Hi all, 

So I consider myself a biker, but as it sit here and do the maths I realise I haven't had a bike for some 15 years. Too long. As luck would have it, I have a reunion this year - good excuse for a road trip (Sydney to Melbourne) and for buying a bike for touring. 

A little research has me looking for a 90s era K1100LT. Comfortable for the 878km trip, bulletproof, well priced - and after the trip (October) I can look at stripping the fairing and kitting out as a hipster inner city cafe/scrambler/muscle racer. Because, you know, we have a LOT of custom builds around here (Gasoline, Deus Ex). 

I've wanted to do some road trip touring for a long time now, so I'm hoping this is just the beginning. To be continued...

Welkome Glennji, once you've had your trip to Melbourne and back (please don't just go down the Hume and back) on a K1100LT you'll want to then buy another cheap bike to cut down for a cafe city bike as the K1100LT is a fantastic long distance steed if you plan on doing some other road trips in the future.

Keep an eye on this forum so that once you have two wheels under you again you can join in some of the rides we have, some short and others quite long trips. The kompany on these trips is good fun.

Cheers

Welcome Glenn . 
As Gaz mentioned , keep the good steed for touring which is what they were made for . 
There is always a cheaper cafe chop option available , the 100 in its basic form , when found , offers you the palete to create your Kafe .
Did you get along to the Throttle Roll last weekend ?
Klompy and I had a blast on the new BMW range at Brisans in Newcastle Yesterday.
We took the GTL1600 6 cyclinder and the NineT for a run , and one thing agreed on was that cafe's are for in town , and tourers are for the mile munching. 

Enjoy the K.
Cheers Ed.

Hi Glenn welcome to the forum.  Sydney to Melbourne is a mere day trip. K1100s were built to eat miles and they do it with ease. As Grover suggested keep a good K1100 for serious touring and have a second bike for the round town cafe racer that way is the best of both worlds.

Hi mate...getting some response or what....I have a K1100LT and a K100 and if you get a K100 of 1986 or less you have the option to go the club rego route. I happen to know where there is a K100 basic naked with "special" plates that is crying out for another loving owner.

Get in touch and I will tell you more. As grover said above the tourer and cafe are 2 ends of the spectrum and neither does the other job well.

Cheers Klompy

G'Day Glennji  from Tassie  

great forum lots of help/advice/assistance here

cheers
gary

Welcome Glennji,

Abandon all hope now, you are in the clutches of the Krew and they've got your number....

A 15 year break is not at all unusual, nor is making a return to biking by buying a K. As the others have already said, don't be in a hurry to go down the cafe route. Ride your new K1100, munch some serious miles, meet some top blokes with a shared interest and then, if you really want to have a cafe job, buy a non-running or already butchered K and put your creative talent into that. Net result you then have the start of a kollection: 2 K bikes - one to ride properly and one to polish and hang out on street corners with.

Quite a few of us have done the 15yr break thing. You'll enjoy the big run on the fully dressed LT and you'll be surprised how much you can throw them around (once it's rolling). 

Personally I'm a big advocate of a lesson or two after a period of lay off to get you back into "thinking bike". 

Wishing you safe enjoyment either way.

Hi Glenn

Glad you made it over. I haven't been on since you posted so only now getting a chance to say hello. I think you will be spoiled for choices but you are in good hands!.

Olaf

Welcome to the fold.

You made a wise choice in the K.

First: thanks for the great response from everybody! Things happened (life) and I didn't get back to say it earlier, but it was really inspiring to get so many comments and encouragement.

So I've been looking, waiting, watching, hoping for a K1100LT, but nothing is coming up. A guy at work is selling his Ducati 750ss, which was *very* tempting, but in the end I just couldn't go past the look of a K with hard luggage for some reason.

I've just (today!) found a K100 RS which sounds like it's been well-cared for and has the fairing I think I'm going to appreciate, as well as panniers and rack, some nice little extras. And yeah, my early ideas of building a city bike? There are some *beautiful* K100s on the interwebs, but I think if I end up doing any modifications they'll be within the spirit of the road tourer -- at the very least, I want some fairing and the hard luggage, so I can always just getaway for a camping trip somewhere.

This weekend could be the one!! Better hit up the MCAS for a lid before I go check out the K...

Hop it works out for you Glenn and of course a photo or two is needed if you do buy it.

WelKome to the forum Glenn.
I'm in Sydney these days so if you need some help checking out a K to buy, let me know. They vary greatly in condition as well as price. It can help to know what you're looking at.
Cheers

Holister wrote:WelKome to the forum Glenn.
I'm in Sydney these days so if you need some help checking out a K to buy, let me know. They vary greatly in condition as well as price. It can help to know what you're looking at.
Cheers

Cheers Holister! I sent you a PM with some details about the potential purpose. Yell out if any alarm bells ring but otherwise I'm going to check it out on Sunday. I've got a feeling it might be the bike for me ...

All I'm doing now is searching for pictures of K customs/restos with fairing and panniers...

It looks like a good machine. 230k is starting to get up there but these Ks have got a lot in them.
Put some details up on the forum so others can comment and advise.

Cheers

So, how does this sound?

• 1986 K100 RS, black, half fairing
  
• Around 230K -- the odometer is in miles since 217K.
  
• Mechanically sound: never dropped, clutch splines greased at 160K, wheel-bearings washed and regreased with new tyres (recently), getting 250-350km on a 20L tank
  
• Some nice extras including panniers, some tools, service manual
  
• A few cosmetic dings and scratches
  

How much would you expect to pay? $2-3K range sounds right?

I'm not expecting a perfect bike, but if it gets me out and about with a few tours then I'm laughing. Down to Melbourne and back to get a sense of the bike, remember how to ride again and find that "pure joy" meditation.

And a little later ... How much $ to restore her to glory? Imagine matching panniers, custom rear rack, a few hipster touches -- a proper "cafe tourer", since I'll be riding from town to town and drinking a lot of espresso!

To be clear, the picture (if it's visible) is NOT the bike I expect to get for under three grand! :-D

I think you can do a lot better Glenn.
If you want to do some serious touring then get a serious tourer, something like that is all very well if coffee stops every 15 km is what you want, best to have a long distance tourer and a seperate round town bike for short fun rides.
This is a bike we know, has been looked after and now needs a new home because the calous owner bought a new bike and is now ignoring it. He's a big gruff old hunn but underneath is a seriously good bloke.
http://www.gumtree.com.au/s-ad/tenambit/motorcycles/1990-bmw-k100lt-ex-police/1120726193

And we know that the bike is bullet proof... just adding more info Rick.

Oh man, I saw that this morning - fits the brief! Does seem like a deal - and as my wife says, it's certainly more visible! 

With a project bike? Bargain!

The owner of that Yellow Beast will be on the Rosskko South Coast trip (on his new acquisition) that you have seen on another thread. As Rick G has mentioned it is good value getting 1 plus 1 bikes for your needs.

Well worth talking to him.

Cheers

The more I think about it, the more I have that this is the one feeling -- a good 1000cc LT for long distances (I have a mate in Canada, a ride through the Rockies could be the next trip!) and a second bike to tinker with. Get it running, get my wife hooked on riding too. Hell, get a sidecar and we can take the family!

(I'm not particularly mechanical (yet!) but know the basics, and my uncle fixes bikes for a living side-gig. (Couldn't make full-time money from it, I think. Too much of a perfectionist, so he pours many many hours into a job -- which is fine if it's your own bike, but not if your custom is expecting even a ballpark fixed price.) I also don't have any other hobbies.  If I get this bike, and the project, expect a bunch of dumb questions.)

So yeah, here's to hoping UG doesn't sell the "canary" to someone else first.

this is the machine Glenn was looking at previously


However, at 4 years younger and nearly half the klms, it looks like Ulli's Yellow Beast would be a better deal.
Keep in mind that the black '86 is an RS and Ulli's yellow '90 is an LT. Given that your post title indicates you are after an LT, the black RS may not be suitable. Comes down to seating position.... your decision.

Rick is right. Get yourself a solid tourer (sport or luxury) if you have the urge to travel, and then take a look around for a hack you can cafe if that's what you want. In my mind there's very little middle ground but a good late 80's K100RS might satisfy your urge for touring with a dash of retro funk. I think the RS is a pretty cool looking machine. One thing is for sure, Whether you travel 3 hours or 10 hours, a minimalist bike like a cafe racer will not provide the comfort your @r$e needs to survive nor the facility to carry your creature comforts.

Cheers

And this, for anyone who doesn't know it, is the '90 LT we're talking about (looks comfy don't it?):



I'm hearing all this and it makes a lot of sense. Having not sat on either -- the LT preference was down to "Internet research" and guesstimates based on what I expect to be doing with it -- I'll take the opp in the next weekends to see which "fits" me best. My last bike was a ZX2R "pocket racer" and I couldn't go two hours without having to have a stretch.

And yeah, as much as I like the look of a naked bike ... I like the look of the hard panniers more. Go figure!

For the record, I sat on the K100RS on the weekend and decided the LT is the winner. Can't wait to pick it up and ride it home!! Hopefully the weather when I do is a bit better than it is today ...

Fantastic Glenn. Picking it up this weekend?
Get your camping gear sorted... we're leaving Sydney for Robertson via Woolongong friday next week.
Cheers

Be great to catch up Glenn.

So unfortunately it looks like I won't make the ride -- my wife is heading down to Melbourne (via train, for the thinking time) for a memorial service and I'll be "single Dad"-ing my 5yo son from Friday through to Tuesday morning. Well be out in the shed tidying it up in preparation ...

The bank has (naturally) thrown a non-fatal spanner in the works -- I ordered a cheque to pay for the yellow beast and they're dragging their heals on actually handing it over (involves a transfer from one bank to another, so I should've expected it). Will go and hassle them today but there's a good chance I won't be able to pick it up this weekend -- owner is being very understanding. I'm going to go this weekend anyway, even if I can't ride home.   

I still hold out an unreasonable hope that I'll be able to sort out the cash and pick 'er up this weekend. SO KEEN.

I must admit I love the LT/RT fairing and configuration. I do a lot of miles on the K and noted last week 7,000 miles from March to August. I use it all year round and its amazing even in wet weather. Unless you are actually sitting in traffic in rain wet over suit is not needed. On the move in the rain only hands and feet need some rain protection and Lidl glove and boot rain protectors costing under €10 for both are all that's needed.

I think you have some great riding companions down your way, believe it or not we have met a few of them and in particular Born Again Eccentric [BAE] has spent some time down there with them.

Well, today I got my first ride on the Yellow Beast. I was terrified (and can't wait to do it again). Rick took me on a little mini-tour of the area.

Yeah, so a little nervous of course: first time on a moto for many years, and it's a heavy beast. In motion, smooth -- but every time we slowed I pictured myself slowly keeling over. I'm sure I just need to get comfortable with it.

Still need to organise a time to come back and pick it up (cheque didn't arrive -- suspect it went to an old address, the numpties). Did I already say I can't wait?

Have a good weekend away, if you're going!

92KK 84WW Olaf wrote:I must admit I love the LT/RT fairing and configuration. I do a lot of miles on the K and noted last week 7,000 miles from March to August. I use it all year round and its amazing even in wet weather. Unless you are actually sitting in traffic in rain wet over suit is not needed. On the move in the rain only hands and feet need some rain protection and Lidl glove and boot rain protectors costing under €10 for both are all that's needed.

I think you have some great riding companions down your way, believe it or not we have met a few of them and in particular Born Again Eccentric [BAE] has spent some time down there with them.

Yes, the fairing is good! I'm not at all a fan of wet weather, mind you, but good to hear it stands up okay (it it can handle Irish weather I'm sure I'll be fine ). Looking forward to meeting people sometime too.

Had a fab outing today, went off to Hook Head lighthouse and Sunday lunch. About 210 mile round trip and perfect sunshine on way over but dark on way back, clear sky and no rain. K doing really nice.

https://hookpeninsula.com/

Great to hear the news Glenn - I hope you get the finances sorted and become the proud new owner of the Yellow beast.

While down under back in April this year, Rosskko lent me his neekid RT (there's a whole long post on my adventure with the krew under the Aussie rides section). In full (UK all-weather) bike gear, the absence of the fairing was great (to begin with) and the bike noticeably lighter to handle, but above 100kph I really started missing the fairing and screen. I missed it even more when we were caught in a torrential downpour when heading up into the Blue mountains.

Like Olaf, I ride all year round and in all weathers and I really appreciate the protection of the LT fairing. As for the comfort of the ride, I have just spent a very pleasant 8.5 hours in the saddle today a quick spin on some fast, twisty country roads across Wales to Aberystwyth and back (328 miles total). Beautiful day for it - blue sky, dry roads and sunshine and a pleasant 23 deg C (10 deg C when I set out at 06:00) and I could still walk when I got home! 

You mentioned "it's a heavy beast" - you will need to get used to the weight - particularly when slow manoeuvring. It is, in fact a very stable bike and quite easy to handle at all speeds - but if you get caught off guard and let her lean over just too far at very low speeds, she is likely to opt for a lie down. You won't be the first and certainly won't be the last to have that experience. Once you "get the feel" though your confidence will grow and suddenly she doesn't feel such a heavy beast after all.

Take it steady and enjoy it.

Just to round out this thread:

Today I became the proud new keeper of the yellow beast. (Or Bumblebee, as my son calls it - and he was very excited for us to build "his" bike, so we could ride together (he's five).) 

Should I call in sick just so I can have a little run tomorrow? 

Thanks all for advice etc, see you on a ride some time soon! 

Woohoo !

Kongrats Glenn. That's great news. Keep in mind we have  the Northern Tablelands run in late October.

Where abouts in Sydney are you?

Congrats, Glenn.  That is one beautiful machine you now have. Is that color Dakar yellow?  I have a K75S in that color and I love it.   I'm sure you are going to enjoy the adventures it will make possible for you.  

As the others have already said, these machines are mile munchers that effortlessly devour massive amounts of pavement.  7-800 mile days are a breeze on them.  You have chosen wisely.   Cheers.

I'm in the inner west: Petersham. So I'll start growing my beard for next year's Distinguished Gentleman's Ride now...

Colour? I don't *think* it's Dakar yellow, but Rickmeister mentioned it and I immediately forgot.

G'day Glennji, I vaguely remember my little brother mentioning that the yellow beast colour is 'Monaro Yellow". I stand to be corrected. Enjoy the machine. Cheers Tom

It's the yellow the original Holden monaro came in.

Thanks, Rick -- I had a feeling you said it was Holden Monaro yellow, but when I typed it in I thought, "Nah, can't be that, I must've misheard ..."!