Hi All

At my wits end and in need of help, on the 1985 K100RS, do I need to remove the lower right section of the fairing to change the air filter, my hands don't seem capable of the extraordinary dexterity required with the fairing on. Am I missing something obvious, or do  I just need to surrender and take the  blessed thing off?  Your thoughts and advise will be gratefully received. 

Ps Thanks for all the great welcome posts

MartinK

Ha Ha,unless you are indian rubberman its best to pop the panel off,others may do it differently,remember you only have to lift the top of airbox to change filter.
Bonus, good time for a look round and cleanup.

Try accessing the battery on a R1100s!

Remove pillion seat cowl (2 screws)
Remove seat
Remove both HUGE fairing halves (14 screws, including 2 that even the guy who designed the feckin thing forgets about/can't access, plus disconnect both front indicators)
Find somewhere to put both HUGE FAIRING HALVES.
Remove air filter top (2 screws, one of which is only accessible with a tool that hasn't yet been invented)
Remove air inlet tube (1 screw, plus a rubber coupling that just makes you so sad to dislodge, because you can never forget just how difficult it will be to reinstall)
Remove petrol tank (two screws, plus several rubber and steel washers that will fall into some unknown abyss within the bike, never to be relocated, plus two petrol hoses - not fitted with any quick releases BTW, plus not one but two drain hoses. You can try and just lift the tank up for clearance if you don't actually need to remove the battery, but the underside of the tank is specially designed so that it will only rest on your hammer shaft/block of wood etc for about a minute, after which it will fall back down, trapping your hands as you fiddle with the battery)
Note that, although the battery (electrics, sparky) is located under, almost inside, the pannier-shaped tank (full of petrol) and its by now guitar-string-strained petrol hoses, you'll not be too bothered about arcing your tools onto the battery +ve as you struggle and swear to release your trapped hands, because, you'll be so fed up that you'll not actually give a feck whether the thing catches fire and explodes, hopefully taking you with it.
Yes, I do have an issue with this.

chris846 wrote:Try accessing the battery on a R1100s!

I do often wonder why I keep buying motorcycles and why all the bits that will need service aren't easier to get at. Things that really kill me are the ones carried over from a previous model that are no longer easy to deal with because the new improvements.
Should have kept the air head I guess.

some finger yoga with background kundalini chants filter pops right out

Buy a K75s access is pretty easy except for the instrument pod.
Regards Martin.

Looking back up at the thread's title with amusement, I s'pose we could call it an air fiter since it gives us such bloody trouble.

Thanks Guys for all the advice, looks like its off with the fairing.  That battery saga sounds worse than a dose of CV19, at least there are a bunch of sado Beamer lovers all locked up and socially isolating with plenty of time on our hand to offer support and counselling.  Its true there is always someone worse off!!
I shall put away the Lifeline number for another day.
MartinK

martink wrote:. . . looks like its off with the fairing.

Only part of the fairing on the right side.
Download the K100 K75 2 valve manual from this site, view pages 00-38 and 39, remove those parts then follow Harris's video.

Thanks Litch

Sounds like the only sensible path to follow.  I will feed back when the deed is done and I am back on the road

Great to here some one else learning the in & outs of a K100.
I've just brought a K100RS with abs,
Brake bleeding what a daunting task. (just purchased a vacuum bleeder as well)
My first lessons I've learnt is buy a workshop manual,
read this forum & watch youtube. 
these three have given me the answers thankfully.