I like #2.  It may be the light grey background, but doing the front mudguard and/or the lower fairings in silver makes the bike look top heavy and clumsy to me. 

The silver on the louver vents adds a nice detail, and combined with the background, the silver below the tail cowl makes the area under the cowl less noticeable and thus gives the rear a lighter, leaner look.

That's my $0.02, you can keep the change.

Thanks Dai for clearing that up. Good stuff that Fibron very flexible.
Regards Martin.

Point-Seven-five wrote:I like #2.  It may be the light grey background, but doing the front mudguard and/or the lower fairings in silver makes the bike look top heavy and clumsy to me. 

I think I agree with that. The polizei and the carabinieri both had two-tone K100RT/LTs and from the front they don't look too clever at all. You'd get away with it on an RS but that's a much smaller lower panel.

Dai wrote:

Point-Seven-five wrote:I like #2.  It may be the light grey background, but doing the front mudguard and/or the lower fairings in silver makes the bike look top heavy and clumsy to me. 

I think I agree with that. The polizei and the carabinieri both had two-tone K100RT/LTs and from the front they don't look too clever at all. You'd get away with it on an RS but that's a much smaller lower panel.

Yes, and on the RS. the two tone demarcation is a swept up line, where there really isn't a good line that can be followed on the RT/LT fairing.  Even the 1100RS belly pan has a good line.

You keep giving me good ideas for the red RT refurb!

I like #2 as well.

Bill

  #2 but i do like Gryph's two tone blue.
Regards Martin.

I was actually thinking about the early version RS with the small lower panel that sits over the engine. Like Low Flying Brick is.

If I go for (2) or similar, I have to think hard about how to get the curves around the front of the louvres. Um. In writing this I might just have solved the problem.

Hi Dai

I am doing something similar with an 1100lt I picked up, I managed to pick up an RS fairing with this colour scheme. A copy of the very nice black/silver k1100RS



Very similar to your no 2.

Do you think they'll mate and produce baby ones? 

With Brexit, Coronavirus and social distancing their chances of getting together are slim but as we know K's seem to get everywhere. I even heard there may be some in Australia. 

In all seriousness I hope to have it on the road soon (as my proper K1100RS is stuck in Alicante) and will, I am sure, be going by your house some day.

I have not been able to see my parents since February. Good luck with the build and at least we have deliveries, I am waiting on parts from Tills at the moment.

Ringfad wrote:at least we have deliveries, I am waiting on parts from Tills at the moment.

Tell me about it. Along with the refund from a holiday and nothing else to spend money on, I've thrown £thousands at two Moto Guzzis and the K100RT since  Feb. The RT's budget disappeared out of the window months ago. When it finally gets put up for sale, I might just get the cost back but no more. Note the 'finally'. I can't get an MoT on it for the foreseable future, so I can't tax it or ride it. Current rule paraphrased: 'if a vehicle has not been MoT'd for three years or more, tough shit. You ain't gonna get one and you can't use it'.

I was having dinner with my wife last week when she asked me who was James Sherlock, I have a work colleague called John S and thought she meant him but no she had spotted the monies I had sent to James Sherlock. (k1 parts ….) 

On the Guzzi MOT subject sell it to someone in the republic as we don't have them.

Ringfad wrote:I was having dinner with my wife last week when she asked me who was James Sherlock, I have a work colleague called John S and thought she meant him but no she had spotted the monies I had sent to James Sherlock. (k1 parts ….) 

we feel your pain.....

Ringfad wrote:On the Guzzi MOT subject sell it to someone in the republic as we don't have them.

Not much chance of that - I've owned them too long. Just allocated £650 for a pair of respoked wheels with the correct rims for the 1978 one. And to anyone who says 'but you could get a K100 project for that price' my answer is 'I did - two of them!'.

The replacement front mudguard arrived yesterday. As per the ebay photographs it is in good condition but as usual, it's missing the four blind nuts that hold it to the fork legs. As many of you know, bolting it straight on and doing it up tight will lead to either vibration cracking or vibration enlargement of the mounting holes. I have my own solution to that. Open the holes up large enough to fit a 10mm ID grommet (right one only in this pic):

http://www.simpilot.net/~sc/brick3/50b.png

and fill said grommet with a 10mm OD/6mm ID aluminium or stainless tube:

http://www.simpilot.net/~sc/brick3/51b.png

Mounting and vibration problem solved.

A bit irrelevant to the general thread but I got out for a (legal!) ride today for the first time in two months. One thing I definately noticed is that the solidly-mounted footrest hangers deliver a lot less vibration to the feet than do the earlier ones. Plus they have the added advantage of not having those cups that rust through.

A conversation with Motorworks today revealed that secondhand RT front panels (the one that holds the large speakers on the LT) are rarer than rockinghorseshit. I need two; one for this bike and one for LFB's forthcoming conversion to an RT. The one that came with Kostenlos (and that's a lie too ) was cracked across one mounting hole and broken into two pieces. At £65-odd for a new one, I wasn't buying two! I reassembled the broken one using 2mm plastic card as the joining/reinforcing sections. Lots and lots of fun and burnt fingers shaping the plastic card with a hot air gun to fit the panel curves - NOT! Looks ugly but it's out of sight and most likely is stronger than the original molding. Good old Gorilla Glue. You can see the original crack from the front but I doubt you'd ever notice it if you didn't know it was there. It was a good clean break.

http://www.simpilot.net/~sc/brick3/52.png

http://www.simpilot.net/~sc/brick3/53.png

Also; new z-bars arrived today to replace the ones that were covered in (yes) black paint, so I punched out all the old rusty M6 captive nuts and replaced them with new ones before mounting the z-bars.

Is that the same technique plastic surgeons use - following a natural wrinkle so's the incision can't be seen?
It's worked out very well - you couldn't justify spending £6.50 to better that, never mind £65.

Thanks Chris. I've since found that the split is quite visible in some lights - there's a tiny seam of glue poking through. I've scraped some of it off but it's never going to be perfect. Some black plastic restorer type polish might help. I did have to buy a new upper panel unfortunately as I need one for LFB.

I doubt anyone will notice that crack, it's sure hard to see on the picture. Good thinking Batman!

Dai wrote:The one that came with Kostenlos (and that's a lie too )

Are you considering a name change to KostenloT?
It doesn’t work in the German, but feels very British 

Dai I've had really good results good results using anti slip boat deck tape. It can be heated to cover compound curves. It is hard to get but one local boat supply dealer still stocks it. it used to come in a range of colours but now only black and white at around $8.00 a metre depending on who serves you. I've use it to scratch proof my tank, repair a broken windscreen and cover a belly pan at one stage, as well as other bits and pieces. It seems to be hard to source in the US but you might have better luck in the UK.
Regards Martin.

That's a thought...

Stu: I'm gonna let your tyres down next time I see you.

Dai wrote:A conversation with Motorworks today revealed that secondhand RT front panels (the one that holds the large speakers on the LT) are rarer than rockinghorseshit. I need two; one for this bike and one for LFB's forthcoming conversion to an RT. The one that came with Kostenlos (and that's a lie too ) was cracked across one mounting hole and broken into two pieces. At £65-odd for a new one, I wasn't buying two! I reassembled the broken one using 2mm plastic card as the joining/reinforcing sections. Lots and lots of fun and burnt fingers shaping the plastic card with a hot air gun to fit the panel curves - NOT! Looks ugly but it's out of sight and most likely is stronger than the original molding. Good old Gorilla Glue. You can see the original crack from the front but I doubt you'd ever notice it if you didn't know it was there. It was a good clean break.

good job Dai

So this is what £65 quids-worth of new RT upper panel looks like:-

http://www.simpilot.net/~sc/brick3/55.png

Which was interesting, because see the slot at top right? Someone had tried to do something similar to an LT panel I'd acquired and made a total bollox of it.

http://www.simpilot.net/~sc/brick3/56.png

Should be fixable in a tidy-it-up sort of way. Anyway, having spent time and effort repairing the OE panel, I decided to cut two large holes in it for something to do.

http://www.simpilot.net/~sc/brick3/57.png

Yes, the answer's in the foreground! Getting the coolant drain plug out required the assistance of a large hammer and a 6mm allen driver with the edges shaved to facilitate bashing it into a very rusted plug. Once in, the plug unscrewed easily and with a quick sleight of hand, was able to screw in the coolant sensor without losing too much coolant and without getting wet.

Actually, I lied. The feckin coolant ran all the way down my sleeve and exited at the elbow in a puddle under the bike.

Running a wire to the coolant sensor was a relatively simple job. The HES cover came off easily but, not unexpectedly, broke the gasket into 40,001 pieces. The oil pressure switch wire had already been repaired with a bit of electrical tape, so was ripe for replacement. I cut the terminal off and pulled the whole lot out. I then ran the original brown/green wire and a black wire for the coolant sensor into a new piece of sleeving. Why black? Because it's the only colour BMW don't use in that loom. I had a bit of fun fishing it out through the water pump housing but a pair of very long nose pliers helped there.

Back in the loom, I ran the black wire up to the Additional Instruments connector and cut the connector off . Vandalism, but somehow slighty satisfying . Basically I now needed five wires for the fuel gauge and temperature gauge: fuel sensor, coolant sensor, power, earth and light. Problem solved.

http://www.simpilot.net/~sc/brick3/54.png

The other new connectors visible in that pic are to do with the headlight relays.

Aaaand - look what arrived today.

http://www.simpilot.net/~sc/brick3/58.png

So after all that effort, it's not going to be red and grey after all

http://www.simpilot.net/~sc/brick3/60.png

http://www.simpilot.net/~sc/brick3/59.png

Bullion Brick's Baby Brother. All courtesy of WingCapn, including the radio. Damn... that means having to bugger about solving the access code I guess. Just one minor thing....

http://www.simpilot.net/~sc/brick3/61.png

I failed to notice that the chin piece was tiewrapped to the pallet when I levered the main fairing out of the wrappings. Surprising how easy it broke. Two choices: find one on ebay or use the black one up in the roof. Apart from screwing all this lot together, the major remaining job is spraying the tank and sidepanels. At least I have a colour code now.

I haz no ideaz. Guesswork says it has something to do with the windscreen airflow.

Slightly off this immediate topic because it's destined for LFB and not Kostenlot, I just bought this:

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/bmw-k100-electric-screen-k100-adjustable-screen-1988/143287056156?ssPageName=STRK%3AMEBIDX%3AIT&_trksid=p2060353.m2749.l2649

Anybody know if there's anything missing? You can ignore the state of the wiring - that's easy to fix.

Pretty much the home run now, bar painting the tank and sidepanels. The fairing insides are just pushed on so that I could figure out how they go. I am NOT telling you how long it took me to work out where the fairing top piece went!!!

http://www.simpilot.net/~sc/brick3/60b.png

Fuel and coolant gauges. I do have the radio for the left pocket but being a MW, LW and cassette player type means that it's pretty useless for today's usage. I need to remove the plate because no speakers, so it's a bit ponitless having a radio slot.

http://www.simpilot.net/~sc/brick3/61b.png

So... hole bored and as Charlie suggested, finished off with a rubber grommet. From the headstock of a 1976 T140V Triumph Bonneville, no less. My 1976 T140V Triumph Bonneville, no less. That one saw the graveyard decades ago  


http://www.simpilot.net/~sc/brick3/62b.png

Motorworks told me that the lower right crashbar mount is not available new and what they had wasn't worth selling. So off I went on a nice roundabout journey to make a non-standard mount for LFB:

http://www.simpilot.net/~sc/brick3/66b.png

- so that I could steal the OEM bracket off LFB and keep the RT as standard as possible. Now that was a really good idea, right up to the point I came to mount the crashbars. Righthand side went on OK but... that bloody LT exhaust system. The lefthand side wasn't even going to fit with the later modified mounting plate. LFB got its OEM bracket back but the Bonneville's headstock grommets are going to a new home.

http://www.simpilot.net/~sc/brick3/63b.png

http://www.simpilot.net/~sc/brick3/64b.png

Welll... maybe not quite standard. I lost the fight against the Fiddler and fitted a relay panel in the seat hump in case the next owner wants to fit spot/driving lights.

http://www.simpilot.net/~sc/brick3/65b.png

I also got a message from the PO a couple of days ago. He'd found the Skidmarx screen he was going to use on Kostenlot, so I went and collected it today. He hadn't been following this thread as he'd created an account simply to pass on the K100. I took him some pics to view and I'm pleased that he was really happy with the progress. I was happy to find out that he wasn't the Black Paintbrush Monster.

Dai, that's a nice job on that lower engine bar mount. 

If I may, I'd like to offer a suggestion.  Instead of those super expensive vibration mounts for the upper connection of the engine bars to the frame use a spacer and a hardened bolt to attach the bar. 

That will prevent the upper part of the bar from breaking away in a drop and making a large hole in the fairing.  It's okay to let the lower mounts break away to protect the oil sump, but there is no reason to allow it at the top.  This is something I had to learn at Hard Knox University.

Dai,
That’s looking really good and I know exactly what you mean about that fairing top piece. My first time I tried it in every possible configuration and it made no sense at all, until I found the right way and it looked perfect and bloody obvious!
If you hadnt done so much work on the crash bars I’d be thinking it would look smashing with my leading links on .

some great work there Dai

soon you'll be riding

Thanks guys - much appreciated.

.75: In the case of LFB - and I'm not at all sure this is correct - the lower right bar is bolted solidly to the sump via two 25mm spacers and relies on the OEM bonding breaking away in the event of an accident. I intended to use the vibration mounts to fix the new bar to the sump and then bolt the crashbars up solidly to the bar. So, just moving the breakaway further in. I do see your point about the top mount - I'll do that when LFB gets converted to an RT/LT hybrid later this year.

Dai, if you've a need for this bit for your crashbars, I have a K75S that I'm fiddling with and this isn't going to be used, and can easily be replaced with a screw. If not you then whomever...lemme know.

Thanks for the offer. As it happens - and don't ask me how - I seem to have an excess of those!

Deep breath..... £214 BLOODY QUID FOR SUFFICIENT PAINT TO DO JUST THE TANK AND SIDEPANELS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Okay, now I've got that out of my system, I got stuffed for Dangerous Goods shipping across the Irish Sea. Not RS Paints' fault, who, BTW, I cannot fault for their help and service. Had to order aerosol cans because I'm no longer set up for spraying and that put the price through the roof.

- One can high-build primer to fill in a couple of small depressions in the tank
- Four cans Bermuda Bronze cellulose
- Four cans petrol-proof 2K high gloss laquer
- and a pack of 10 tack-rags.

Four cans of paint to do the tank and the battery covers????!!!  Holy friggin' mackerel!  How thick do the goddam paint sellers want you to put the paint on?  That's almost enough to do an entire bike.  Of course they won't let you return what you didn't use.  You are painting approximately 8 square feet of surface.  A liter of reduced base coat should easily do 30 square feet.  You aren't painting in a booth where half of what comes out of the gun gets blown into the filters.

How much paint is in these cans?  I have painted parts of 6 bikes now, and can't imagine using more than 200-240ml of reduced base coat to do a tank and 100-120ml to do both battery covers.  I use the 2k clear in rattle cans and can do a tank with one can.  Both battery covers can be done with one can and still have some left over.  To give you an idea, I did the K1100RS in my avatar; fairing, tank, battery covers, mudguard, and cowl with 7 cans of 2k clear(I could have gotten by with 6).  Geez, I can do the topsides of a 35 foot sailboat with 4 liters of clear.

Tip: Use the lightest primer color you can get.  Dark primers will force you to use more paint with lighter finishes.

A 400ml aerosol can holds 100ml paint. The rest is propellant. I can get ordinary white cellulose primer around here to flash over the top of the grey. My preferred method is grey - white - grey - white so that when cutting back I know when I'm about to go too far. I want at least four coats of colour and the same, if not more, of lacquer. Each coat has to be cut back. Yes, you may say I'm a bit of a lunatic cutting back every coat, but it's the only way to get a glass smooth finish.

I ran into a bit of a snagette a few days ago. The nicely-repaired top panel developed another crack. Well, not so much developed as revealed one that had been waiting to happen - it had been hanging closed by less than a mm of plastic. Bin time (sigh). I wasn't going to use the spanky-new one I've bought for LFB, so a search through the pile of parts I've amassed turned up two (!!) RT top panels that had been converted for use with the optional speaker kit. I know one came with the pile of parts from WingCapn but I'm damned if I can remember where the other one came from. Remember that 2.5mm black plastic card I'd been moaning about in one of Sidecar Paul's threads? I'd bought it for job that didn't need doing in the end? I found a use for it.

http://www.simpilot.net/~sc/brick3/67b.png

So it's not as neat as directly into the panel but needs must.





Did I tell you I hate the cutting back process????? 

Dai,in the old days we used Cellulose putty for fine filling what is the modern equivalent, cheers

No change there. It's still knifing stopper and a good flexible palette knife.

Thanks for that,fine wet/dry with soap and hours of rubbing it is then somethings don't change

So... the paint has arrived, the tack cloths have arrived, the VOC filters for my breathing mask have arrived...





... and so has the bloody rain.

The garden will be happy.

There is that.

Today the humidity dropped low enough to make me happy and I got the paint out. The tank had already been sanded right back to the original colour on top (white! perfect for the undercoat) but the underneath was some strange shade of Willy Wonka Green. A few small pieces of 60-grade sandpaper reduced most of that to a mixture of shiny ally, white and odd bits of WWG. The final clean was a wipe over with brake cleaner to remove all traces of grease.

Garage preparation consisted of covering most things with old sheets, sweeping the floor and then turning the hosepipe on the floor to keep the dust down. When spraying either with a gun or with rattlecans I like to work with a hot-air gun in the other hand to help the paint flash off a lot faster than if left to its own devices. Good for stopping incipient runs stone dead. Partway through the first paint pass I remembered that I'd forgotten to tack-rag it. Shit.

One full can of grey high-build primer later we are here:-

http://www.simpilot.net/~sc/brick3/68b.png

http://www.simpilot.net/~sc/brick3/69b.png

Then, for the first time, I noticed the shallow dent on the top of the tank. The light was just right to bring it out.

bugga , dontcha hate that ?

good luck

Dai wrote:Then, for the first time, I noticed the shallow dent on the top of the tank. The light was just right to bring it out.

I think that the pressure from the paint hitting the tank makes the dents.  That's the only explanation I can think of.  Seems like every tank I've done has a dent that only shows up after the primer is put on.  On one of them, it was the clear coat that made the dent appear.

When I took it outside to flat it back an hour or so ago, even though I knew where the dent is and could just feel it with my fingers, I couldn't see the damn thing in daylight. So: to hell with it.

White primer day tomorrow.

I had similar issues with the tank for the K75k - all sorts of dents that I didn't even know existed just appeared after paint. I got quite bothered about it, and then Charlie99 added this post:

"merely trivial occurrences chris .... sally forward ...I say

whilst we may strive for perfection , in reality if no one has noticed this already ....most are unlikely to find the blemish ....or what I say ....."gives it character" ....or a point for discussion ...if they don't question the history ...does their opinion really matter at all ....eh ?"

- which kind of put into perspective all this 'striving for perfection' that our parents, and our schoolteachers and employers told us about, no doubt with good intent.

S'only a bike, enjoy it 

It's okay not to be perfect.

(F***ing good job in my case too)