I'm about to go look at my first BMW bike, a 1985 K100RT. It looks to be in great shape with its original owner, and has 60k miles. The only thing is that he has never lubed the splines, and my research online says that this is very important with K100 bikes. He says he's always had a shop do general maintenance, and no one ever mentioned it to him. I suspect I'll go ahead and buy the bike and then figure on around $700 to get the splines lubed by a pro(?).
Any advice would be appreciated, especially regarding how important it is to do this soon (rather than wait, say, 8000 miles till it needs a new rear tire). I'll test drive first, and I trust the fellow is honest when he says the bike shifts smoothly with no issues. Also I read that somehow the 1985 splines last longer than later years bc they're slightly larger (?). Finally, I reckon some bikes have gone well past 60k without getting this done and have done fine(?)
Thanks all!

Wow!!!  $700 to avoid an afternoon doing a spline lube...

Do you work for the government???

Point-Seven-five wrote:Wow!!!  $700 to avoid an afternoon doing a spline lube...

Do you work for the government???

No but I'll be using my tax refund to pay for it!

Is $700 a quote for the clutch splines, by any chance? Final drive and shaft splines are easy, clutch splines are difficult..

I would do the drive shaft splines right away.  You can do them with the tools in the bike's tool kit or about $40 at Harbor Freight.  Can be done in an afternoon. Clutch splines are a bit more involved and would be best saved for later when you become a little more familiar with how things go together.

These bikes will be money pits if you aren't ready or willing to do your own work.  The good news is that most of the jobs that need to be done are fairly easy to do.  In extreme situations they can be done at curbside or in a parking ramp as several owners can attest to.  All it takes is a little preparation and planning.

Snod Blatter wrote:Is $700 a quote for the clutch splines, by any chance? Final drive and shaft splines are easy, clutch splines are difficult..

 
That's for all 3. After reading these responses I'll probably try the final drive and shaft splines by myself. With the help of some YouTube videos of course...

Point-Seven-five wrote:I would do the drive shaft splines right away.  You can do them with the tools in the bike's tool kit or about $40 at Harbor Freight.  Can be done in an afternoon. Clutch splines are a bit more involved and would be best saved for later when you become a little more familiar with how things go together.

These bikes will be money pits if you aren't ready or willing to do your own work.  The good news is that most of the jobs that need to be done are fairly easy to do.  In extreme situations they can be done at curbside or in a parking ramp as several owners can attest to.  All it takes is a little preparation and planning.

Thanks, good advice point-seven-five.

Mikeyboy,

I'm not sure if I am a pro but I could easy make $100 a hour lubing your final drive and clutch, the job is not that hard. But to take the time to go through the bike and get all the stuff clean and in good working order is a different story. My advice is to take the maintenance on yourself so you will understand how it works and how to run and care for one of these very interesting (and reliable) machines if run and maintained properly. You will never be alone as long as this forum is running just ask if something doesn't seem right to you.

Welcome and good luck dig in!

8 years on K bikes and at this point I can see you could change the clutch at the kerb side if you have a helper.

As said if you do your own stuff or most of your own it becomes easier.

That and build a little stock of spare parts by buying when you find them rather than waiting until you need them. Job lots, new old stock, used parts from mates are all great to have. Nothing like running a check on brake pads and finding you suddenly need new ones and being able to take them off your shelf.

Shaft spline lube from ride in to ride out probs less than 40 minutes and they are the important ones. Every rear Tyre change I do mine on the K100. Once you have done it once it’s easy. Now to get access to clutch is far more tedious the newer the bike is I.e. access abs etc in later models. It’s arguably the easiest bike to work on have fun ask questions watch YouTube. Good luck KKlompy

With one of these and this forum, not only can you not go (too far) wrong, you'll really enjoy it

Of course, the 'years' have now passed (not sure what's happening with the top of the airbox either)

chris846 wrote:
Of course, the 'years' have now passed (not sure what's happening with the top of the airbox either)

its been cut away to show the velocity stack inside the plenum  .. the plenum is usually much taller and a pain to squeeze into under the frame bits and pieces whilst assembled ...the easiest way  as we all know is to drop the frame over the power delivery unit  assembled before the frame goes on ?