Here's a couple of photos of my 1985 K100RT that had been sitting in a barn for nearly 15 years. The hardest part of getting it rolling was buffing out the windshield and figuring out the whirring fuel valve issue. Thanks to all the great advice I got from members on the K100 forum and a few parts from ebay the old bike is back on the road. I've put about 1,000 mile on it since getting it rolling and today it just turned the odometer over to 20,000 miles. Runs smooth, doesn't burn a drop of oil, and is fun to ride. Thanks!

Excellent work, Bandon! It looks as though you've managed to massage it back into fine shape. I'll bet those twisty, southern coastal Oregon roads are fantastic on the old RT. I used to live up round Portland and always enjoyed riding in your region. Cheers.

Wow. Great looking bike, and only 20,000miles, it's not even run in!! Great work. Happy riding

WHAT?!? 20,000k's!

I hate barn finds! Coz I aint findin' them!

Brilliant work BandonBMW!

Avery nice bike BandonBMW, Like the colour.

BIG D

wow ....whats a beauty bandon ...good work on the fixing too

nice looking machine ....and only 20,000 ...omg ...(falls off chair)

nice job!

Yes siree! A great find of a k100rt. It will give you plenty of good times to come.

Sad that the other owner only put 20k on it.

Was the speedo not working when you bought it?

Mine was on and off putting down the mileage for years.



Later Dino

The previous owner son said that his Dad drove it home one day then had a stroke and the bike sat in the barn since then. The bike had a 1996 registration tag on the license plate and 1992 tires on it when I bought it this winter, so I figure the fully functional speedometer mileage was correct. Thanks!

Fantastic. May I ask how you buffed out the windshield? What products did you use? What type of buffer?



88KE

The old windshield had good scratches, but no gouges. It was yellowed with 15 years of dust baked and crusted into it. First wash well with mild detergent and rinse well with clean water. I started with 600 grit wet sandpaper, scrubbing by hand in one direction and rinsing frequently. Then, 800 grit in the opposite direction, then 1000, and 1500. Key is to rinse often and go in opposite directions between grit. Make sure all the scratches are completely in one direction before going to the next. If you still have deep scratchs and don't cross them completely out, they will only deepen again once you start the other direction again. Once buffed at 1500 grit, I used a 5" circular microfine pad on an electric drill. I kept the rpm low (too high will gouge or melt the windshield) using Meguiar's Clear Plastic Cleaner in one direction. Then the final buff was with Meguiar's Clear Plastic Polish in the opposite direction. It looks great at this stage. I now maintain the clearness and shine with the polish or clean off bug splats with liquid Pledge (hand squeeze, not in a can).



If one side is good compared to the crappy one and see if the other side needs work after you work the poor side only. If both sides are bad (like mine), do both sides at one time with each grit sandpaper and buffing. It took over a full day of doing these steps to get mine right. It won't be like new, but it will be pretty nice if you work at it. Good Luck!

I'm very impressed with the results you got. I had a quick go at mine over a few hours one night, starting with 800 then 1500 then 2000 grit (no deep gouges) It's improved but nowhere near as clear as yours. I will try again starting from scratch (pardon the pun!)



One last quick question ....When you say "in one direction" are you rubbing in cirular or straight lines?



Thanks again 88KE.

I have used Brasso for the final polish on perspex and it worked well.

88KE wrote:One last quick question ....When you say "in one direction" are you rubbing in cirular or straight lines?

Should always sand in straight lines when correcting plastic lenses / windshields by hand, not circular. It's a different matter if you use a dual-action (DA) polisher like a Porter Cable 7424. With a DA, use a very slow speed, let the weight of the machine determine the pressure on the sanding pad, and always start/stop the machine on the work. Go to Autopia.org for good tips on detailing, including tutorials on plastic lens correction. The techniques described there apply to lexan windshields as well.

nice job