Carl Cepress, a designer friend of mine behind Chicago Product Development, recently brought in his '83 BMW R65. The bike had been having starting issues for the past few months and needed more thorough diagnostics then could be done in his outdoor parking spot.

After a few tests we were able to verify that the engine was turning over properly and the plugs were providing spark to the cylinders. That only leaves fuel. We replaced the fuel filter and verified that fuel was getting to the carbs. What we found, was fuel wasn't getting to the cylinder. Blasting carb cleaner directly into the intake wasn't even causing a blip of firing hope.

We pulled the carb bowls, which revealed what looked to be a rusty 3 week old latte. The carbs would need a long relaxing chemical bath, so we started the cleaning and rebuild process.