I just got another K100rt and there is a slide switch on the right hand control above the signal cancel switch. Does anyone know what this is for.
thanks

Turning the headlight/parking light on and off, a novel concept (for motorbikes) in America since about 1977. It was not stock on US-bound 'bikes but is easily retrofitted.

Thanks

The original European models had the switch.
I have one on my 1986 K75. It's nice to be able to shut off the lights when working on the bike and needing the ignition turned ON.

I've one on my K100RT since it is an imported bike. I'm in the process of installing a set of auxillary lights on the bike and will rewire this switch to control the main headlight and auxillary lights. It will have the appearance of being stock and I'll avoid yet another switch on the console.

Hi Robert,
If you haven't already done so, give serious consideration to putting an Eastern Beaver headlight relay kit on your bike, it will help increase the headlamp brilliance, enable the use of more powerful bulbs and also reduce the load on the switchgear.
Regards,
K-BIKE

AFAIK, it was only North American-issue that did not come from Bay Em Vay with a headlight on/off switch. Up until recently all models sold here in OZ came with a switch. The US DOT mandated daytime headlight use for all motorbikes built after 1977. BMW stopped fitting switches for North American models beginning with the /7 series of late-'76 and the Japanese manufacturers did it even earlier. My '76 Kwacka 400 had a stop that I could remove if I unscrewed the switch and snipped it off, which I did. The same with my '75 Suzuki. So it was in the cards for motorbikes pretty early on.

I was living in North America when the Canadian government in all its wisdom decided that all vehicles should have daytime running lights. For motorbikes, due to the lack of 'visibility' to other drivers, it became more dangerous. We could not be 'seen' previously, and now, even with headlights on, we became more invisible, because every vehicle came at you lights ablaze. Bikes disappeared, to the average car driving non-looker.

I personally like the choice, and have fit a headlight switch to any
bike I've owned that did not have one already, except for my K1200S.
That requires a splash of black magic. You must hold the turn signal
cancel button for five seconds then press the right hand side indicator
button once quickly, or something like that. The chicken bone dance helps too, or some Verbuti powder from India will do in a pinch. The headlight goes off but
the tail light stays lit. It's for diagnostics in the workshop such as
ECU reprogramming so the battery isn't run down too quickly.

Viva la choice!

K-BIKE wrote:Hi Robert,
If you haven't already done so, give serious consideration to putting an Eastern Beaver headlight relay kit on your bike, it will help increase the headlamp brilliance, enable the use of more powerful bulbs and also reduce the load on the switchgear.
Regards,
K-BIKE

Headlight relays have been installed on my bike for 10 years now. I use honking big 2.5 mm2 wire for feeding power to the bulb; no voltage drop in that circuit. I recently built a small PC card that replaced the separate automobile relays I used previously ( A description and photos of the circuit card is in this posting ).

Some Australian models had the same. My K75 and the K1100 don't have the headlight switch and both are 1993 models.
There were a few years that the Oz Government made us run with them all the time but for some strange and unfathomable reason saw sense and reversed its tiny mind set and now we have a choice and almost all I know run with them on.

My K100RS was originally exported to Oz / NZ according to Motorrad Germany.

It has the white sliding switch on the right hand side.

Cheers.