Just bought my first motorbike: '85 R80RT with 84k original miles. While researching my new hobby, I've stumbled upon your channel and have REALLY enjoyed watching and listening. You do an excellent quality of work that should inspire anyone who watches!!! I've also been able to identify many parts that accompanied the bike as spares/extras/cores just from watching your well-produced videos. Thank you!!! Keep up the exemplary, high-quality restorations.
Thank-you for posting.Your attention to detail is a pleasure to watch.If it wasn't for the internet and individuals like you,I would be lost working on my airheads.
You are a fantastic an orator plus your knowledge is so useful to me. I l now live in South Africa and am on the progress of resurrecting an r 100 rs to its former glory. Was a suzuki, Ktm Maico husqvarna and Montesa dealer in Allentown pa. During the 1980to 1999. Fought to life and restored a 1980 gs80 gs ended selling same as it was very cramped for mysize13 boots and long legs. I also own two r 1200 gs bmw,s both restored from dropped exhaust valve syndrome. Nice bikes but I concider them unreliable. So well proven valves plus fuel pump speed controller that have failed on both. Thank you for the wonderful videos. Electrics are my weakness. In South Africa we replace nothing that still functions, bearings seals etc. thank you again and your videos of how to do are more than fantastic. My current project is an r100 rs with a bad trans. Have sorted a trans but half assembled electrics are my nemesis.many thanks for your calm words of wisdom. Cheers pepe limantour
Pepe, thank you for your kind words. I have friends in South Africa near Cape Town and did a motorcycle tour of the garden route to Port Elizabeth and then through the karoo. South Africa is beautiful. :-)
I truly hope the dielectric grease is not going to bite back. I used to do the same you do, put some dielectric grease on spate connector until just recently. I broke down because of the grease on electrical connectors. Dielectric grease is good for weather proofing but it actually is non conductive (it has a very high resistance to the flow of electricity). I had put that grease on some connector inside the headlight bucket of my airhead. On a nice summer ride I suddenly got flickering light and then my bike died. Since the engine dieing and the flickering of the lights (including instrument lights) came together I thought I had ignition issues. After a few minutes of looking at things I ended up opening the headlight bucket and was greeted by some small puffs of smoke. After longer investigation I found the dielectric grease on some connectors had turn completely black (thick red power wire connection) after cleaning all that off the connection was restored and i went on my way. Great videos, very educational. Keep up the good work.
Heiko, I shot a short addition and added a link to it in the video where I show using the dielectric grease. The addition shows NO-OX-ID "A Special" for fighting corrosion rather than dielectric grease. --> --th-cam.com/video/ApCXi7oFTfg/w-d-xo.html I think NO-OX-ID is a better solution, particularly with multi-pin connectors which I don't apply dielectric grease too as the mechanical abrasion from the pins is not enough to scrape the dielectric grease off the contact surfaces. I have found that spade terminals seem to do okay with dielectric grease because of the physical scrapping of the contact surfaces which removes the grease. But, I think NO-OX-ID is going to be my new "go to" for electrical connector corrosion prevention.
Lou Lou, you're welcome. BTW, you asked about the Cycle Works Stage III tools and if they are required to remove your crankshaft, but that question disappeared. The answer is yes those are the needed tools to get the crankshaft out.
@@BrooksAirheadGarage Love your work and it has helped me alot..I was wondering..I plan on puting in the new Alternator and I was wondering can it be done without taking the engine out as you have ? thank you
Brooks, After your videos, i bought R100RS 1988, and start doing it! Thank you so much for your videos! You are awesome! You help me to make my dreams come true!
First, I have to tell you that you are a damned fine Airhead professor. I reckon I have spent hours in your youtube classroom without any hint of boredom. I have turned a lot of wrenches on a lot of vehicles. Every one has its quirks and a guy can save a lot of time, effort and cussing, if he learns some tricks from those who have already walked the walk. A couple of weeks ago, I finally found the bike I have always wanted: a R100RT. It's a 1981 model. I have had a few Beemers before...an '86 K100RT and a '96 R1100RT...but my favorite bike has always been an old R60 6/5 (a /6 with /5 forks) that a buddy let me ride for a couple of years. I have also had a few Honda's and Yamahas as well...good bikes but just not THE bike for me. The previous owner of my R100RT was not mechanically inclined so there was some work to be done. The main problem was no charge and no GEN light. After some digging around, I stumbled upon your vids and Snowbum's site. You guys helped me get my issues sorted. Thanks.
Thanks Brooks ✌,, Great tutorial 💯👍. The glad you shared the Euro website. I've been refurbishing a 75 Moto Guzzi 850t (big block) since 2015🤷♂️. It's been a long slow ride(budgetary) and hopefully I have it completed and running before I die😵😂. It uses the exact same Bosch system you highlighted here, minus some routing differences. I elected to eliminate the diode board and go w/a modern Reg/Rec setup. The electrical system was completely dilapidated so a total refresh was in order. And electric's are not my specialty 🤦♂️. Have a great day, Cheers 🍻, G. in beautiful Boulder City Nv. USA 🇺🇸
Hi Brooks, In Help of expert knowledge. I am based in Germany and have a r100GS from 1992, so should be /7. My battery check light came on after swapping for a hawker 680 and now I can't ride it anymore. It will start but it runs like crap, won't rev and dies when I left off the gas. All my research points to the diode board. I got it out and checked it through, all condensers etc are good but I have a connection between the two sides. So I ordered an upgraded diode board from elektronik Sachse. However, after seeing your video I am questioning my decision. Is it better to spend more money and completely change everything? Is there a kit that gets rid off all electrical charging plus switches to digital ignition that you can recommend? I do have heated grips on mine at the moment and would love to have a couple of auxiliaries like usb charging and possibly night lights . Thanks in advance and thank you for the very good video!
Question - at the 13:00 minute mark, you show the routing of a black wire and then go on to show that it connects to the spade terminal on the starter solenoid, however, I did not see where the connection is on the alternator side. Could you identify the letter of the connection, and or placement/purpose of it in the overall schematic?
Porter, that black wire does not go to the alternator, but to a small white plug on the other end of that sub-harness that has a BLUE and BLACK wire that you can see at 12:19 at the top of the picture. That plugs into a companion connector in the main wiring harness.
@@BrooksAirheadGarage My guess is that this is the trigger power to the starter? I am not using the stock harness, so I was wondering about the other end of it.
@@portergieske The starter button sends power to the starter relay. When the starter relay closes, it sends power to the starter solenoid relay via that black wire. When the starter solenoid relay closes, the solenoid sends power to the starter motor.
Brook. can you explain to me what the wires do ? the three phase wires i get. but the other. as in D - & Df and the other single wire i'm scratching my head . thanks
James, I explain all about the electrical system, circuits and electrical components, including details about all the wires, on my web site: --> brook.reams.me/bmw-airhead-motorcycle-electrical-systems/
Hi, I fitted a solid state reg/rectifier to my late 70s R100 and the wiring diagram that comes with it shows brown to DF and black to D- Does that seem right to you?
Hi Neal, (-) is ground on these bikes. In the DIN wiring standard, used by BMW, Brown is the color for a ground wire. DF is the (+) to the rotor so that is the Black wire. That said, if the Brown and Black wires come from the R/R unit instead of the original R100 wiring harness, I'd call the manufacturer to verify what goes where as wire colors used by third parties frequently don't conform to the BMW DIN standard.
Thanks a lot for these videos! Very helpful while working on my own build project. I have a few questions I was hoping you could help answer - where do the black and blue wires that come out of the grommet along with the voltage regulator plug connect to? Also, what is the purpose of the connector that comes out of the battery cable?
Hi Brook, I'm still working to figure out where these connections go to. I don't have a gen light on my bike at this point so I figure one of them connects to this? Would appreciate any insight! Thanks!
@@kurtwalker88 Hi Kurt..I was wondering if you could help me..Im replacing my alternator with the new 400 W and can I do it without taking the engine out ..If there enough room if I turn the front wheel to be able to do what I have to..thanks
@@lowellgeddes8996 depends on if you have the fairing on etc as wel but you should be able to. However it’ll be a lot easier if you remove the front wheel.
Hi John, To be accurate, it's a 400 watt maximum output at 14.3 volts. That requires about 28 amps. The cable length is no more than 4 feet. So, 12 AWG wire will work which has a metric cross-section of about 3.3 mm^2. BMW use 4 mm^2 cross-section wire so this works fine with the higher output alternator.
Just bought my first motorbike: '85 R80RT with 84k original miles. While researching my new hobby, I've stumbled upon your channel and have REALLY enjoyed watching and listening. You do an excellent quality of work that should inspire anyone who watches!!! I've also been able to identify many parts that accompanied the bike as spares/extras/cores just from watching your well-produced videos. Thank you!!! Keep up the exemplary, high-quality restorations.
Thank-you for posting.Your attention to detail is a pleasure to watch.If it wasn't for the internet and individuals like you,I would be lost working on my airheads.
I was telling him ..does he have any idea of how many people he has helped...
You are a fantastic an orator plus your knowledge is so useful to me. I l now live in South Africa and am on the progress of resurrecting an r 100 rs to its former glory. Was a suzuki, Ktm Maico husqvarna and Montesa dealer in Allentown pa. During the 1980to 1999. Fought to life and restored a 1980 gs80 gs ended selling same as it was very cramped for mysize13 boots and long legs. I also own two r 1200 gs bmw,s both restored from dropped exhaust valve syndrome. Nice bikes but I concider them unreliable. So well proven valves plus fuel pump speed controller that have failed on both. Thank you for the wonderful videos. Electrics are my weakness. In South Africa we replace nothing that still functions, bearings seals etc. thank you again and your videos of how to do are more than fantastic. My current project is an r100 rs with a bad trans. Have sorted a trans but half assembled electrics are my nemesis.many thanks for your calm words of wisdom. Cheers pepe limantour
Pepe, thank you for your kind words. I have friends in South Africa near Cape Town and did a motorcycle tour of the garden route to Port Elizabeth and then through the karoo. South Africa is beautiful. :-)
I truly hope the dielectric grease is not going to bite back. I used to do the same you do, put some dielectric grease on spate connector until just recently. I broke down because of the grease on electrical connectors.
Dielectric grease is good for weather proofing but it actually is non conductive (it has a very high resistance to the flow of electricity).
I had put that grease on some connector inside the headlight bucket of my airhead. On a nice summer ride I suddenly got flickering light and then my bike died. Since the engine dieing and the flickering of the lights (including instrument lights) came together I thought I had ignition issues.
After a few minutes of looking at things I ended up opening the headlight bucket and was greeted by some small puffs of smoke.
After longer investigation I found the dielectric grease on some connectors had turn completely black (thick red power wire connection) after cleaning all that off the connection was restored and i went on my way.
Great videos, very educational. Keep up the good work.
Heiko, I shot a short addition and added a link to it in the video where I show using the dielectric grease. The addition shows NO-OX-ID "A Special" for fighting corrosion rather than dielectric grease.
--> --th-cam.com/video/ApCXi7oFTfg/w-d-xo.html
I think NO-OX-ID is a better solution, particularly with multi-pin connectors which I don't apply dielectric grease too as the mechanical abrasion from the pins is not enough to scrape the dielectric grease off the contact surfaces. I have found that spade terminals seem to do okay with dielectric grease because of the physical scrapping of the contact surfaces which removes the grease. But, I think NO-OX-ID is going to be my new "go to" for electrical connector corrosion prevention.
An exceptionally explanation of the task on hand. Thanks heaps. My Euro MotoElectrics 400 Watt Charging System is now on order. Thanks heaps.
Lou Lou, you're welcome. BTW, you asked about the Cycle Works Stage III tools and if they are required to remove your crankshaft, but that question disappeared. The answer is yes those are the needed tools to get the crankshaft out.
@@BrooksAirheadGarage Thanks so much, I think the Stage ll should work well enough for me.
Absolutely excellent Brooks. You have a real gift for how-to’s with clear and unambiguous explanations and great videography.
Well done indeed!
Hi Peter, Thank you so much for the kind words. I appreciate it very much.
@@BrooksAirheadGarage Love your work and it has helped me alot..I was wondering..I plan on puting in the new Alternator and I was wondering can it be done without taking the engine out as you have ? thank you
@@lowellgeddes8996 Yes, you can work on the alternator with the engine in the frame. I removed my since I want to have the frame powder coated.
Clear, concise and complete ...as usual. Thanks, Brook!
You're welcome Frank.
I have sent this video piece to a highly respected BMW shop, useful to very many.
Thank you John.
Brooks, After your videos, i bought R100RS 1988, and start doing it! Thank you so much for your videos! You are awesome! You help me to make my dreams come true!
Hi Алексей, Thank you for the kind note. I wish you much happiness with your project and eventual new ride. :-)
First, I have to tell you that you are a damned fine Airhead professor. I reckon I have spent hours in your youtube classroom without any hint of boredom. I have turned a lot of wrenches on a lot of vehicles. Every one has its quirks and a guy can save a lot of time, effort and cussing, if he learns some tricks from those who have already walked the walk.
A couple of weeks ago, I finally found the bike I have always wanted: a R100RT. It's a 1981 model. I have had a few Beemers before...an '86 K100RT and a '96 R1100RT...but my favorite bike has always been an old R60 6/5 (a /6 with /5 forks) that a buddy let me ride for a couple of years. I have also had a few Honda's and Yamahas as well...good bikes but just not THE bike for me.
The previous owner of my R100RT was not mechanically inclined so there was some work to be done. The main problem was no charge and no GEN light. After some digging around, I stumbled upon your vids and Snowbum's site. You guys helped me get my issues sorted. Thanks.
You're Welcome Joe. It nice to hear that this material is helpful.
Excellent show and a great upgrade.
Thank you. 🙂
Your work and the way you show it is exemplary. I really can't thank you enough.
Thank you for the kind words witofthestaircase1.
Beautifully explained. I feel like doing it to my 1982 R100CS...Thanks Brooks.
You’re welcome Shiv.
Excellent instalation video.
Thank you CS.
Thanks Brooks ✌,,
Great tutorial 💯👍.
The glad you shared the Euro website.
I've been refurbishing a 75 Moto Guzzi 850t (big block) since 2015🤷♂️. It's been a long slow ride(budgetary) and hopefully I have it completed and running before I die😵😂.
It uses the exact same Bosch system you highlighted here, minus some routing differences.
I elected to eliminate the diode board and go w/a modern Reg/Rec setup.
The electrical system was completely dilapidated so a total refresh was in order. And electric's are not my specialty 🤦♂️.
Have a great day,
Cheers 🍻, G. in beautiful Boulder City Nv. USA 🇺🇸
You're welcome Gabriel.
What a great resource, thanks...
You're welcome Paul. :-)
Great video! You explain perfectly 🙏🏽 thanks from Sweden
Thank you.
Very good video, updates and all
Good video and weary good explanation of what you are doing 👍👍👍👍😎
Was waiting for the "bean can" ( ign.) I replaced mine with a Power Arc LED.
awesome video, thank you.
just found this video! super informative!
Hi Spencer, Thanks for coming by and taking a look. I glad the content is helpful.
Did that, put a Thunderchild external voltage regulator
Loved it! Very informative! Thank you!
You're welcome. Thanks for stopping by and taking the time to watch.
sssadamsssevolve: You're welcome. Thanks for coming by and watching.
Hi Brooks,
In Help of expert knowledge. I am based in Germany and have a r100GS from 1992, so should be /7.
My battery check light came on after swapping for a hawker 680 and now I can't ride it anymore. It will start but it runs like crap, won't rev and dies when I left off the gas.
All my research points to the diode board. I got it out and checked it through, all condensers etc are good but I have a connection between the two sides. So I ordered an upgraded diode board from elektronik Sachse.
However, after seeing your video I am questioning my decision.
Is it better to spend more money and completely change everything?
Is there a kit that gets rid off all electrical charging plus switches to digital ignition that you can recommend?
I do have heated grips on mine at the moment and would love to have a couple of auxiliaries like usb charging and possibly night lights .
Thanks in advance and thank you for the very good video!
This is great.
Thanks Berni.
Want to contact manufacturers of r1000rs1983 baxertwo cylinder opposed engine.
Question - at the 13:00 minute mark, you show the routing of a black wire and then go on to show that it connects to the spade terminal on the starter solenoid, however, I did not see where the connection is on the alternator side. Could you identify the letter of the connection, and or placement/purpose of it in the overall schematic?
Porter, that black wire does not go to the alternator, but to a small white plug on the other end of that sub-harness that has a BLUE and BLACK wire that you can see at 12:19 at the top of the picture. That plugs into a companion connector in the main wiring harness.
@@BrooksAirheadGarage My guess is that this is the trigger power to the starter? I am not using the stock harness, so I was wondering about the other end of it.
@@portergieske The starter button sends power to the starter relay. When the starter relay closes, it sends power to the starter solenoid relay via that black wire. When the starter solenoid relay closes, the solenoid sends power to the starter motor.
Brook. can you explain to me what the wires do ? the three phase wires i get. but the other. as in D - & Df and the other single wire i'm scratching my head . thanks
James, I explain all about the electrical system, circuits and electrical components, including details about all the wires, on my web site:
--> brook.reams.me/bmw-airhead-motorcycle-electrical-systems/
Hi, I fitted a solid state reg/rectifier to my late 70s R100 and the wiring diagram that comes with it shows brown to DF and black to D- Does that seem right to you?
Hi Neal, (-) is ground on these bikes. In the DIN wiring standard, used by BMW, Brown is the color for a ground wire. DF is the (+) to the rotor so that is the Black wire. That said, if the Brown and Black wires come from the R/R unit instead of the original R100 wiring harness, I'd call the manufacturer to verify what goes where as wire colors used by third parties frequently don't conform to the BMW DIN standard.
Thanks a lot for these videos! Very helpful while working on my own build project. I have a few questions I was hoping you could help answer - where do the black and blue wires that come out of the grommet along with the voltage regulator plug connect to? Also, what is the purpose of the connector that comes out of the battery cable?
Hi Brook, I'm still working to figure out where these connections go to. I don't have a gen light on my bike at this point so I figure one of them connects to this? Would appreciate any insight! Thanks!
@@kurtwalker88 Hi Kurt..I was wondering if you could help me..Im replacing my alternator with the new 400 W and can I do it without taking the engine out ..If there enough room if I turn the front wheel to be able to do what I have to..thanks
@@lowellgeddes8996 depends on if you have the fairing on etc as wel but you should be able to. However it’ll be a lot easier if you remove the front wheel.
@@kurtwalker88 Thanks alot Kurt. will do ..I have myself a sweet 1982 R100RS..in top shape...
What are your reasons to use this system vs. the EDL4?
I wanted to try it.
450W/14V = 32Amps?? (minimum 4mm^2 wire)
Hi John, To be accurate, it's a 400 watt maximum output at 14.3 volts. That requires about 28 amps. The cable length is no more than 4 feet. So, 12 AWG wire will work which has a metric cross-section of about 3.3 mm^2. BMW use 4 mm^2 cross-section wire so this works fine with the higher output alternator.