Earlier posts have pointed out the fact that the K100 speedos are notorious for having problems.

I bought an 85 K100RT that the previous owner admitted to having the speedo worked on.
The odometer has 19K on it at this point.
Is there any way to get an accurate idea of the true mileage?

Short of cutting through one of the frame members and counting the rings, no not really.

You would have to have access to the history of the bike, or have the original maintenance records. You could estimate an average kilomerage per year to get an estimate, knowing the number of years the bike has been in storage. Looking at constant wear items like the final drive splines or cam shaft lobes would give you a rough estimate of the kilometers.

Knowing the exact kilomerage is usually used as a barometer to owners as to when maintenance steps are to be performed, or to potential buyers as a barometer to the condition of the vehicle. Once you've gone through the full maintenance regime, you WILL know the condition and can start counting (essentially) at Year Zero for the purpose of maintaining the bike. It is a good idea to keep a maintenance log for the bike. That's what I do for mine. I borrowed one from Ted Verrill's web site; I created an Excel workbook from the table on this page.

Well, this K bike came from an older gentleman who lived in Florida.

He did not ride very much.
He died and his son brought it up to PA and had a lot of maintenance workdone on it.

He said the splines were lubed and all the fluids were changed and a new fuel pump installed..

Cosmetically is was about an 8 out of 10.
It sprung a fuel line leak so I changed that and the breather hose.
Brake fulid looked good and it had really good tires.

It starts well, does not smoke, burns no oil.
Idles well and shifts great.
No electrical problems other than the speedo needle stops working every now and then and needs to be tapped to get it going.

Came with nice Corbin seat and all the bags.

I'm into it about $1500.

Just would like to know actual engine miles.

lol ...counting the rings ...heheh

If the speedo needle stops and goes without your right hand's input try cleaning both the transducer at the final drive (one screw and it's out), and the multi-pin connector (potential corrosion) at the back of the instrument cluster with DeoxIt. The earlier instruments were problematic, moisture got into them, & etc.

You'll never know the actual mileage for sure unless there's a record been kept. But as the other blokes all said in their various ways you can check this and that for 'signs' of decay. How do the brake pads look? A new fuel pump could have simply been because it sat a while unused. Are there significant rub marks on the hand controls and the footpeg brackets. These things could help indicate the amount of use. My '86 has an honest 115,000 kms on it and burns zero oil.

Good luck with the bike, for $1500, what a bargain.

I would not concern myself about the mileage just do a very comprehensive service and count it as starting at zero and take it from there.
Most bricks are good for 300,000 miles so if it actually has an extra 50 or 60k on it that doesn't really matter.

When it comes to servicing I only do my oil changes by the book but the rest is always done whle I am tinkering with it.

I have a KZ1300 kawasaki that has done 324,000klm and that is the way it was always looked after when the warranty expired. It needs a set of internal chains now but that is all and when they are done it will be back on the road.

In New Zealand we are required by law to have the bikes inspected every 6 months and a warrant of fitness issued. The milage is recorded and entered on the transport authority data base. That is public information and is available free of charge on the net. A very good tool for confirming details proviided by the seller are correct. I recently picked up an RT with 22,000km on the clock and had the same doubts. Seems to be correct through, but with the added complication of being an import, so I really can't be 100% sure. Again I have fallen back on condition with the only problems so far being age rather than wear related.

What inspections, if any, are required in other countries?

Peter

pjjms wrote:What inspections, if any, are required in other countries?

In Norway...none, cars every second year.

Inge K.

In Queensland Oz the only inspections done is when the vehicle is sold so as you can imagine there are some real klangers on the road.

Other states have various forms of inspections with New South Wales being the hardest to live with. Example If you have recently repaired a minor bit of damage and the area is only undercoated ready for the final coat they won't pass it even though it is very obviously not a safety issue in any way at all.

In Republic of Ireland, none on bikes, but it will come sooner or later, EU is pushing for it. Every two years on cars over four years old, and since June, every year on cars over ten years old. The reasoning behind that ??? More cars over ten years were failing the bi-annual test because people were taking them in for the test, seeing what they failed on and then fixing those faults. Not much point in spending money putting parts into an old car before the test and then find that it fails on emissions and needs a cat or ECU or other expensive work.

One thing that stands out in OZ is that the turn indicator switch (and its use) appears to be an option on all vehicles on the road, but with those who do use it it is more in the vein of 'showing your action and not your intention'. On the upside, when registering a vehicle here in the Sunshine State, at least, it gets a safety inspection, but no emissions test as yet. We just let the fumes drift towards New Zealand and the other Pacific Islands.

Ah is that what the smell was (the sweet smell of defeat last time we played the wallibies) was it 40-7

I'm not one for 'sport', where men (or women) in shorts chase a ball round a paddock, call it footy, soccer, rugby, cricket, or even golf, so I wouldn't know. Gimme a sport where no more than two wheels and internal combustion are key elements and I'm in. Last time I looked wallabies weren't allowed on the track and the only thing all black is some rubber on the tarmac left by spinning tyres.

Amen TWB!

In the UK the test's start after three years old and are then done every year and it is a test and a good one at that, but it keeps a lot of lethal contraptions of the streets.

The info all goes into a data base that can be checked by the boys in blue, no MOT then the rest of your legal requirements are void you are nicked my son.



BIG D





ps Have to agree with you TWB

hot_seat, Is'nt it funny how the Aussies lose all recolection of what rugby is when they get a pasting? Must admit I not a fan of the game, but if we have to suck all those exhaust fumes we have to send some flack back.

cumon you kiwis ....did you forget we did you good in hong kong ?
but the allblacks played with real conviction ...i have never seen such a fantastic defence since maybe 10 years ago

they really closed down those back of ours ...

real warriors ...yes sir ...they did good

i have been there many times,( even been to the old allblacks museum up in palmeston north) and enjoy the banter ....but after that is all done ...its great to get along as friends no ?

we have far too much in common not to be.... besides last time i looked about 10 th of our population is, you guys over here . giggles

Question?



How did a post about actual miles on a K100 end up a discussion of inspection cycles and Rugby?????

The pub is a noisy place and people get distracted. Stick around a bit and you'll see it happen heaps.

hi puccini .......i think someone said that some ausies would let some fumes and stuff fly off towards the south pacific ..and something about "all black" .......

and it all starts there ...there is a fierce competition between us southeners ...in all things, sport but one

last weekend the kiwis beat aussie at a competition called "the bledisloe cup " a long time local challenge between the 2 nations the sport being rugby ..


i really cant figure it out, how it started to stray into this thread

but i can say that the kiwis (new zealanders ) follow this sport with fervour ,,,,,its almost a religion over there ....to compound the issue new zealand is hosting the world competition in this sport ...held every 4 years ..........called the "william web ellis trophy " willian web ellis is credited as the founder of rugby ....it is closely associated with educational institutions (schools) of an english heritage ...and most of the english colonies followed this route

and a great satisfaction of revenge/oneupmanship towards the australians by the newzealanders who do verry well at this sport

to elaborate on the fervour ...i was in christchurch (nz) over a year ago , and in the middle of the town centre was huge a ticking down stopwatch ...anouncing the start time to the world cup on their home shores ...in months, weeks, days, hours, minutes and seconds to the opening event

but this is just a digression

we were discussing the various ways to tell the age and correct mileage accuracy and conformation of such of older "k" bikes

i put my hand up ....as i bit at the challenge also ..

sincere apologies to all

Beaut job with the details, as usual, Chazza! I reckon I'd buy a fellow K rider a coldie and they'd do the same in return, Kiwi, Pom, Ocker, Yank, Canuck, or the rest. Charlie, you can be designated driver. All in jest, this off-the-track banter, but that doesn't mean it won't or hasn't been picked up again in another thread.