BMW Timing Chain con't

Finally got the parts I needed in from Germany. While inspecting the crank sprocket I decided that it didn't need to be replaced. The bike indicates approx. 44k miles and there wasn't a huge difference between the new part and old. That being said...

The tensioner was well worn. I didn't realize how dramatic it was going to be until I compared it with a new one. 

That tensioner was so shot that I decided to drop the oil pan and see if there were any plastic bits laying around, luckily there were none. Don't know where the pieces went since I only saw very, very tiny bits of pieces in my filter last oil change.

Before assembling the parts, I realized that the Iwis chain I got came with two E-clips instead of the older style fish clip. I've heard horror stories about the e-clips showing up in pans many miles down the road, so it looks like I'll be ordering the older style from Max BMW. Then it'll be time to get everything back together.

back in sync

After mulling around what I was going to do with this bike for three days, I was convinced to just put it back together and use it. It's served me well in the 6 years of owning it, never having tracking issues or anything resembling having a bent frame.

So... I wound up putting in new steering head bearings and races, rebuilt the forks, and needed to send my front wheel out for new bearings and shims (I bent two pin wrenches trying to get the hub nuts off). It's all back together and working wonderfully. As expected, the steering and cornering is a bit better since the rebuild, and there are still definitely no signs of a bent frame. I tested the bike at speeds from 0-110mph and it tracks straight and stable. Took my hands off the bars doing 60mph, still straight and stable, whacked the bars to intentionally destabilize the front end, and corrected the wobble by gently grabbing the bars - in other words, there is nothing wrong with this frame.

The tweak is still there, but I immediately forget about it once I'm on the road.

I remember watching a Jesse James special many years ago, I forget what he was trying to make, but he said something along the lines of "when you're bikes not feeling well, you're not feeling well." It's simple, but it's so true, and I think it's difficult to convey these feelings to someone who hasn't built a bike or a car. Having this bike OOS drove me nuts, I couldn't sleep right, everyday I thought about the problem and was dying to fix it. Everyday I had to wait for a part or tool to come in (btw, the CycleWorks bearing puller/press made life really easy), was like anxiously awaiting Christmas as a kid. I stayed up till 0010 last night putting everything back together. Even though I got up at 0445 that morning, I got in the zone, and then immediately test rode it. Knowing that everything was together, fixed, and didn't need any adjustment, I went upstairs, washed, kissed my wife, and slept like a baby.

Everything in my world is back in sync

Limbo

Starter in my BMW R90/6 went... no kickstarter for 75s, and I don't feel like push starting this all the time. So now the starter is out for a rebuild - just in time for the spring weather...

BMW R60 title work has been stalled. Seems the DMW wants more money before issuing a title to the seller, waiting on that, and then hopefully I'll come into possession of the frame and case. In the meantime I've been scoring some excellent deals on ebay. /2 tank for $101,axles and top cover for $11, front bearing carrier $27, stuff like that, but still no important stuff. I think I'm going to offload some of the R69S stuff I bought at the swap meet to buy a complete R60 bottom end that I can transplant into my case, as it stands now, I can't afford what I've seen on the internets. More waiting...

The Aermacchi is running great though.

This may be the first time in history that an Italian bike persevered in reliability over a German built machine, though saying that may have jinxed things.

All I know is the Gathering of the Nortons at Washington's Crossing is coming up at the end of April and my riding buddies are going to be very disappointed if they have to slow to the pace of the Aermacchi. Besides that, NJ drivers don't take kindly to vehicles that max out at 65-70 mph, going on a 100 mile trip on that bike greatly increases my chances of getting killed enroute. We'll see what happens, but for now all I can do is wait.