I'm very seriously thinking about buying a BMW R45
Has anyone experience with the R45

What are the "weaknesses" I have to check before I buy one ?

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Jan Krijtenburg

My bikes are a Honda GoldWing GL1200 and a BMW R1200GS

My personal homepage with trip reports: https://www.krijtenburg.nl/
YouTube channel (that I do together with one of my sons): motormobilist.nl

I had one in ummm, 1981 to 1984 and over 40,000miles. A long time ago I know, but from memory......

In summary: Underpowered (33bhp) and overweight, but made rather stately comfortable progress if a little bouncy (soft suspension). Well made especially compared to modern bikes, mine lived outside and was used in all weathers yet retained its looks. Started on the button most of the time and inbetween the littles issues below, just kept going and going.

Problems (from memory): centre stand pivots wear out - check one of the wheels is well clear; had one of those stupid sprung side stands that only stayed down with the bike's weight on it; carb diaphragms kept splitting and getting carbs balanced was difficult anyway; I lost several side panels as the lugs and grommits were a bad fit; front master cylinder seals needed replacing twice; I managed to drop a valve, but I had been holding up near the redline for about 50miles; mine had points and condensor for ignition which were difficult to set. Front brake single disk was rubbish.

Good points: well made. (Mostly) easy to service - like all BMW airheads; lots of parts interchangeable with R65 which is more common; big tank gives 250 range; comfortable - I regularly did full to empty.

These are all going to be 25-30 years old now so a bike will only be as good as its previous owners now and how its been stored.

Hi Austin,

Thank you for the usefull info on the BMW R45.
You wrote "big tank gives 250 range". Is that in miles or kilometers ?

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Jan Krijtenburg

My bikes are a Honda GoldWing GL1200 and a BMW R1200GS

My personal homepage with trip reports: https://www.krijtenburg.nl/
YouTube channel (that I do together with one of my sons): motormobilist.nl

He probably is referring to miles, I have a 1978 R100/7 which did approx 180 miles per tank if I was easy with the right hand. probably a bit underpowered (450cc) but I would not hesitate in owing one.

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'He who laughs last, was too slow to get the joke'
Never confuse the map with the journey.

250 Miles = 400Km