hi all, my name is eric. ive been working on cars for quite a while now but have been dying to pick up a k bike project as i can be much more creative with it. i have finally purchased a 1985 k100!....i bought the bike thinking the only issue was a sticking sprag but then i realized i have a much larger job than i thought (burnt front control wiring). i chose to join this forum to pick some of your brains and sort out this wiring nightmare i got myself into as well as documenting my progress. 

info on the bike:
1985 k100
roughly 25k
have changed all the fluids/ plugs/ and filters so far just to get my feet wet

wish me luck, hopefully i will be able to save this bike and put one more flying brick on the road!

WelKome to the site.

What does "burnt front control wiring" refer to?  The turn signals and horn or something more?

Where in MD are you?

im in frederick maryland.


as for the wiring it seems the yellow wires from both front controls are good and melted. i will take a picture and post it on here. i am unsure of where the go bc i do not want to put a battery in the bike and let the burn continue. i have removed all of the wiring from the bike to rewire it all before reinstalling.

The white/yellow on the right and left and white wires on the left are for the headlight.  My guess would be that somebody used a headlight bulb with higher than 60/55W which is what melted the wires.

Always a good idea to install headlight relays on a K anyhow:
http://www.kbikeparts.com/classickbikes.com/ckb.tech/0.ckb.tech.files/hl.relays/hl.relays.htm

+1 on what the Duck said.  BMW, for some unknown reason did not fuse the headlight wiring.  A bad or oversize bulb can happily draw all kinds of current melting wires and burning up switch contacts.  Be sure to check the the headlight(if installed) and dimmer switches for proper operation.

I installed Eastern Beaver relay harnesses on all my bricks.  The quality is fantastic and the price is good.  AND you get a FUSE!

http://www.easternbeaver.com/Main/Wiring_Kits/H4_Kits/h4_kits.html

thanks guys i appreciate the quick responses and info from both of you. thanks to this forum ive been able to find lots of fun wiring information and some tips on solving and preventing the dreaded sprag clutch sticking issues. 

wish me luck! ill see you guys around!

Seymoure9 wrote:...have changed all the fluids/ plugs/ and filters so far just to get my feet wet.

wish me luck, hopefully i will be able to save this bike and put one more flying brick on the road!

Welcome along Eric,

You really should use some sort of receptacle for catching the old oils and coolant...it's fine to drop it on the workshop floor if you really want to get your feet wet, but it makes one heck of a mess and isn't very enviro-friendly.

Seriously though, good luck with the project, lots of good advice and suggestions hereabouts to help you along the way.

Enjoy