Meet Jon Pieratt, Jon is one of four BMW techs at Blue Moon Cycle, Jon has been working on motorcycles professionally for about 6 years. he is a graduate of Motorcycle Mechanics Institute, with experience on Harleys, Ducati and BMW. Jon will be doing all the work on this restoration with the exception of paint and plating. This is Jon's first time performing at a frame up restoration. We wish him luck.

This R27 came to us as you see it here, the bike was neglected and parked since 1999. The first thing we did was to get it running so we could access the mechanical condition of the drive train, the speedo shows only 11000 miles and although the bike looks like 111000 miles, close inspection of the wear and tear items such as kick lever, foot peg rubbers and throttle grip indicate that this is a low mileage bike. When we open the engine we will know more. After a thorough cleaning of the fuel tank and carburetor and a new battery, the bike started and ran great, the engine is smooth and quiet so we expect this to be a great candidate for full restoration.

We like the Aluminum rims because they are easy to polish and look great but these are beat, both rims are bent and nicked, we will replace them with new chrome rims and new spokes. The badge on the fork the indicates previous owner was a member of the BMW vintage club. I wonder why he didn't take better care of his bike.

The entire bike has a light coating of surface rust but no serious cancer. Shock handles have not been cut. all the sheet metal is fairly straight with only miner dents and dings. This bike still has its original paint so we know we wont find any surprises when we strip the paint.

This explains the rust, ocean states such as Florida can have a damaging effect on steel and aluminum, we wouldn't restore a bike that was in better condition so this one will be ideal.

Speedometer indicates 11000 miles and all the parts are original and correct. Just what we need.

The entire bike is wired with blue wire, we will install one of our new wire harness and find a better fitting battery.

Our R27 is now stripped down to it's components, this represents about 8 hours of work. Each part will be inspected and it will be determined if the part needs repair or replacement. We have decided to powder coat the frame, fork and other black components. We will paint the sheet metal. Since this bike will be black, getting a good color match will not be a problem. Jon removes all bearing races from frame and swing arms before powder coating, Crow's foot pry bar works well on stock steering bearings but you will need a special puller to get the swing arm bearings out without damage. If you are not concerned about saving the bearings you can lay a weld bead in the race, this will shrink the race and it will fall out.Be sure to mask all bearing areas before paint or powder. All sheet metal is inspected and prepared for paint. Rubber knee pads are stretched over a flange on the gas tank, no adhesive is used, simply pull the pad away from center and it will come off. Knee pad flange area is a common place for rust to occur. If the flange is extremely rusty it should be ground off and a new flange tack welded on. Replacement flanges are available from Blue Moon Cycle. In any case all traces of rust must be removed before paint is applied. This tank still has its original red inner coating, most manufactures did not take this extra step. BMW tanks survive a lot longer due to the protective coating that the factory installed. All good aluminum parts will go out for polishing. This is something you could do yourself if you invest a little money in a buffing machine and wheels. We usually replace shocks on restoration but these shocks show no sign of leakage and they still provide strong rebound damping. The front brake shoes show little sign of wear, brake plate will be bead blasted and brakes cleaner and pivots lubricated. Rear drive splines are also excellent, all seals will be replace in final drive. Switch terminal has been broken due to a heavy handed mechanic. We will have to replace it with a new one, these are not cheap but they are available. Red and Green plastic lens were thermal welded at the factory, we will replace these with new ones. We have seen some signs of rust and neglect but we have seen nothing to indicate this bike is not a 11000 mile machine.Speedo will get cleaned up and a new chrome rim installed.We prefer to leave the mileage at its original setting, you erase part of the machines history if you reset the speedometer to zero. We have decided to install one of our Steib LT 200 sidecars on our project R27. This might seem like too much car for too little bike but this all depends on it's purpose. In Germany the R26 and R27 were often used for inner city sidecar haulers. Inner city deliveries didn't call for top speed. Economical, light rigs are fine for threading through congested city streets. Jon and Daniel will uncrate and disassemble the sidecar in preparation for paint. We have decided to reline our brake shoes with new metallic impregnated linings, this will give us the extra stopping power sidecar rig will need. The old copper rivets are drilled out. New rivets are started with a tapered center punch and then driven home with a flat punch. One flat punch is clamped in the vice to back the rivet head. It helps if you have three hands for this operation. The rusty spokes will be replace with new spokes so the best way to remove them is with a bolt cutter.Be sure you save every square spoke plate , these you will reuse. Our cylinder shows almost no sign of wear. Cylinder head components are all in good shape however the exhaust threads are partially stripped, this is a common problem on R27s due to the rubber mounted engine. We will have the exhaust flange heli arc welded and rethreaded. Final drive is cleaned up with mothers mag wheel polish and steel wool, this take time. We prefer not to bead blast parts that contain bearings and oil as any sand contamination would be disastrous. Join us next soon That's it for now, next we lace and true the wheels and get deeper into the engine. .