The sound of Black Betty the Airhead

So in my last post I deviated a bit from the quest for an Enfield to tell you about the restoration of a ‘78 BMW R80/7 that I acquired from a friend. I mentioned that I would post a video of it running so you can hear what it sounds like. So here it is…

So it is not a Royal Enfield but it is a classic bike

So the main theme of this blog is about the quest to own a Royal Enfield, it is not the “Quest to own a bike”. However if you are in my position where you have wanted a bike for many years, pretty much any bike will do.

Now if I was to get my hands on a bike and it was not an Enfield, I would be chuffed if it was at least classified as a classic bike. So here is the deal, thanks to a friend of mine, I got my grubby paws on a 1978 BMW R80/7. Now that is a Classic (at least in my book). This bike has been standing idle for about 10 years. Actually I have a feeling it is a bit longer than that. Probably closer to 14 years. Tony and I struck a deal for me to take it off his hands and restore it.

This is what it looked like when I got it…

I have done a few things to the bike so far. Here is a list:

• Oil change
• Brake fluid change
• New battery
• Cleaned all aluminium parts (ongoing process)
• Repaired holes in the fuel tank
• New front mud guard
• Re-sprayed tank and front mud guard
• Repaired seat (ordered seat cover from the UK)
• Ordered new left hand side exhaust (ordered from the UK)
• Ordered new BMW badges for the tank, carb gaskets and float needles (turned out to be the incorrect ones)
• Fixed odometer as it was not ticking over
• Fixed the rev counter it was an electronic problem that a friend of mine helped me with.
• Replaced all the globes in the instrument cluster
• Replaced one of the fuel taps (sourced from BMW)

Bare in mind this bike had not been started for, as I am told, a minimum of 6 years. Once I had changed the oil, with the help of a friend we started the engine. It practically started on the third attempt. What a machine, a true workhorse.

The only major item that is outstanding is the licensing. The bike needs to go for Police clearance and a whole list of other administrative hurdles. This is going to be done shortly. The bottom-line is that this bike to is ready to ride…..So meet “Black Betty”…

She runs like a dream. The balancing of the carbs could probably be tweaked a bit more but it is close enough for now.

So for those of you that are interested I sourced the parts from www.motobins.co.uk, www.feked.com and BMW SA. The repair on the tank and the re-spray was done by Kaleidoscope Customising (Ralph - 011 4938749). Seat recovering was done by Paul’s Auto & Aero Trim (Brian - 011 6838308)

I love this bike, it has character and we have bonded over the last 2 months that I have been doing the restoration. I will post a video shortly with her running so you can hear what she sounds like.

In spite of this, the quest for a Royal Enfield continues…so don’t worry it over yet!!!