Hello All,
My name is Jordan and I just bought a nice K100, a 1991 model I think.
I once owned a boxer, R75/5, which was bought new and was the top of the range for BMW bikes at the time. (I'm so old.)
I'm enjoying the first stage of ownership of this used bike, which is to inspect and rectify if necessary all systems.
I would like to familiarise myself with it first. I have looked under the seat and side covers, and under the fuel tank.
There's an interesting box under the tank, with a fuse box mounted on its left side, and various relays and plugs within.
I wonder what all those do?
This no doubt is the first of my many questions here.
Cheerio,
Jordan
New South Wales, Australia.

Relay box layouts: Look at Early 4V here for a 91 RS:

http://www.kbikeparts.com/classickbikes.com/ckb.tech/0.ckb.tech.files/relayboxes/relayboxes.htm

Thanks Folks,

The linked photos of the relay box indicate that mine is a late 2 valve model.

Does that mean that my bike is not a 1991 model?

Is there a way to confirm date of manufacture and/or model year?

How can I tell if it is a 2 or 4 valve engine?

Jordan53 wrote:Thanks Folks,

The linked photos of the relay box indicate that mine is a late 2 valve model.

Does that mean that my bike is not a 1991 model?

Is there a way to confirm date of manufacture and/or model year?

How can I tell if it is a 2 or 4 valve engine?

Look at the cam cover...on 2v engines the upper and lower rows of cover bolts are staggered, on 4v they are aligned one above the other. You may have a 1991 K100LT, they are 2 valve engines. But K100RS in 1991 had a 4v engine.

If you look below the oil filler cap there is a smooth vertical strip with numbers and letters. The end numbers are 2 sets of 4 digits. The last set of 4 digits is your engine number. The second last set is your manufacture date code, same as tyres, so for example 3291 3456 would be engine date week 32 of 1991 and 3456 is the engine number.

Thank you, Olaf.

I now know that my K100 was made in June 1989, and that it has a 2 valve engine.

Jordan

Probably much the same vintage too since I remember the R75/5 new, and the R90S ...... twice the price of the Honda CB750 at the time. If you had either now they would be quite valuable!

I was too small for the CB750-4 and my wallet too small for the R90S so a CB500-4 fitted the bill nicely and took 50,000 miles in 18 months. Tyres didn't last so well then and a rear could be gone in 3 weeks. Now I can get 3 months from a rear tyre.

Looking forward to some of your tales of adventure too.

WelKome to the forum, and thanks for writing a good introduction. You can go to Profile on the forum's main page, select Signature, and type in your bike's year and model, and the last seven digits of the VIN, then save it. That will allow those in the know to determine which year build date, and specifically, which model, it is. That also eliminates folk having to ask which model you have if there's anything specific you need an answer to.

Using realoem.com/bmw, or other online BMW parts catalogues, will also allow you to determine the exact info for yourself, as Australia's various gubmints, in all of their innate wisdom, do not use the timeline for year/model that BMW themselves, or that most of the rest of the world use, but make that date the year of first registration.

Now that you've done the intro, let's take any further specific questions you have to the other detailed sections of the forum so that it is a resource for everyone to use if needed.

Cheers.

hello Jordan

Thanks again for the warm welcomes.
I already have another question, and will post in the main forum.

Jordan

And so with your VIN showing we now know it to be a Euro spec K100RS, built June of '89. Once upon a time, before retirement, I had access, and could tell you the original colour code, which options it came with from the factory in Berlin, what the exact build date was, which dealer sold it and when, which market it was intended for, and how much commission the salesman made. 


That info can still be dredged up from somewhere...someone here might know how if you need any of it.

This one gives lots of info if you provide the 17 digit VIN:

https://www.mdecoder.com/

duck wrote:This one gives lots of info if you provide the 17 digit VIN:

https://www.mdecoder.com/

It gives basic info unless you want to pay, though.

RS Rider wrote:

duck wrote:This one gives lots of info if you provide the 17 digit VIN:

https://www.mdecoder.com/

It gives basic info unless you want to pay, though.

Scroll down. It gives way more info than any other free VIN decode site I've ever found.

For my 95 K75:
Day of production (not month)
Left hand drive (headlight)
Paint color
Options:
ABS
Tail rack
Case mounts
Wheel style
Metzler tires


For my K1600GT it lists way more because those bikes had many more features.

Hello Jordan!

This is very interesting info. Just tried but the VIN numbers on the one's I am needing info on are only 13 or 14 digits. It does not respond. Must one add zeros somewhere?

Rolf E wrote:

This is very interesting info. Just tried but the VIN numbers on the one's I am needing info on are only 13 or 14 digits. It does not respond. Must one add zeros somewhere?

According to what I read, South Africa has 17-digit VIN like almost every other country. If the number of digits was less in the early 90s, that could be clarified by your motor vehicle department. Adding zeros is unlikely to help. Post a photo of the number at its location on the Brick.

Go have a look at this thread - now closed - which I started. If you search through it will reveal what format is needed to search a non-17 digit VIN. You'll find it's simply Xs and the bike model name that get used to fill in the blanks. Just now I'm using a mobile which seriously reduces my ability to be deft and clever to show you an example. 


Check Your VIN

Try K100RSxxxx(then your 7 digit VIN) to add up to the magic 17 required. If that does not work then it's the decoder site's lack of understanding the earlier format, because that is what I had to do when using the older BMWAG computer.

Hi Jordan,

to our community!


Bernie