1969 BMW R-Series

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1969 VINTAGE BMW R50 13,200 Original Miles! I am offering this beautiful pristine vintage 45 year old BMW R50 for sale. This is a very low mileage bike. This will be a great bike to ride and add to your collection. This bike new in 1969 sold for approximately $1,200. As you know these bikes have consistently increased in value and will continue. These are great bikes to own, ride and they are great investments. Of all of the vintage BMW’s I own, the R50 is one of my favorites. The R50 is a lower compression engine that is the smoothest running engine of that era. Starts great, runs flawlessly. Plus this is a completely matching numbers bike. The title, engine, frame and ID plate all match. I have a clear Florida title in my name. As I was riding this R50 yesterday, I was thinking about how much fun it is to ride these vintage BMW’s. I was trying to put my thoughts into words to help you understand the feeling of riding this amazing bike. Here is what I came up with. Imagine you are on a secluded tropical island. The only two people on the island with you are the current Miss Universe and the current Miss America. You are lying on the beach with them, they BOTH want you, they BOTH like to share and they are not the jealous type! You know this is going to be a lot of fun and excitement. That’s what it’s like to drive this bike!! OK, back to the bike. I have approximately 100 pictures I took restoring this bike. I tried to put the most important pictures up so there is no doubt of what was done during this process. Below I will list each individual area that was addressed with this rebuild. ENGINE The engine was pulled out of the frame. I pulled the cylinders and heads off. The cylinders are the factory correct original 68 mm bore. The cylinders had no wear or scratch marks. So I took them to a local machine shop and had the cylinders lightly honed, see pictures. I gapped and installed new factory rings. The machine shop checked the clearance on the valve guides. The intakes were perfect, as usual the exhaust guides had minimal wear. I decided to go ahead and install new valve guides. I also had the machine shop machine the 3 angles on the valves/seats this greatly improves the compression and performance of the engine. I have had this procedure done on all of the bikes I ride; it definitely helps the bike run better. As you can see in the pictures the compression is very good at 120 PSI. I have put approximately 200 miles on this rebuild. It is always better to do this and re-torque the heads and re-adjust the vales and check the timing. This has been done. I have noticed that after you put about 200 miles on a rebuild, the valves normally need to be re-adjusted. While working on the engine, I installed a brand new coil, new points and a new condenser. I have found out over the years, Even though a coil tests good, sometimes they can break down after they warm up. I have found out it is better to replace all of these items, this helps to eliminate any problems in the future. This part is a great story. I rode a R50 to a BMW rally in Florida about 20 years ago. As I came into the campground an old timer approached me about my R50. He informed me that he had owned a R50 since it was new. He said my bike sounded great. I told him I had just down a complete rebuild on the top end. He asked me if I thought I had done a good job. I told him I was pretty sure. He said the best way to test this was to see if it could be “kick started” with just using your hand? Never heard that one, well you know we had to try it. She started the first time. Yesterday I was thinking about that while riding this R50. When I stopped for gas, had to try, she started with ONE push with my hand. I guess this proves that everything is dialed in correctly. IGNITION TIMING After the engine was assembled and before it was installed in the frame. I set the points and used a test light to set the initial timing. This procedure is great for starting the bike. After a few miles and during the break in period I used a timing light to bring the O/T mark in directly with the timing mark on the engine case. ELECTRICAL SYSTEM Every part of the electrical system is working perfectly, all lights work headlight, tail light, brake light, generator light, neutral light. The charging system is charging the correct 7.2 volts see pictures. CARBURETORS Carburetors were completely disassembled and soaked in a stainless steel heated ultra-sonic cleaner. I have found out over the years, this is the only way to get all of the old gas buildup / containments out of the passages. All new parts were installed. See pictures. Carburetors have been adjusted and tweaked during the break in period. Carburetors are the correct matching numbers 1-24-131 & 1-24-132. Another repair that often goes over looked. It’s the flanges on the carbs. Over the years the bolts gets over tightened and it warps the flange. I machined the flanges back perfectly smooth. This seals the carbs correctly to the heads and helps with the performance of the bike. See pictures. TRANSMISSION Transmission was disassembled and inspected. Since this a very low mileage bike, there was no wear on any internal components. I did replace all of the transmission seals and installed a new back gasket. Transmission shifts perfectly and very smooth up and down. SPLINES All splines were coated with the correct factory high pressure spine lubricant Texaco Starplex Moly 2. PAINT The paint job on this bike speaks for itself. Take a look at the close up of the tank. A correctly done “Classic Black” paint job in black is the premier paint job on these old BMW’s. The painter that painted this bike has approximately 35 years as a profession painter. TIRES & RIMS The original steel rims were professionally powder coated. The wheels were disassembled and all new Timken bearing and seals were installed. The rear tire is brand new; the front tire has about 300 miles on it. Still looks like new. The rear tire splines are perfect and show no signs of wear. This also validates the original low mileage of this bike. MUFFLERS Mufflers are brand new, the headers are original. Bike sounds great with these pipes. SPEEDOMETER This is the original factor speedometer that came with the bike. Everything works like it should, speedometer, odometer and trip meter. I left the speedometer in the original condition, no need for a rebuild. Plus you can see the correct 45 year old natural patina of what it should look like. GAS TANK The gas tank is very solid, no signs of any rust. The original factory red coating is in excellent condition. I have pics of this I can send any serious bidders. Since I have 100% Positive Feedback with my Ebay account and want to keep it that way. There are two minor issues with the bike. I took pictures of both of my concerns. There is a ¼ inch tear in the original seat, see pictures. This is barely noticeable but wanted you to be aware of this. The only other item is there is small area on the side of the front fender that is slightly raised. I have had about 6 people inspect the bike, no one has mentioned it. You can see in the picture, it is a minor flaw. Other than those two items the rest of the bike is in very good condition. NOTE* I have owned these vintage bikes for many years and drive them regularly. Owning and driving these bikes help you understand how they operate. This is also very beneficial in restoring and rebuilding to improve the handling and performance of these vintage machines. SHIPPING The buyer will be responsible for the shipping costs. I could assist with the delivery, depending on where you are located. My zip code is 33868 to help with estimated shipping costs. The good news is I will be attending Bike Week this March in Daytona Beach Florida. Since there over 500, 000 people attending each year, you might know someone that is going. I could take the R50 with me to Bike Week and have it picked up by you or a friend. This will save you hundreds of dollars on shipping costs. NOTE TO ALL SCAMMERS I will not fall for any scams, please don’t ask to send me a money order for more money and ship you the bike. This will not happen. The only payment accepted for this bike will be a wire transfer from a well-known national bank (bank officials are the only ones that can do this) or good old cash. OTHER NOTES I greatly appreciate your interest in my bike. I have set a fair and reasonable reserve. Please do not ask me what the reserve is, I want this auction to be fair for all interested. I will kindly consider all offers. If you have any questions about the quality of this bike or any other questions please feel free to contact me to discuss.