Just thought that I would say hello.
English and living in France. Have owned BMWs most of my life, my wife has an F800ST at the moment but I am looking for a K100RS or K1100RS to play with.
Only two Ks that I have owned were a K100LT (1990) and a K1200GT (2004), all the others have been boxers.

Welcome mate....theres lots to see and contribute to here...and we do keep an eye out for suitable bikes and parts...keep tuned , and get involved.

Ta mate. I have been lurking for a few weeks now. I am a bit restricted in where I can get a bike from as UK bikes have left dip lights and speedos that work in miles.
I went to look at a K100RS this afternoon. Nice '87 bike in red with a belly pan. It had no heated grips or ABS though. When I took it out for a test ride it was dangerous! I managed to get back without dropping the thing and then looked at the front tyre - it was very soft. Neither the seller nor I had a pressure gauge or a pump so I left. I may go back and pump the tyre up and try it again.

welcome bikerboy

yep tyres can make a big difference to how the bike feels on the road indeed ...even amongst the many brands of good ones .

Welcome to the forum.

I hope you will stay with us, but they have a very active BMW forum in France: http://bmist.forumpro.fr/
This is not only K bike related, but they have very knowledgeable people their too. They may help you to find a good deal
Cheers,

Crazy Frog (Yep a frog hiding within the English community )

Having suffered a slow front puncture I can confirm that a soft front tyre feels very unstable and makes the bike handle like a pig.

Don't rule out a UK bike which would show KPH inside the MPH dial on the speedo and the lens could easily be swapped for a continental.


88KE

I know that there is a French forum, but thanks for the tip, trouble is that I only have 8 years of learning French so English is much easier for me at the moment.
The bike that I rode today was so bad that even on a fairly strait single track road it felt like it was trying to fall into any slight curve. With a single track road I had to ride it nearly a mile to find room to turn the thing around! I now know that 1st and 2nd gear work, but it was far to dangerous to try anything more.
The other problem in buying a UK bike would be registering it on French plates as I will need a European certificate of conformity, and these only came in in about 2002. The speedo is one thing, the headlight will be changed for a projector HID, so the original will be removed anyway.
I imported the wife and my pair of R1100S's a few years ago with no problem, but they came with Euro CofC's and the headlights can be made to dip left or right on that model.

Welcome to the forum bikerboy - enjoy your time here

Found bike. Reviewed records. Bought it. Got home.
Road...handling was like you describe.
Something Is Not Right!
Checked tire pressures.
Found front tire was at 12 psi.!!!!
...still am shaking head over that because did not properly pre-flight the bike.
Used to run jap stuff...Hard...(in another chapter of life)... ...
Fired me up!
To go back to pre-flighting the ride.
Walkaround looking at everything!!!
I know that it is what I do before heading out now...every time I go out.
Oh...and Welcome!

Hi bikerboy,
You will find a great bunch of people here with collectively the most complete compendium of knowledge on the K and many other subjects who are also really helpful too, good to have you with us.
Regards,
K-BIKE

I have not been back to the guy with the flat front tyre. I gave found another bike, almost the same but 2 years newer (1989) for the same money and with ABS. The trouble is that while finding that I have also found a 1991 white K100RS with 16 valves and nice 3 spoke wheels for a little more money. Now I don't know what to do!

Buy the 16v bike and don't hesitate just go get it.

lol ....true !!!!!

91!!!!!!!! go now, do not pass go, do not collect 200 dollars

I think that I have found the bike now. A '91 16 valve in black, owner has not ridden it for a couple of years and tells me that the ABS light was on the last time he rode it. I am sure that I can sort out a simple ABS system, I was an aircraft engineer in a past life! Price is about right so I will go to see it this week.

bikerboy wrote:I think that I have found the bike now. A '91 16 valve in black, owner has not ridden it for a couple of years and tells me that the ABS light was on the last time he rode it.

You will find a great deal of discussion about ABS here in the Forum...very very useful and clever people live here....I am an aircraft engineer now and some of the things I have seen here are very impressive.

Cannot wait to see it...did I mention we like pictures here?....

No pictures I am afraid.
The wife and I drove for 3 hours with the trailer on to go and view the bike. When we arrived the elderly chap opened up his barn and showed me a very sad K100RS 16v laying on its side on the dirt floor. He claimed that the dogs must have knocked it over.
After picking it up we found a flat back tyre (tire), both mirrors on the floor with broken glass and indicator lenses, panniers cracked and broken, brake discs (rotors) rusty, very poor repair to the front fairing on one side of the windscreen base and corroded alloy. It also had damaged alloy on the front right of the engine where it had been dropped at some time.
Now don't get me wrong, I don't mind doing some mechanical work to make a bike run and look better, but I want to use it at the same time, and don't want to go out and spend loads of money buying bits to replace broken stuff. The other thing is that it had a Corbin seat on it that does not lock down, it may look great on a K100LT, but ruined the lines of the RS, so I would be looking for another seat too!
We drove the 3 hours home with heavy hearts and an empty trailer.

What was the asking price??

ungaas wrote:What was the asking price??

It was advertised for €1750, the seller very quickly mentioned €1250, but there is so much work that I left him with an offer of €1000.
I had considered buying in the UK and importing, just as we did with the R1100S's, but a pre 2002 bike is more difficult to put onto French plates as I will not have a Euro Certificate of Conformity.
I wish that I had kept my '04 K1200GT and imported from UK plate to French plate now.

I have just been told that the seller will accept my offer! I am just making space in the garage for the beast, it will be called "Ronnie" after Ronnie O'Sullivan the best snooker player in the world, his nickname is "Rocket Ronnie".
There will be a couple of months of restoration as he needs mirrors and other cosmetic things. He will also need a seat as the horrible Corbin thing that is fitted is not to my taste. I will also need to source some panniers as the ones fitted are beyond repair. He will end up with LED rear lighting and, if I can sort it out, a HID xenon headlight with projector fitted into the original square light.
Should be collecting him this weekend on a trailer.

Good work BB.
Get one more K back on the road.
As for any parts you are not going to reuse, sell them regardless of condition. You would be surprised what some people are prepared to do with the right skills.
More folks like yourself are trying to get/keep these bikes on the road and parts are always in demand.

Have fun.

rossco

Not sure that there will be anything that would be any use for anyone. I intend to repair as much as I can myself, as an ex-aircraft engineer I can deal with most things. I will only buy new parts where I cannot repair them. I have noticed that there has been a repair done to the front fairing one one side of the base of the windscreen, but rather than getting another fairing I will dismantle and fibreglass as long as I can do it perfectly. The bike will look as original as I can keep it apart form more modern lighting. My intention with the HID headlight is to fit a bi-xenon projector inside the original headlight and then either source of have made a clear lens (glass or plastic) for it.
The wife will start a blog on the project with loads of photos from start to finish. It will end up better than my microlight blog!