Re: New Bikes

[Marco S Hyman <marc@xxxxxxxxx>]

 > I think what he was questioning was, will some of the parts for the 
 > oilheads of K bikes be available in 30 years, especially some of the 

Yes.  There's even a proof of concept...

 > old guys restoring airheads? Can't you just see the bean counters 
 > thinking up ways to save money?

The bean counters gave up on the /2 30 years ago, yet you can buy
just about any part you need today, many of them from BMW.   Third
parties got permission to re-manufacture parts from the original BMW
specs to meet the needs of the restoration market.   I guess BMW saw
money being made and decided that they wanted some of it, too. BMW
is now selling some of those parts.

Go to your dealer and ask for the "mobile traditions" catalog.  Need
an oil seal for fork tube of an '50s era R51/2?   You can order it
from BMW.  Part number 31 41 2 000 425.  Your dealer probably doesn't
have it in stock, but he can order it through is regular channels.

But what about the parts BMW doesn't stock?  Go to http://www.bmwbike.com/
(in Europe) or http://members.aol.com/VechBMW/ (in the US) and you can
order just about anything made for the older bikes.  There was a period
in the late '80s where /2 parts were a bitch to get.  But enough
entrepreneurs saw the need and decided that they cold make some money
filling it.   Today getting a /2 part is not that much of a problem.
Paying for it is another story :-)

Anyway, I expect the oilheads will go through the same cycle.

// marc

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End of oilheads-digest V2 #64
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