Greetings greetings fellow brick heads:

I rode airhead R bikes (74 60/6 and 83 80ST) in the 90's and was pleased.  I did almost all my own work.  Just purchased an 89 K100RS SE at reasonable price ($1300) very good condition 50K, but unridden and garaged for the last decade.  I am at a bit of an impasse, considering my time and $.  I don't know whether to do most of the work myself, or perhaps try to find a local to champaign urbana IL willing to wrench on my bike for $.  Something about having the $ means I don't have the time or inclination. 

I also don't have a suitable space to work. It's the driveway or my converted garage which is my bedroom...I want to respect the lady in my life and not take over half my bedroom.

I recognize the joy of familiarizing and working on the machine; a hobby beyond just riding.  My mechanical aptitude is medium...If it was small I would just hand the machine and $ over to somebody My time is small....I kinda imagine days on the road, not days, weeks, months swearing over Jerry rigged complications.  I am joining the Forum in hopes of getting some support for rehabbing the bike.

I am also putting out feelers in central Illinois (USA) for some face time support or a mechanic in central Illinois who might like to do some work.

J.

Good to see you on board!!!!

As for doing things, patience and methodical approach is your friend. The forum here is a great source of information and of solving problems....and accessing parts.

You really need a good tech that has experience of Ks if you go that route. The skills needed to get that SE running are all in your skill level and taking your time it should get there. The potential issues are all spoken about here and not many need a lot of $ either. 

I have just come through a similar exercise on a 1983 K100RS that enjoyed a cosy boat shed for 17 years...did all myself except a spline lube because the Honda dealer I get my tyres in has a K bike riding tech and did it for €21 on top of a tyre change. I couldn't refuse as the lube is usually done using a Honda grease ...

I had a good idea of the things to expect and sure enough all came up but nothing more than that. I passed about 6 months before riding it home as the PO let me do the things in his boat shed.....

I do have access locally to a good ex BM tech too.......its good to have both.

WelKome!

Unless your uncle is the Nigerian Oil Minister then I recommend staying away from dealers. (Although with oil prices these days . . . )

I'll bet that these guys could help you find a good indy wrench:
https://www.illinoisbmwriders.com/

Info on Ks:
http://bit.ly/new2kbikes

Welcome!  Unless you are way up in years(I'm 71 and still work on three of my own bikes) I would say there is no reason not to work on your own bike, even if it has to be done in a driveway. 

First off, You can do almost every maintenance and minor repair on the K bike with the OEM tool kit.  A set of ball-end Allen wrenches, metric combo wrenches, 1/4" drive metric sockets and a torque wrench from Harbor Freight are nice to have beyond the tool kit.

If you are even slightly mechanical and take a little time to plan your work, you can even do fairly involved jobs in the driveway.  I was able to pull the transmission and tighten a grub screw in a single day in my son's driveway when I picked up my first Brick.

At the age of these bikes, they need a certain level of TLC that if hired out can make them very uneconomic to own.  Best to think about how you can do the work yourself.  You have already found the best resource for information on the interweb.

I agree with the post above. If I could help on the phone shoot me a PM with your #