I was in the right place at the right time on a rainy, blustery weekend last Autumn when a chap wanted to sell his secondhand K1100RS. He wasn't riding it and his spousal unit wished he'd owned a Porsche so he could take his two, sub-ten year old boys for drives instead of potentially karking it on a nasty old motorbike.

Good luck, fall in my lap, please.

I've been storing it at work over the Winter and today got my first leg over when the sun came out on an otherwise soggy Saturday.

Don't that deep, deep blue look all perty like in the late arvo sunshine!?




Some might recall that forum member Duck owned this bike for a while, fitted cruise and LEDs throughout, and wrote an article (published elsewhere) about his cross-country ride from North Carolina aboard it. It's the one with the K1200LT motor hidden under K1100RS panels.



She growls alright, the cruise is an effortless, one touch affair, and the vibes are tamed due to massive Manic Salamander bar end weights and what I suspect was very careful tuning. I didn't buy it from Duck hisownself, but from the bloke he sold it to. A road report will follow after a blast over the mountain passes round here if the rain stays away for a day or two more.

It was the first day of the astrological autumn here and as I went over the mountain pass of the great dividing range called Cunninghams Gap the fog closed in again as it did on the down trip and then the storms started. It sure is a little unnerving seeing a tree get hit by lightening, which is only about 300-400 metres from the road and I was the next highest thing near the road and as lightening is supposed to not strike twice I may have been the next target. I rode on thinking that a moving target is a bit harder to get and that getting fried in a couple of milliseconds is a quick way to go, fortunately nothing got me as is evident by this post. It sure was a wet ride home but my wet whether gear is always handy and with me all the time I ride.

have fun dazza

charlie99 wrote:have fun dazza

Thanks, Chazza. The day has dawned a bit grey but with patches of blue here and there and temps under 10c going up to the mid-teens. It's Sunday, nothin' else pressing. I'm going for a solo ride.
 

I managed a quick 200 miler this arvo in everything from heavy Seattle area traffic to rural, pine tree-lined backroads, then back to Tacoma on the slab known as I-5. The weather was mixed between light drizzly rain, blue sky and heavy cloud, with both slick and dry tarmac and heaps of stooopidity on display from our four-wheeled brethren. The signs say Slower Traffic Keep Right. The trouble is, no one thinks they're the slower traffic so they just about park in the overtaking lane. So I go right. If I get stopped I can always plead ign'ance since we pass (overtake) on the right Down Under. 

I stopped at a mate's house up round the town formerly known as Oso where that massive landslide was a year ago. The main highway, 530, was closed in honour and memory of those who lost their lives that dreadful day.

I was asked to assist in setting up their R1150R's TBs with my Twinmax and in return was rewarded with a dozen farm fresh googs from their absolutely free range chooks, and a huge jar of honey that has bee legs and other body parts and wax throughout!

Big Blue performed admirably with nary a whimper nor a curse. She's smooove and fast and doesn't mind a little talking to in order to get round those tighter curves with grace. A bit heavy feeling, and the K12LT motor isn't the higher horsepower version (100hp initially then 108hp), but nevertheless you can feel she has a bit more urge when overtaking; there's no need to shift above 1500RPM in top gear.

I look forward to a dry weekend over the Cascade mountains toward Spoklahoma (Spokane) and Yakima. Cheers all.

In a coupla days my younger brother Jo, who happens to live in Massatucky...err, 'chusetts, will deboard the aeroplane at Seatac and arrive at my doorstep to acquaint himself with my sweet blue K1100RS. After a few days of servicing and local riding to
get to know the loverly K12LT-powered thing, he'll wend his way back the long way to the east coast, no fixed time to be home. I'm sure the Cascade Mtns, Sierra Nevada range, Rocky Mtns and the Great Plains will be beckoning from his map.

I've managed to put 500 miles on the odo and the beast hasn't missed a beat. It'll be kept in a warm, dry garage, and lovingly maintained. The bike's history has it starting life from a Baltimore dealership, making Florida its home, then North Carolina where the K12 transplant occurred, then into Drake's hands in Seattle's picturesque Mercer Island, briefly in suburban Federal Way, then my crowded garage near Tacoma, now to a good home in Massachusetts, and kept in the family. We Thackerays, including my dear departed Dad, have ridden Beemers since 1976!

Jo himself has ridden Airheads for 25-plus years now, currently enjoys a '78 white RS Motorsport, and has, as far as I know, never thrown a leg over a K Bike!

Shall we kollectively enkourage and welkom a new member to the fold?

Truth be told, I'll be a bit sad to see it go.

If Jo wants another '78 white RS Motorsport, the BMW Club UK are giving one away in a raffle this year........but he'd have to be a paid-up member to buy the tickets.   Although once he's developed Kpox, the boxer will probably be pensioned off.

Paul.

Umm, what shall I do if I win it?....fit my spare K engine? 

The blue beauty has officially left my garage and is now probably somewhere well east of the Great Plains in the mid-west after a run through the Cascades of Washington, Idaho, Montana, Yellowstone & the Devil's Tower, Wyoming and the Badlands of South Dakota. My brother's intention is to arrive at his home in eastern Massachusetts by Saturday evening after departing at about 11AM on Tuesday this week. He's making a five day run across approximately 5200 kilometres (3200 miles) of North American vastness. It's reported to have not used a drop of oil so far and returning about 44 miles per (US) gallon on average. Not bad for a 119,000 mile K12LT-engined hybrid K1100RS.

I'm sure Jo is having a ball TWB.

Jo took the long way, arriving back to his place in eastern Mass at 11 PM on Sunday. That last day he rode from South Bend, Indiana to home, 890 miles (1430 kms), in fifteen hours. A 59 mph (94 kmh) average ain't bad in the crowded east of the US!

His words: "That thing's a beast. I love it!"

Don't we know it.

I've just returned from eight days on the US east coast where I flew out to visit my daughter in western Mass and younger bro Jo in the eastern part of the state. The weather was mainly beautiful, sunny, but with two days of heavy rain, wind and cold temps. I note that their Spring season is behind previous years and the leaves and even some blossoms weren't out in full this late in May. Hell, they had light snow fall less than a month ago! It was a fantastic holiday, even played the tourist at the Norman Rockwell museum, Mass MoCA, Boston Common & Public Gardens, Gloucester Fishermens' Memorial, Hammond's Castle, Manchester-by-the-Sea, had time to walk up a few 'mountains' for the views, and hung out with a few old friends I'd not seen in yonks.

Jo rode out to W Mass for brekky one day on his K1100RS with K1200LT motor at the Fillin' Station truck stop in Whately, MA, a favourite haunt of mine 'after drinks' or before day rides when I lived there back before '95. It's three years on since he picked the blue beauty up from me here in Washington state and as predicted previously in this thread he parted ways soon after with his long-time rider, a '78 R100RS. He told me he's put just under 30K miles on the odo in the past three years, his job as a finish carpenter and chimney sweep not allowing much time for riding - I laughed as many of us can't squeeze 10K miles in in a year's time, and he's done it with a relatively short riding season. He calls it 'K Trucker'! Duck will no doubt be familiar with this machine. What a journey it's had.

A pic:


But of course, in our family of five boys and a girl, as the youngest, he got the hair, the height and the brains. But I've got him beat as I'm still the second eldest! 

Dang! Good to see that bike is still on the road.  I bought it from the guy who put the K12 motor in it.  I'd had a couple of beers one evening and thought it was going for too low a price on Ebay so I threw in a last minute bid on it as a lark.  After I won the auction I was stunned to realize that it was in Concorde, NC. Doh!

But what the heck, I made the deposit and started looking for a cheap plane ticket to do a fly-n-ride.  Turned out to be a fantastic 3,700+ mile ride across the country.




Since I was in the hood, I took it for a little spin at Deal's Gap:



It hasn't been ridden that much since I sold it in early 2010 with about 116K on the clock.

We followed him, and were tailed by him, in the darkness a coupla times and the extra cyclops driving light just below the headlamp, and additional tail/stop LEDs inside the taillight which I recall you (Duck) installed, made it stand out in traffic without being obtrusive. Also, that easy-squeazy cruise control (operated off an LT's LH side green windscreen switch, for folks who don't know about Duck's mods) and massive bar end weights make it easy to ride for him over the long road. 

The only drama he's had with it is the cut-down seat for a shorter inseam with thinner padding. His knees get locked up after a few hundred Ks in the saddle. Otherwise, aside from tyres (Pilot Road 4) and basic tune, oil changes and the like, it's been dead nut reliable.

I always light up my bikes pretty well.  My theory behind lighting is that when I make contact with a car I want it to be my fault, not theirs.

Don't blame me for the seat. I've got a 34" inseam.