How does this Cold-Start/Warm-Up look and sound?

[kmisterk]

Sounds a lot better warmed up. Hard to be definite when I can't twist the loud handle in person.
Does it 'feel' like it runs a lot better to you once warmed up?

Considering I don't attempt to ride it until it idles smoothly with the choke disabled, I never feel like the bike isn't running well once riding it.

Change the oil (and filter) to a brand name 20w50 NON-Synthetic oil RIGHT AWAY.
DO NOT OVERFILL
After that, when the bike is well warmed up, rev the piss out of it in neutral and see if it smokes a lot.

On my way to the nearest place that sells the kits. South Sound Motorcycles has the kit I need *and* BMW non-synthetic 20w50, I'll be grabbing a few quarts of that to have on hand as well as for an oil change today.

After the oil change, I'll follow up with another response in regard to whether or not it smokes on high-rev.

Does your bike have points? or electronic trigger ignition?
One ignition coil or two?

Unsure. If I had to guess, the bike will be as original as possible, so it more than likely uses points with whatever coil configuration they normally come with.

[Kurt in S.A.]

I didn't think that BMW stocked 20w50 anymore...last time I looked their dino oil was 15w50. When I saw that, I switched to Spectro Golden 20w50...it's semi-synthetic. That's about as close as I want to get to synthetic...best of both worlds!!

Kurt in S.A.

[gspd]

Considering I don't attempt to ride it until it idles smoothly with the choke disabled, I never feel like the bike isn't running well once riding it.
Unsure. If I had to guess, the bike will be as original as possible, so it more than likely uses points with whatever coil configuration they normally come with.

You should ride away almost immediately after starting the bike, just take it really easy for the first 2 miles or so.
The 'choke' is just an enrichener to facilitate initial firing up when cold. They are referred to as 'chokes' but they are not. They (it) should be turned off immediately after starting, but you'll have to hold the throttle a bit to prevent stalling until it is warmed up. That's normal. The bike should run smoothly within seconds (even cold) if you hold the throttle open a bit.
Idling in place pretty much just warms up the exhaust valves, it doesn't warm up the rest of the drivetrain.
With the 'choke' on, you're just carbon-ing up the combustion chamber.

It sounds like you're happy with the bike's performance once warmed up and the concerns are mostly lowsy cold starting and running poorly after a cold start up.
I'm willing to wager that this is most pronounced at first startup of the day, and not as bad when restarting when already warm. Is this correct?
Lift up your gas tank and look if each spark plug wire has its own coil.
If it has only one coil that feeds both spark plug leads, replace it with an Accel coil #140407.
Try amazon, ebay etc, I think they're around $100 from some suppliers.
Your stock HT wires will clip in perfectly, but you'll have to improvise mounting (in the same location) with heavy duty tie wraps, or a home made bracket.
It will correct what's happening in your first video. (99% guarantee)
If your bike has 2 6v coils in series, disregard the above paragraph and check your points, condenser and timing.

[gspd]

Continuation of my last post....
THIS ONLY APPLIES TO TWIN TOWER BMW COILS
Decades ago, when BMW went to the single coil setup on airheads, a lot of customers complained that their bikes were starting on one cylinder when cold, and running intermittently on either cylinder until warmed up a bit. Sometimes this lasted 5 seconds, sometimes a few minutes. Both exhaust pipes would get hot immediately, proving that both cylinders were firing, but it sounded like the bike was running on one cylinder. After a certain delay it would suddenly get smooth, as if an invisible switch had been activated, and then it would run perfectly and not do it again until the next cold start. Colder temperatures exacerbated the situation.

I was working for a BMW dealership back then. We spent hours trying to figure it out, and we finally did.
BMW was of no assistance. They said it was normal, just a slight inconvenience, and not a safety issue.
It turns out, most (if not all) of their coils produced a weak orange spark for a few seconds (or minutes), making the bikes run like crap, and then suddenly, for no apparent reason, the spark turned to bright blue and all was perfect.

I've installed many dozens of these Accell coils on airheads and Harleys, they always resolved the above issues.
I just replaced my 1990 Accell coil a few years ago. It half died.
Accell used to have a lifetime warranty on their products, but no longer does.
My Accell rep could not believe I wanted a free replacement for a defective part that was older than him.
I still had their "lifetime warranty" printed on my original instructions from 1990 in my folder.
After a half dozen discussions with staff on escalating echelons of the Accell hierarchy, they finally gave me a new one at no charge just to get rid of me.

[kmisterk]

You should ride away almost immediately after starting the bike, just take it really easy for the first 2 miles or so.
The 'choke' is just an enrichener to facilitate initial firing up when cold. They are referred to as 'chokes' but they are not. They (it) should be turned off immediately after starting, but you'll have to hold the throttle a bit to prevent stalling until it is warmed up. That's normal. The bike should run smoothly within seconds (even cold) if you hold the throttle open a bit.
Idling in place pretty much just warms up the exhaust valves, it doesn't warm up the rest of the drivetrain.
With the 'choke' on, you're just carbon-ing up the combustion chamber.

Hmm. I'll start giving this startup method a try.

It sounds like you're happy with the bike's performance once warmed up and the concerns are mostly lowsy cold starting and running poorly after a cold start up.
I'm willing to wager that this is most pronounced at first startup of the day, and not as bad when restarting when already warm. Is this correct?

Nailed it. Works great the rest of the day.

Lift up your gas tank and look if each spark plug wire has its own coil.

it's a dual-coil. I presume, then, it's the dual 6v serialized coil then?

[kmisterk]

I didn't think that BMW stocked 20w50 anymore...last time I looked their dino oil was 15w50. When I saw that, I switched to Spectro Golden 20w50...it's semi-synthetic. That's about as close as I want to get to synthetic...best of both worlds!!

Kurt in S.A.

Ended up passing on the BMW 20w50, they were charging 12.50 a quart. Ended up with Castrol GTX 20W50 as it was half the cost.

[Kurt in S.A.]

I don't really consider the money when purchasing oil...it's the blood of the engine and I want to protect it. This will open up the dreaded oil discussion, but I want an oil with a fair amount of ZDDP. I did oil testing for the MOA back in 2013 and did test GTX in the group. It had less than 2000 ppm of ZDDP and was low on the scale IMO. Spectro was a good testing oil. An oil that is on the shelf that has good protection is Valvoline VR-1 racing oil.

Kurt in S.A.

[kmisterk]

I don't really consider the money when purchasing oil...it's the blood of the engine and I want to protect it. This will open up the dreaded oil discussion, but I want an oil with a fair amount of ZDDP. I did oil testing for the MOA back in 2013 and did test GTX in the group. It had less than 2000 ppm of ZDDP and was low on the scale IMO. Spectro was a good testing oil. An oil that is on the shelf that has good protection is Valvoline VR-1 racing oil.

Kurt in S.A.

Noted. I think this time, specifically, I cared about cost due to an unexpected need to change the oil. Good thing, too, I found some...interesting things during the process.

[gspd]

I used it almost religiously from the very beginning and I had to totally rebuild my engine after only 460,000 kms of beating the 'effin crap out of it. Had I ridden it to the moon (384,400 kms), I never would have made it home.

[kmisterk]

I used it almost religiously from the very beginning and I had to totally rebuild my engine after only 460,000 kms of beating the 'effin crap out of it. Had I ridden it to the moon (384,400 kms), I never would have made it home.

>< Whelp.

I'll be sure to grab better oil next time. I plan to do at least one more oil change before I start riding it more regularly, within the next month and a half after getting about 400-500 more miles on it.

I finished the oil change a bit ago after a couple caveats.

First off, I almost stripped the drain plug screw, but managed to not. Thankfully.

Secondly, I'm not sure the previous Oil Change happened to spec, as one oil filter cover screw was missing a washer (replaced all three with new washers).

And finally, along the same assumption as the previous point, I don't think the screws were all tensioned evenly during the tightening of the screws, cause the metal ring that sits against the "$2000" o-ring was bent to shit. Album showing the cover as it looked pulling it off of the engine body:

https://imgur.com/a/qIf598h

I cleaned up the cover and the metal surface around the oil filter opening before installing the new oil filter and re-seating the cover.

https://imgur.com/a/yRD17H5