The book, by chapter
Twenty-six chapters. Every figure sourced.
A workshop reference for the BMW two-valve boxers, 1969 to 1996, written beside an '81 R 100 RT. These pages are the book's own tables, in plain form, for reading and for finding. The book itself resolves every one of them to your model and year.
Free to read. One payment, once, resolves it to your bike. Works offline.
Open the book- I
A History of the AirheadIt began, as good engineering often does, with a complaint. In 1922 the Treaty of Versailles had forbidden Germany from building aircraft en… - II
Which One to BuyTwenty-five years of production, and the differences between one end and the other are larger than newcomers expect. A 1972 /5 and a 1993 R1… - III
The Short CourseEverything else in this book answers a question you already know to ask. This chapter is for the questions you do not — the order to do thin… - IV
The ToolboxMost of an airhead comes apart with ordinary metric tools and patience. What stops the job is never the socket set — it is the one purpose-m… - V
Maintenance ScheduleThere is no single factory schedule that spans 1969 to 1995. BMW's published intervals changed with the models, and the only one reproduced … - VI
Torque SpecificationsEvery number in this chapter is a compromise between two failures. Too little and the joint works loose under vibration that never stops; to… - VII
Valve GearAn airhead tells you how it is doing through its valve gear. The tick that turns into a tap, the exhaust note that goes flat on one side, th… - VIII
Bottom EndYou will open the bottom end perhaps once in your ownership, and when you do, everything depends on numbers you cannot judge by feel. Bearin… - IX
Cylinders & PistonsIn late 1980 BMW changed what an airhead cylinder fundamentally is . Before: a cast-iron liner in a finned aluminium jacket, honeable, rebor… - X
General & TuneThe broad strokes: what the engine is, how hard it may be worked, and the compression numbers that tell you whether the rest of this book ap… - XI
Carburetion — Bing CVConstant-depression carburettors confuse people because nothing moves when you expect it to. Twist the throttle and the slide does not obey … - XII
Transmission & Final DriveThe airhead gearbox has a reputation it half deserves. It is not fragile, but it is unforgiving of assembly error, and it hides its complain… - XIII
Splines & Driveline LubricationThis is the chapter that saves gearboxes. Everything else in this book is a number you look up once; this is a job you have to keep doing, o… - XIV
ElectricalMost airhead electrical mysteries are not mysteries. They are a handful of well-documented design consequences that surprise each new owner … - XV
Capacities & FluidsFour separate oil compartments, each with its own fluid, its own interval and its own drain plug hiding somewhere unhelpful. Get familiar wi… - XVI
Upgrades & ModificationsThere is a version of this hobby where originality is the point, and this chapter is not for it. This is for the rest of us — the people who… - XVII
Finishes & CoatingsFinish work is where good builds are won and lost, because it is the part everyone sees and the part that fails first when the preparation i… - XVIII
Resources — Parts SourcingThree decades after the last of these bikes left Berlin, parts availability remains extraordinary — provided you search the way the trade se… - XIX
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- XXI
Build GallerySpecifications describe what a motorcycle is. Photographs argue about what it could be. - XXII
- XXIII
Sources & ConflictsA reference is only worth the sources behind it, and the sources for these motorcycles do not always agree. - XXIV
The LibraryNo single book covers an airhead properly. The workshop manuals carry the procedures and the errors; the factory literature carries the spec… - XXV
- XXVI
Known Issues & TroubleshootingSix failure patterns account for most of what ever goes wrong with an airhead: the charging system quits, the spark disappears, the idle fal…