Hi! Greetings from Finland. New owner of k1100rs 1996. Looking forward to asking from this  forum and connecting. I am planning to keep this bike many years!

Welcome Saints

Hi and welcome.

I have been to Kuopio! 

We went to the 1988 FIM Rally. From the UK, across via the then East Germany, Poland, onto to Moscow. Turned left and up to what was then Leningrad. Exited via Vyborg, rode to Helsinki (to get a new clutch fitted in a friend's K100), then up to Kuopio. Back to the UK via boat to Hamburg, then down through North West Europe. Yes, it was a bit of a trip in three weeks.

Mike

Nice to hear that Mike! What a small world it is now and then. No bad memories i hope!

Hi Saints. Where in Finland do you live? I live myself in capitol area.

mike d wrote:Hi and welcome.

I have been to Kuopio! 

We went to the 1988 FIM Rally. From the UK, across via the then East Germany, Poland, onto to Moscow. Turned left and up to what was then Leningrad. Exited via Vyborg, rode to Helsinki (to get a new clutch fitted in a friend's K100), then up to Kuopio. Back to the UK via boat to Hamburg, then down through North West Europe. Yes, it was a bit of a trip in three weeks.

Mike

Hi Mike, That's a huge ride   . I did myself a shorter ride through Western Europe to Greece and back to Finland through Eastern Europe 1991. That took exactly 30 days. Okay, shortest day ride was some 50km. There were too many good pub's on the way .

In answer to whether we had any bad memories the following few snippets are from travel through Russia to get to the FIM Rally in Kuopio.
 
Bear in mind at the time my 1978 R100RT had already covered at least 115,000 miles.  
 
1.      Being sent 20 miles back to the border to pay a fine for not having headlights on while riding on a motorway in the DDR.
2.      Because of (1) needing to spend a night in a campsite that turned out to not have any food. Biscuits and whiskey that night, shared with a bride and groom who were dancing in the rain.
3.      In the DDR, being escorted at high speed back to the transit route heading to Poland and told ‘Border 5km GO! At least we didn’t get fined for wandering off the transit route in the first place.
4.      In a Warsaw hotel, met up with the rest of the riders who were on the trip. We were due to spend two nights there before heading to the border to the Soviet Union. The hotel ran out of beer on the first night – by 21.00hrs!
5.      Four hours at the Russian border, bikes searched, customs formalities, including having to buy petrol coupons for the whole of the journey. The guards mistakenly thinking those of us with intercoms, had CB-Radios (which were on the banned import list). To prove they weren’t, we let them wear the helmets and speak to each other/listen to music. Smiles all around, they loved it.
6.      First day in Russia, being flagged in at a monitoring station, and getting told off for exiting a motorway layby without stopping to give way. The motorway was empty. They wanted to fine each of us 100 Roubles, and declining offers of cigarettes or our English sterling currency. The top guy made a phone call, on a desk phone that did not have a dial on it, so some sort of hotline. We were then given our passports back and sent on our way. They were demonstrating that they knew who we were, and where we should be. This was re-enforced some while later when a few of us took a wrong turning at some roadworks. This led us to a village, where we were immediately stopped by a police car and told ‘You are going the wrong way’ not in a nasty way, so we thanked him and turned around.   
7.      At our first hotel in Russia, we were introduced to our Intourist ‘guides’. Westerners were always allocated a ‘guide’, basically a minder to make sure you behave yourself.  We were told one did not speak English, but he certainly listened in to our conversations.
8.      Drinking Birch tree juice at breakfast, you get to like it after a while. Unlike the milk!
9.      Having my first taste of caviar!
10.   The roads. It was very hot and approaching bends care was need as the tarmac would ripple up like an old carpet. This was caused by the heavy trucks as the braked. In towns very bad road surfaces, a bit like the UK now.
11.   On a ‘motorway’ the sight of a local farmer on a horse drawn cart. Another of a large truck with one rear tyre shredded, didn’t stop him ploughing on sparks flying off the metal rim.
12.   A K100 towing a trailer developed a misfire. I soled the problem by fitting a new set of sparking plugs (first time I had ever touched a K bike).
13.   A separate K100 stripping its clutch centre splines. Put in the back of a support van until we got to Helsinki. The support van was a condition imposed on us by the Russian authorities, as we were not allowed to leave any bike in the country. (The clutch was replaced in Helsinki, and the owner carried on up to the North Cape).    
14.    At fuel stops, having to first give a coupon to the cashier, then she (it always seemed to be a she), would switch on the pump, and decide when you had the amount as per the coupon and switch the pump off. No discussion! Watched one local, cigarette in mouth, topping up a milk churn which was on the back seat of his vehicle.
15.   In Moscow, The Park of Economic Achievements. Amazed at how small the first manned flight capsules were, and very basic.
16.   Trip around The Kremlin, the golden onion shaped domes of churches. The very large ‘official’ cars being driven down the reserved lane.
17.   Many places we stayed were classed as Hero Cities. Each morning we would be offered a tour of the city, and the many very large monuments to the fallen.
18.   Seeing many cars parked up due to travel restrictions. Those being driven had no windscreen wipers fitted. As it started to rain, drivers would pull over and fit the wipers and carry on. I asked our guide why this was so. Eventually he replied, ‘Don’t you have thieves in your country’ My response was ‘of course we did, but they don’t steal wipers’!
19.   Eventually getting our minders out of their big cars and riding pillion with us.
20.   The hotels would have local and hard currency bars. Funny how the cheap local currency bar ran out of beer, so we had to go next door and buy imported more expensive beer paid for with Dollars or Pound Sterling.
21.   The magnificent Summer and Winter Palaces.
22.   Dancing with the locals in the hotel disco. Don’t forget their deodorant was in short supply!
23.   Final night in Leningrad. Having a ten-pin bowling match with our now relaxed minders, and drinking champagne.
24.    Next stop Finland.

A great time!

Mike

Beats my India trip hands down!

Welcome to Saints. May your K100 run on forever.

P.S. I found mike d's commentary of the ride through Russia interesting, allowing some of us from afar to see into another country.