
reference material...as, who knows how long it will remain
on-line.
www.buchanan1.net/charge.shtml
NOTE!!...I found an error on
that schematic, so please annotate your copy. I have
notified the author twice, the last time late in 2009, AND.. I can't be sure if he will fix the
schematic or not. It was not fixed on 10/31/2009. On the lower right area of the
schematic are two arrows and the words "Big Diodes". Remove
those arrows dealing with the WORDS and remove the words at that area. All the other
notations are correct, although you may want to make a note that
the dotted lines from the Stator center-tap go to two small
diodes.
For another URL with just the schematic: http://www.thunderchild-design.com/images/charg1.gif
A few more references
http://uk.groups.yahoo.com/group/KRADRIDER
http://www.bmbikes.co.uk/
This is Phil Hawksley's website.....lots of
good information there.
http://autos.groups.yahoo.com/group/kbmw
Yeah, I know, a K bike group. A good
one. I participate on that LIST
http://www.beemergarage.com/bulletin.html
Has factory bulletins for the pre-/5 bikes.
http://www.beemergarage.com/literature.html
This URL for them has a LOT of literature, all sorts of
things, definitely worth a long look-see. This one is NOT
just for the pre-/5.
http://autos.groups.yahoo.com/group/slash2/
http://www.bmwbike.com/
This URL link will take you to the Mark Huggett
BMW Mobile Tradition site.....a source and reference for,
especially, OLD BMW parts, restorations, work, etc.
OLDER BMW
MOTORCYCLES (and, in some cases, the /5 and /6 models too):
This
section has a list of sources for parts, information,
literature, technical and every sort of help for your
PRE-1970 BMW motorcycle. In
alphabetical order (sort-of). SOME of those listed
are also good sources for POST-1970.
Mobile Tradition is BMW's own outlet for
information, parts, etc., for older BMW products. BMW has
been changing the website address for such as their Mobile
Tradition Teilekatalog, and you may have to do a search, or
contact your dealership, to find out the correct web address.
NOTE! Snowbum has not
worked on Vintage BMW bikes in decades. Snowbum's extensive
notebooks on the /2 era bikes
disappeared around
1975. Please refer to knowledgeable folks listed on
this page, not Snowbum!
NOTE: See article 78B for lots of
additional references, for airheads....and some pre-airheads.
Duane Ausherman: His website with a
lot of technical articles covers much of the /2 era, as well as
the /5 and some applicable to later models. He has a somewhat unique way of presenting
information that you may appreciate:
http://w6rec.com
This is also the home to Randy Glass'
major and SUPERB illustrated article on /5 (and later) front fork
alignment.
Bayrische Magnetzünder http://www.magnetos.de German website, magnetos parts and service
Bob's BMW http://www.bobsbmw.com
A good source
Blue Moon BMW. Online catalog, exploded parts
diagrams. Bikes, parts, tech.
http://www.bluemooncycle.com
Boxerworks.
http://www.boxerworks.com
Clever BMW tools, videos, and help:
Ed
Korn previously did business as Cycle Works, in Oregon
(yes,
that is the town name in the State of Wisconsin). He did some
machine work, had LOTS of
tools (and some parts) for
everything from the Isetta cars, through the /2 era, until the
Airheads stopped production in the late 90's. He had a
rather
extensive line of tools, some VERY cleverly designed, and he had
instructions, videos, all sorts of stuff. Doing
a run-through
of his website is informative to many folks. Ed sold the
business to Cycle Works LLC, located at 5805 Haskins Street,
Shawnee, KS, 66216 (913) 871-6740. Contact the
new owner at: Dan@cycleworks.net
((NOT .com!!)). The url is:
www.cycleworks.net
MORE TOOLS: FOR SURE see
my ENTIRE tools.htm article!!!!
Darryl Richman. Reach him through his website http://darryl.crafty-fox.com
Lots of knowledge and can probably direct you to where
you need
to go for things.
http://www.ebay.com
THE premier auction site. Some sources for
vintage BMW parts even have full-time stores run through Ebay.
Alex Gaenssle.
Machine shop and other work. In Germany.
English spoken.
His old website address does NOT work.
John's Beemer Garage. Catalogs, drawings.
http://www.beemergarage.com
Kradrider LIST War
bikes http://geschichte.cjb.cc/d2b
Mark Hugget GmbH; in Switzerland.
Restoration forum, on-line shop, lots of parts.
http://www.bmwbike.com
Old Timers Garage. New made parts. Poland. http://www.oldtimergarage.szn.pl
Slash 2. http://autos.groups.yahoo.com/group/slash2/
One of the Yahoo groups. It does NOT deal 'just' with
the /2 bikes, but with all vintage BMW bikes:
Hans Radstaack h.radstaack@planet.nl.
Dutch specialist, speaks English. For early magnetos.
Vintage BMW Motorcycles. One of the many Yahoo Groups
http://autos.groups.yahoo.com/group/vintagebmwmotorcycles/
Vintage BMW Motorcycle Owners http://www.vintagebmw.org
http://www.beemergarage.com/bulletin.html
Has factory bulletins for the pre-/5 bikes.
Bench Mark Works, Craig Vechorik:
http://members.aol.com/VechBMW/index.html
An excellent source for information, parts, and technical
help, etc. Two divisions, one in Mississippi,
one in Canada.
Snowbum disagrees with his remarks on not using GL5 oil.
Vetch stocks parts for the old BMW's....and
quite a few for the
later bikes, including manuals and other literature.
Well worth your time to browse this site. Almost a must if you
have a
pre-airhead (before 1970 models).
****I don't typically discuss the /2 and /3 bikes.
I also do not follow Vech's site, nor the sites for the older
bikes. Two reasons. One is
that my huge notebooks on the
/2 and /3 era bikes was somehow lost. The other reason is
that these old bikes have a specialized
following, some of whom are much
more knowledgeable than I am...as my memory has faded on them over
the years, as I got further
and further away from working on
them. However, there are some sources for information, such
as /2 LIST on the internet, and
in a very few books.
One of the books that is just about a must to own is the
Barrington Motor Works BMW /2 Restoration and Service Manual.
This is a well done book, reviewed by many 'experts' in the field
before it was published. The book is roughly $100, and
worth it.
contact
brrngmtrwks@metrocast.net or call 607-664-2673
MODEL
SPECIFIC SITES:
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/5united/
http://www.slash5.net/
http://autos.groups.yahoo.com/group/slash5-BS/
I am sure you can figure out what -BS means on
the above
http://www.R65.org
That is for R45 and R65
http://autos.groups.yahoo.com/group/R90SWORLDNET
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/R80STriders
http://autos.groups.yahoo.com/group/kbmw
This is almost entirely for the CLASSIC K bikes (K1, K75, K100,
K1100). High on TECH.
You can get a list of motorcycle makes,
models, various groups, from the server at micapeak.com:
http://www.micapeak.com/mailman/listinfo
Just one such group is: http://www.micapeak.com/bmw/gs/
((and, that above URL has a lot more than just
GS. You will find good descriptions of all the various
Monolever and Paralever bikes, including GS; G/S; ST.....))
OTHER SITES:
http://www.bmw-z1.com/VIN/VINdecode-e.cgi
for serial numbers and general production
dates, there are several sites for this sort of thing, here is
another one:
http://www.ibmwr.org/otech/chassis.html
There is a vin decoder of a different sort on my (this) site too....see the article IDnumbrs.htm Lots of information, including HOW TO READ VIN NUMBERS.
http://www.dynaonline.com/english/instruct/index.htm
Instruction sheets for Dyna
ignition conversions, etc.
http://www.bmwmoa.org
BMW Motorcycle Owners of America website.
Click on Country Store to get back issues.
Mike Hamende has sold Airhead Salvage and
Sales, that was near Austin Texas.
The company is now called Martindale Motorcycle Works, in
Martindale, Texas...it is still in business; ....airhead, oilhead, and K salvaged parts.
The new owner is Mike Orloff.
The new phone number is (512) 357-3842
Same website and e-mail address as before:
Mike@airheadsalvage.com
http://www.airheadsalvage.com
http://stores.ebay.com/Airhead-Motorcycle-Salvage-Sales
See my REFERENCES page for more salvage places, MORE sources for parts and sources for most everything else.
Koni no longer makes shocks for our
airheads. The Koni name and tooling was sold, and the new
company DOES have products, including repair parts:
http://www.ikonsuspension.com/
You can also probably get the Ikon AND Koni parts you need (or,
even overhauls) from Dave Gardner;
ikonusa@gmail.com.
He is located in San Francisco.
Hagon Shocks:
Hagon Products Co.
7 Roebuck Road;
Hainault Industrial Estate;
Essex IG6 3JH;
England
www.hagonshocks.co.uk
phone: 0208 0502 6222;
fax: 0208 502 6274
Wilbers is a good aftermarket shock,
available from sources that are Members of the Airheads Mailing
List, of micapeak.com
http://autos.groups.yahoo.com/group/SCT
Sidecars, SideCarTalk is the group
name, sometimes referred to as SCT2. This is THE
group for sidecar technical help.
NOTE.....there is a sidecar section
on my website, more than just one article...but....here is a link
to just one article, it has some sidecar specific URL's: sidecarURL.htm
Lots
of references are on the Airheads Club website:
http://www.airheads.org
That website has technical articles written by
myself....and many others. Click on that main page under
Technical Tips. a clickable link on the left side of the page. There are quite a few pages to the Technical
Tips section.
Bing
carburetor page.....scan down to your carburetor
model, and then see what components it is made up of:
http://www.bingpower.com/english/service/einstellblaetter.html
Here is the name of a source for electrical
sockets, plugs, cables, kits, far beyond what is in most
autoparts stores or your BMW dealership. High quality stuff
here. Powerlet Products. You
can do a Google on that, or try Whitehorse Press, they have a
catalog that includes Powerlet Products. Powerlet's
website is the more comprehensive. Here is information on a
solid source, repeated from earlier:
Jim Davis, Owner, Eastern Beaver Company:
http://easternbeaver.com/
Motorcycle Relay Kits, Modulator Kits, Powerlet, Centech, Posi-Lock,
Parts. A knowledgeable guy, with a somewhat different
viewpoint at times. Quality products, some of which are
VERY handy.
Speedometer work: North Hollywood
Speedometer www.nhspeedometer.com
( I can no longer recommend P.A.S. for such work).
TOOLS:
TOOLS: clever BMW tools, videos,
and help: Ed
Korn previously did business as Cycle Works, in Oregon
(yes,
that is the town name in the State of Wisconsin). He did some
machine work, had LOTS of
tools (and some parts) for
everything from the Isetta cars, through the /2 era, until the
Airheads stopped production in the late 90's. He had a
rather
extensive line of tools, some VERY cleverly designed, and he had
instructions, videos, all sorts of stuff. Doing
a run-through
of his website is informative to many folks. Ed sold the
business to Cycle Works LLC, located at 5805 Haskins Street,
Shawnee, KS, 66216 (913) 871-6740. Contact the
new owner at: Dan@cycleworks.net
((NOT .com!!)). The url is:
www.cycleworks.net
NOTE!...I have a major article on TOOLS.... tools.htm.
That article lists LOTS of tool sources, besides the above one.
Be sure to read that article fully (besides the humor at the
top).
Computer
'characters' (no, not your crazy friends):
What follows is NOT intended to be a
course in ASCII and other characters, but is intended to give you
a working knowledge, and quickly.
This is for your information so you can put the
characters you want into WORD and other word processing
documents, as well as in E-Mails!!
Foreign characters; special punctuation marks;
degree symbol, and many dozens more are available from your
computer. I will give information here for Windows computers. There are TWO basic METHODS of getting these
characters on
screen. ONE method in Windows systems is to find the
Character Map (Start->Programs->Accessories->System
Tools->Character map) and use it. IT IS SLOW TO DO IT
THIS WAY, SINCE YOU MUST DO SEVERAL OPERATIONS. Still, the
character map can be useful. You might want to put
a shortcut to the Character map on the desktop (before clicking
to bring the program on screen, right click the listing, and send
it to the desktop as a shortcut). Using
the Character Map is a bit of a hassle. You
might want to spend some time looking at the various Character
Map versions (try also changing the font inside the Character
Map...won't affect your other computer uses). It
does allow you access to hundreds of special symbols, all sorts
of fonts variations, which have their own sets of characters
sometimes, and so on.
MOST of you will only use
ASCII characters, and there is a MUCH easier way of dealing with
them, which follows below:
Here is primarily what you
will probably end up knowing.....and using!....
Certain
keyboard key stroke COMBINATIONS will put ASCII characters on the
screen. Although the font you have your computer set up to
use, in any one program (WORD, or E-mail, or whatever), will
somewhat determine certain things about these ASCII characters;
99% of the time you won't care about the differences, and will
simply use the key stroke combinations to bring up the desired
character. This is done by you pressing and holding
the ALT key, ...and then, while still
holding that key, enter a THREE OR FOUR digit number from the RIGHT
SIDE keyboard pad. You can, if you want to,
turn ON the NumLock key first. Computer folks refer to these characters as ASCII
characters. Originally, there were combinations available
for 256 of these particular characters. If they show on
your screen, they USUALLY will
display OK on other folks screens. There are a few
exceptions. The 'and' symbol
(&), might show a question mark...and a few other
anomalies...on FOREIGN (NON-USA) computers. For a rather complete listing of all these
characters (be prepared to print them):
http://www.keyboardhelp.net
Here is an example of a few ASCII symbols and how to get them.
Note that in many instances of foreign letter characters, ASCII
characters are available in both lower and upper case.
HERE, the plus sign, +, means only that you HOLD the ALT key
down, and then at the same time, push the number keys on the
RIGHT side of your keyboard. Laptop owners may need
to press the Fn key, or some other combination, and there is no
right side number keyboard for laptop owners....so, for laptop
owners, see your documentation.
°, the degree symbol, is ALT + 0176
¢, the cents symbol, is ALT + 0162
£, the money pound symbol, is ALT + 0163
©, the copyright symbol, is ALT + 0169
¿, the Spanish beginning sentence question mark, is ALT + 0191
ü, the widely used German character, is ALT + 0252.
You can, as with most letters, get the upper case. Here it
is Ü, from ALT + 0220
The ASCII chart listings include 'strange' punctuation marks,
even a space non-character and some exponent numbers, and some
fractions.
NOTE: when you type on your keyboard, for 'regular' letters (both upper and lower case), and all numbers, and all punctuation, ETC., as shown on your keyboard, those are all actually ASCII symbols; that your keyboard key converts to, in essence, an ALT + xxxx type electronic signal. This is a very simplified way of describing it, but is adequate here. Beginning at ALT + 0140, non-keyboard characters are available.
NOTE: If you went into your Windows
computer settings for KEYBOARD (start>control panel>keyboard),
you could reset your keyboard for quite a few foreign styles.
UNfortunately, you would need to catalog and then remark your
keys unless you owned a foreign keyboard. When you travel
to foreign countries, which often, but not always use foreign
keyboards, they MAY OR MAY NOT be using a keyboard corresponding
to that country's settings for the keyboard. You can reset
the setting, as noted; or, you must find out which are the
important keys you must know.
The ONE key combination
that may drive you nuts, so ASK a local person if you can not
find it, is the @ symbol. The @ symbol may require
two keystrokes; just like in bringing up an ASCII symbol.
You can't send E-mail without the @ symbol.
FYI, the USA/English keyboard basic way to get the @ symbol is:
ALT + 64
yes, that
was only TWO digits.
For those of you that use WORD, there are all sorts of
interesting characters available, depending on how WORD is set
up, and the year of the WORD. Microsoft greatly expanded
all this for WORD 2007 (well, really Office 2007). You can
get all sorts of math characters, math equations, etc....not just
the characters that Microsoft supplies in everyone's Windows
computers in the character map (and the ASCII key strokes).
I will be happy to provide information on how to use the key
strokes, etc., if you are confused by all this. But, DO
print that keyboardhelp website information...it has basic
instructions too.
NOT all available characters are available on your computer. ALSO, there are many combinations NOT shown.
Revisions:
03/12/2006: incorporated all prev. revisions, and updated
URL's for parts and prices sources, re-arrange order of things
for clarity.
05/22/2006: add http://vintagebmw.org
07/19/2006: update URL's, and information on a few
companies
08/01/2006: add R45/R65 URL; and r-arrange the entire page
01/13/2007: update salvage yards
02/16/2007: re-arrange for electrics stuff in one area; add
latest contact info for Chitech; P.A.S. note
06/01/2007: minor editing.
06/02/2007: more ASCII information; add Jim Davis' Eastern
Beaver
08/06/2007: Update Anton's website URL information
12/14/2007: added more info on beemergarage
01/01/2008: Fix Chicago BMW Club address
01/03/2008: Add hyperlink for German words
01/06/2008: move driveshaft information to References page
01/07/2008: fix moa.org country store hyperlink problem
01/07/2008: fix crbmw.org website url; remove "For
the R80GS and R100GS, only, take a look at: wendell/gs/node1.html
The
link and top domain is dead
01/18/2008: remove F, OT, Z, S information to article 39
01/19/2008: Update Cycleworks (tools)
07/10/2009: Minor updates, re: Barrington
08/31/2009: update on Chicago's manuals. Check
buchanan's site...still has wrong notations.
10/31/2009: lots of updating of URLs, information, etc.
12/31/2009: Update entire article, add lots more to ASCII
too.
01/01/2010: Add Mobile Tradition information, which was
inadvertently left out during a prior update
03/16/2010: Clean up the article....still messy, but I
eliminated MANY duplications, huge font changes, etc.
03/27/2010: Updated Airhead Salvage information
04/20/2010: Remove and modify some hyperlinks
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