Description
BMW R65 LS in Polaris Silver. Registered on 1 September 1982. Classed as historic, so no tax or MOT required. Showing 23, 750 miles, with 7 former keepers. Please see the You Tube video which shows starting from cold with no smoke. Search "BMW R65LS Cold Start Demonstration" and you should be able to find it. Alternatively, please send an email and I can send a link to you.
I bought this bike in October 2023, with 21, 498 miles showing. It was part of a collection auctioned at the Haynes Museum. The previous owner purchased it in 2011 at 21, 457 miles and there is a sales invoice to show this. It seems to have only covered 50 miles in 12 years. The bike came with a couple of invoices. One for a service & MOT at 19, 747 in 2009 and another in 2018 for a new battery and MOT at 21, 494. I serviced and re-commissioned it in my heated garage over the late winter. Spent over £850 on parts and Michelin Road Classic tyres. The front discs were warped, so were replaced with EBC floating discs & pads. Also replaced spark plugs, brake fluid, oils (engine, gearbox and final drive), various seals, gaskets and pipes. Once the engine was checked and primed with oil it started on the second go. I have just replaced the rear brake cam seals, which had started to leak. All parts sourced from Motorworks UK.
I have done about 1, 250 miles on this bike since late April, whilst training for my IAM bike test. Very reliable and always starts on the button. But the swan neck handlebars are too low for me (wrist and elbow pain). Rather than convert the bars and ruin its design, it seems best to sell it and buy an R80, 90 or 100 of a similar age.
As you can see, the bike also comes with BMW rear panniers. I bought this bike because it is the LS version, so it is comparatively rare to the mainstream R65. It's a pretty bike, and being a BMW airhead gets lots of attention when I am out on the road. It presents well but has the usual patina of a bike of this age. There are some minor items still to be rectified, such as the front fork gaiters but nothing of significance.