I traded an old ragged out sportster for a 1985 BMW k100rt. It has around 27k miles on her and she runs fairly well. The story I got from the owner was interesting and I want to know a bit about euro models vs US models. The original owner apparently bought the bike in Europe and traveled around for a while then imported it to the US. Is there any difference? It is completely stock and I need to choose to either keep it stock for commuting or stripping it down for a cool custom bike. I usually commute on my 08 KLR650 and have fun on my 2017 yamaha xsr900 so this could be a fun in between bike for me.

Thanks in advance
JD

Here is some pictures of the bike. There are lots of stickers from europe on the cases which I imagine are from the original owners trip.

looks great for an 85

euro cams maybe different

and do I spy an after market exhaust ?

have fun and welcome aboard

Welcome JD.

I've read two equally emphatic accounts for and against early European cams having more grunt and of those FYC (finest year cams) making their way to the USA when they should not have done. I'm inclined against it, except that I know for certain that Swiss Kawasaki 1300s did have softer cams to meet Swiss noise regs. The only way to find out is for someone to stick their hand in their pocket and compare a 'US-only' K against a 'Europe-only' K on a dyno.

No, it won't be me

charlie99 wrote:looks great for an 85

euro cams maybe different

and do I spy an after market exhaust ?

have fun and welcome aboard

The owner told me it is a performance exhaust but that is it. There are no markings that I could find on it anywhere.

Dai wrote: I've read two equally emphatic accounts for and against early European cams having more grunt and of those FYC (finest year cams) making their way to the USA when they should not have done. I'm inclined against it, except that I know for certain that Swiss Kawasaki 1300s did have softer cams to meet Swiss noise regs. The only way to find out is for someone to stick their hand in their pocket and compare a 'US-only' K against a 'Europe-only' K on a dyno.

No, it won't be me

Thanks! 

Definitely not worth it! I was thinking there would be some way to tell if it was a Euro or US model externally...guess not.

Welcome to the forum.  You have other bikes for variety, so why not use the RT as it was intended?  It's a nice companion for longer tours!  The exhaust looks to be a pipe sold by Luftmeister some years back.

brickrider2 wrote:Welcome to the forum.  You have other bikes for variety, so why not use the RT as it was intended?  It's a nice companion for longer tours!  The exhaust looks to be a pipe sold by Luftmeister some years back.

Well I usually use my KLR650 for long trips but I may try this one out next time I go camping! I did find some really cool scrambler/brat style k100 builds that look intriguing so I need to decide what I want to do with it. I do love the KLR but highway cruising vibrates the shit out of me haha.

Aconomy85 wrote: The original owner apparently bought the bike in Europe and traveled around for a while then imported it to the US. . . . I want to know a bit about euro models vs US models. Is there any difference?

This is information I've picked up along the way.

Some differences between US and German frame markings can be found in this video. The video discusses later models so information about the Motronic control unit appearance does not apply to your bike. Your bike has an L-Jetronic control unit.

Regardless of age and model, Euro speedometers will register in kilometers. Euro combo switches on the right side of the handlebar will have a switch to shut off the headlight. AUS model of that vintage would have a tube attached to a port on the front under side of the tank that attached to a port on the top of the crankcase to meet California pollution control standards. On many bikes in the US, the ports have been plugged because the system design was flawed.

Go to www.realoem.com/bmw and type in the last seven digits of your VIN. This will reveal whether it was intended for the US market or 'Rest of the world'.

That's Matt Capri's Luftmeister exhaust, made by Black Hole, or is the copy made later by another firm Capri took the plans to in order to get it made more cheaply (some would say, less expensively).

BMWNA had a European delivery programme going in the mid-80s.