Ever since I got my 1978 GL1000 on the road, I've been riding every chance I get. I've done a couple overnight trips around the Blue Ridge, and while I've been packing everything into a backpack, it's worked passably well. I've been thinking about doing some longer trips with dad, and though I could put bags on the GL, I reeeeally don't want to, so I've been shopping around for another bike.

I put an offer in on another nice GL that needed some work, but it wasn't meant to be. Oh well. A little time spent on Craigslist yielded a few contenders, but most attractively, a 1985 K100RS.

Let's start with the bad: The bike has been sitting since about 2012. The brakes are completely inop. It's been dropped on the right side. It doesn't crank or run.

Now the good: It's complete, not terribly hacked up with aftermarket accessories and doodads, the motor isn't locked up, and it's not in the world's worst cosmetic condition. Oh, and I only paid $400

I'm getting into troubleshooting the electrical issues now...I'm reasonably sure that the biggest culprit is a junk battery. I had it on the charger overnight and the thing will only hold 6v. When I try to crank it with the booster hooked up, the starter relay buzzes and arcs. If you reach in and manually trigger it, you'll get about 1/2 a revolution on the starter motor before the juice in the battery gives out. Hopefully, a new battery will shed some light on things.

I like this thing so far. I have a soft spot for 80s styling, and though I don't have it in the pictures, this came with two hard bags and a removable trunk to allow for some longer trips. 







Thanks for having me. I'll get a project thread spooled up here and a bit, and I hope to learn a lot from y'all.

Bonus pic of the '78 GL1000

WelKome.

Tip: Don't try to start a K bike on a low or crappy battery as it can cause the starter relay contacts to "weld" shut. Either use a known good, charged battery or jump it from a car.

And clean out the fuel tank and the fuel lines BEFORE you try starting it too.

Have a read of this too, very important

http://www.verrill.com/moto/newkbike.shtml


The good news is that when the Kpox inevitably hits you.....you have a big enough shed.....and a horde of folk here from around the world willing to share the knowledge and know how and share a bit of banter.

That's a nice find, and good looking bike.  Keep us posted on the progress.  What kind of exhaust do you have on there?

Gero

MD K100RS wrote:That's a nice find, and good looking bike.  Keep us posted on the progress.  What kind of exhaust do you have on there?

Gero

Well, she runs! The new battery and splash of gas did it.



Someone on Facebook said it's a Luftmeister. It's got a hole in a header tube I'll have to fix. That's the ticking you hear in the video.

MD K100RS wrote:That's a nice find, and good looking bike.  Keep us posted on the progress.  What kind of exhaust do you have on there?

Gero

That's a Luftmeister exhaust, made by either Black Hole (RB Racing) or later on when Lufty owner Matt Capri had a major falling out with Black Hole for sourcing out their design, by Bassani.

Here's a link to an earlier post which explains some of the hi-po parts available once upon a time for K bikes: Luftmeister Catalogue