less stock, more rock

Due to financial constraints I'm pretty much ruling out getting the crankshaft rebuilt for my R60 this year. That's pretty much the last piece needed before I can start assembling the engine, so getting the engine running is going to be put on the back burner. Instead I'll focus on getting a rolling chassis together and knocking out some fabrication.

I've already pretty much decided that this isn't going to be a concours bike, after all, I'm putting a /5 telescopic fork on the front end instead of using an Earles fork and I had no intention of going with a stock paint scheme. To keep things affordable I'm going to try to make use of stuff I have laying around when I can. I know I'm going to have to make my own solo seat and frame from scratch and in order to do that I'll have to get an idea of how things are laid out on the bike.

I had a beat up fender from my R90/6 laying around, so for shits and giggles I wanted to see if it'd mount on the R60 frame. FYI, if you want a new rear fender fresh from BMW in primer, it'll set you back $1300. As it turns out, the mounting points line up pretty well. I planned on bobbing the fender and cutting off the crap areas, so what I did is actually reverse the fender from where it's mounted above and cut off the license plate mounting area and have that side facing forward. The humps for the bolts on the fender line up with the current mounting point, and the other bolts will line up pretty well for mounting a pillion seat. I'm a little concerned that it's fiberglass and may not hold up to the weight of a person, but with enough framing with tube steel it may be good.

Doesn't look bad for the first cut. Obviously some trimming will be necessary, but this may work out to be a cheap option

The tank for the bike I bought was (and is) in rough shape when I bought it. I had to spend a little to get a new toolbox cover and lock, but that's about all I have for a tank currently. To get it to mount to the frame in the rear you need M8x1.0x30 bolts and the only thing I had laying around in that size were old pressure plate bolts from the R90 that were way too small, and the two studs I salvaged from the final drive that start at M8x1.0 and then go to M8x1.25. Since M8x1.25 is an easier thread to find (and I have tons of nuts for that size), I figured I'd just put the studs on the tank and secure it with nuts I had laying around. Besides that, my Behelfskatalog doesn't give the rubber spacer dimensions, but I had some left over from a VW Thing that I used to have (I don't even remember what they were for) and they seemed to be just right.

I guess this is the reward for holding onto crap, hopefully I can recycle more stuff I have laying around the shop. Now that I have some visual cues, I can work out how tall to make the tabs for the solo seat from that I have to weld on, and then figure out how big to make the seat itself. Next is welding on a new centerstand lug, powdercoating and lacing the wheels, and then I'll be on my way to having a rolling chassis.