Bought my first k-bike ever and first road bike ever a few weeks back. I have a lifetime of off-road experience but have never
ridden on the street. I've wanted an R or a K since I was a kid and finally decided to stop waiting and squeeze the trigger.
I picked up a 1991 K100 RS 16v off craiglsist from a guy who, by strange coincidence, lives down the street from me. It's a bit of a
fixer-upper cosmetically, but appears solid mechanically. He was a shorter guy and found that the bike forced him into a hunched over
posture that he found uncomfortable on long rides. He bought a harley that fit him better because of the more upright riding posture, and the k-bike just sat for ~2 years. He wanted to send it off to a good home, and I'de say he has. It's got the usual bumps and scratches you'de expect from a bike that's been sitting in a garage more than it's been ridden. Took the fairings off
and haven't found any evidence on the frame/radiator/engine case/exhaust that the bike's ever been downed, although the fairings are a little beat up, cosmetically, but intact.
The bike's got 2 years worth of dust and dirt all over it. It was time for it to go to someone who would take care of it
The fork seals are shot, and I have new ones on the way. The K bike is going to replace a 1968 vw I have been driving and working on myself for 25 years. Told myself I would sell that car after 20 years but just couldn't see a good reason to part with it. I'm solidly middle aged now and can't see any reason to put off owning a bike for another 20 years. Only got so much sand in the hourglass of life.. don't want to wait another 20 when there will be even less sand.. I'm looking forward to learning about K's and how to maintain them. I intentionally picked one that needed a little work in order to learn. This K lived for a long time near the ocean and barnacle type corrosion in the alloy parts is the most prevalent cosmetic blemish on the bike. I live near the ocean but will garage the bike in the space vacated by my vw. I'm expecting 25 years of vw maintenance skills will transfer over to bikes. I love the elegance and simplicity and ingenuity I see in the deisgn of old VW's and am already beginning to appreciate it
up close in the K's.

I picked this forum out of many I see online because it seems to be specifically oriented towards the K and not R's, RS's etc. While I like those bikes too, I own a K now. After anonymously trolling it seems like this forum is frequented by a group of guys
who are like-minded and work on their K's. I don't like forums where people just talk about their bikes, or argue over tires and
motor oil. I want hands on knowledge and experience in the crowd I choose to run with.

I plan to ride my K for business and pleasure.. I hope to get it to the point where it's a reliable commuter during the week and a dependable ride for getaways on the weekends. Parking for cars is very tight where I work, so a motorcycle makes a certain sense. It's also nice to commute on something that gets better mpg than a car.

44,xxx on the odometer. I'm assuming those miles are original. I am the 4th owner the bike has had. I have ownership but no
maintenance records going back 2 owners. The paper trail stops at the last independent dealer who sold it back in 2000. Not too concerned about it. I am quite experienced with keeping old things running and have the tools. Fixed my own cars and other
machines all my life anyway.

Looking forward to an interesting forum and lots of good miles ahead. I'll be trolling the for sale board in the future for some
little odds and ends that need replacing on the bike. Also plan to repaint it. It's dark metallic gray (or is that black?) and I'de
like to return the thing to a shiny pretty version of its original color.

I hail from and live in northern San Diego county in southern California

Welcome to the forums, just in time for a whole new year. Enjoy your new ride

Welcome to the mob.
Good fun crowd.

That's was a really great introduction....... .
Sounds like you intend to, and is able to maintain your new ride.
Welcome to the madhouse, okr.....we ain't got any exit doors.

Great another US K! Well you've come THE best place to get support for your K. I joined two weeks ago, and there have been plenty of fireworks and good advice around here. Welcome to the this forum. I have been reading for days on this forum. Great stuff. I have a similar story, I have the same sand falling thru my hourglass. I hope I can go down to ride with you some time.

UJ

Is why I didn't do this sooner? Must be a 2012 thing. Turning 40 makes you stop and take a long
hard look at the hourglass. It's a joyful thing, not grim. But you do realize that you have more
days behind you than you got in front of you, so there's no sense putting anything off for some
tomorrow that might not be there.

I hunted around various forums related to bmw bikes, and this one seemed to be most similar to me and
the kid of riding I intend to do, as well as having some very good info on the care and maintenance of K's. Part
of the fun is knowing your machine inside and out.

Stuck with one kind of car for 25 years, I think I'll give a good chunk of the next 25 to the K..

welcome okr ......

the learning curve isnt real steep on these old girls ...if you have some mechanical nouse ...but like everybody the efi system requires some getting used to ...electrical experience is a good skill to have in such cases .

hope you enjoy the whole experience ...and love your riding ...cheers

Greetings okr welcome to the forum.
There is a mountain of knollege here but someone usually comes up with a new bucket of rocks to make the mountain higher.

Hi okr,
Great to have you with us and I am positive that 25 years of self maintenance will translate into an easy trip fixing a K. First thing to do is give it a major service with all fluids and filters changed sticking with standard BMW parts and fluid recommendations, that way you know that everything is as was intended and the rear drive and gearbox etc has not had some bozo add mouse milk or some other exotic additive to it. During the time you have the plastic off get some Caig DeoxIT G5 and S5 you can find caig on the net and a local dealer, then treat every electrical connector on the bike to the two stage G5 followed by S5 that way every contact will be as close to as new as they can be. Excellent choice of model and year because it was towards the end of the run and all the improvements going had been fitted by the time you got yours.
Regards,
K-BIKE

Welcome to the forum and thanks for the details of your experiences and ideas about maintenance and learning. This forum is inhabited by a really genuine mob who seems to be of similar mind and for the most part maintain a keen interest in other K bike riders and their bikes. I'd say that there is an overall 'politeness' to the manner of the folks here. Can't think of a time that I've seen anyone get 'flamed' as is often the case in other anonymous forums. Many of us have actually become mates and we Aussies and some of the Irish blokes too meet up regularly for group rides.

When you get a chance to add a picture to your profile, how about also inserting the year and model info of your bike there too, that way if you've a question we all have a better idea which era bike you're asking about?

Cheers.

K-BIKE wrote:Hi okr,
Great to have you with us and I am positive that 25 years of self maintenance will translate into an easy trip fixing a K. First thing to do is give it a major service with all fluids and filters changed sticking with standard BMW parts and fluid recommendations, that way you know that everything is as was intended and the rear drive and gearbox etc has not had some bozo add mouse milk or some other exotic additive to it. During the time you have the plastic off get some Caig DeoxIT G5 and S5 you can find caig on the net and a local dealer, then treat every electrical connector on the bike to the two stage G5 followed by S5 that way every contact will be as close to as new as they can be. Excellent choice of model and year because it was towards the end of the run and all the improvements going had been fitted by the time you got yours.
Regards,
K-BIKE

I am in the middle of all those things. Changed all the oils, haven't gotten to the brake fluid or coolant yet. I'm also waiting on
new fork seals to arrive. Moly grease for the splines is on the way too. Until then I won't be riding much. What rides I have made have been short ones to warm it up and make sure the fan comes on, the bike doesn't overheat, and to check that there are no glaring mechanical issues. So far, so good. Biggest issues so far seem to be cosmetic in nature and simple lack of use, which won't be a problem for too much longer. I do wish the factory tool kit was still with the bike, but apprently it's more normal than not for them to go missing over time and across multiple owners. Nice part is I can just buy another. I have all the tools (metric allen sockets etc.), just not in the compact roll the factory provides. I'de like to have that for long trips, but all in good time. The choice of year was random chance, although things have a strange way of working out for the best.
My decision was really more driven by a sense that It was just time for me to jump in and do this, but as I have been reading up on the subject I am glad I got the era/model/generation K-bike that I did for exactly the reasons K-BIKE mentions.. If the bike turned out to be a bad year I was just planning to learn what I could and carry it forward to the next bike. Yes, I have a feeling I will own another someday. Losing one car leaves space for 2 bikes in the garage, after all.

Looking forward to the adventure..

Oh No now you have gone and done it, you have been infected with the Kpox virus, there is no cure and the only to keep it under control is to get more and more K bikes till the other half threatens you and then you have to sneak them in and hide them.

Welcome and Happy New Year too.

The forum is great for technical know how but as you will see we Irish guys do meet up from time to time. It all started last summer and to be honest it is a great social side. We just had a nice meet up on last Saturday and managed yet again to find a nice sunny day.

K bikes are an addiction after all.......

Hi and welcome to the forum and a happy new year, a great forum and fantastic folk and some a lot over 40 so just fit right in and upwards and onwards.



BIG D

Welcome okr
I too, when I turn 40 will probably start looking at the hour glass of time.(no snickering from the peanut gallery chaps).
I can assure you that your first decent ride will have you hooked, despite your tender years.
Enjoy mate
RT

Welcome to a great site. I think many of us share your sentiments and probably a good amount of your experiences too. You'll find here all the info you'll likely need in order to bring your new/old bike up to your standards.
I was thinking that, as a long time owner of a VW, you've missed a step in the technological march. You need an old BMW Airhead to transition to the K-bike
There really does seem to be a lot of DNA in common with those machines. As a rider of the Airheads for decades, the acquisition of my 1985 K100RS last year seems like a giant leap into the future!
Being that you're a resident of the S.D. area, you've a lot of nice back roads to enjoy with your K-bike. Lucky man.!
Welcome once again.

I know them well, from inside a car. Experiencing them on a bike will be something different entirely. There are some beautiful back country & desert roads in southern CA. Spring is particularly beautiful in the desert after the winter storms
blow through and the desert briefly blooms. San Diego county is one of the most geographically and climatically diverse areas on earth- you can go from ocean to subtropical scrub to alpine forest to desert, all in a few hours.

My plan had been to find an airhead, but decent airheads have become pretty rare. Last time I was seriously considering this was in the early 1990's, when used 70's era airheads in good condition were pretty common. Not so anymore. I notice the choices are marginal, and most guys want 3x what it's worth and they need a lot of work. There seem to be two extremes for sale: show room quality restoration projects that are half complete in some guy's garage, and borderline junkers. I'm happy with a K for now. Their interesting design intrigues me as much as the airhead's do, and it gets me in the game. I haven't lost my interest in airheads, and if the right one were to cross my path I would go for it. In my months of K hunting
I came across a few short wheelbase airheads that were reasonable fix-it projects and would have made nice bikes, but would prefer a long wheelbase R that could hold the later (70's) luggage.

I've got to say that the sentiments echoed above are the reason I decided to join the forum as well. I am also a member of an R forum which is similar to this and as long as I log out laughing I know I will be checking again the next day.

Now, must get off my backside and join one of the runs will the fellahs.

Cheers, Dave.

Tackler wrote:...Now, must get off my backside and join one of the runs will the fellahs. Cheers, Dave.

Yeah, Dave, you outta get together with our men Blakey, Charlie, Bert2 (CafeRacer), and the others who live not far from Brissy like Alby and RickG, Saxon and the rest of the NSW contingent too. They're a good lot and will go out of their way to help a mate and are ever ready for a ride to everywhere and nowhere, sometimes just for a squiz around the place. But that's the way it is with this mob; always a lending hand and a cheery smile.

I'm out of the country for a while and I can tell you I miss those bastards (OZ term of endearment, for the rest of you), and can't wait to get back and fire up my red K and take a burble on those familiar roads round the SE Queensland region with those who have become good mates and an integral part of my life since joining and then rejoining this forum several years back.

okr wrote:I picked this forum out of many I see online because it seems to be specifically oriented towards the K and not R's, RS's etc. While I like those bikes too, I own a K now. After anonymously trolling it seems like this forum is frequented by a group of guys who are like-minded and work on their K's. I don't like forums where people just talk about their bikes, or argue over tires and
motor oil. I want hands on knowledge and experience in the crowd I choose to run with.

OKR,

You just came to the right place. We deliver what we advertise: Friendship, technical advise and help.
We specialize in Ks but certainly will never put down a R owner (or any other type or brand).
We are not only proud of our bikes, but we are really proud of the way that we created this community and how it helps new owners like you.
Thanks for your great introduction and welcome to our site.

We will wait before asking you what type of tires you use on your bike.


CF

Thanx TWB,



Been a bit busy with other commitments over the Xmas break and went out for a quick run today. Back at work Wednesday, as I am saving my hols to mid-Feb when I shall be visiting over your way. Vegas and then skiing in Tahoe. Rest of the time in AZ with some pre-organised stuff and a few friends in southern AZ. A mate at Redmond, OR has just checked in and wants to catch up. Nothing definite but if the planets align I see it is about 400km from there to Seattle.



So TWB is your K getting lonely back down here? Maybe we could mow the grass for you?



Hey OKR, I hope we are not hijacking your thread.



Cheers, Dave.

Welcome OKR, great intro. I can empathize with you feelings on the missing tool roll. After acquiring my K and reading that the c spanner doubled up as a dip stick I set about an Ebay watch until I won one at the right price. You can of course make one simply enough and a forum google search will lead you to the measurements. Enjoy the K and stay safe.

88KE

Here's a twist on that oft-heard story about the tools going missing. When I checked out and later bought my K100RS, the owner had a lot of trouble answering what I considered basic questions about the bike. He said there were no tools, but when I had the bike home and began exploring, there they were, and looking for all the world like they hadn't been touched since they left the factory.
Amazing!

I have some old tool rolls and some spare tools from the bikes I have parted out. If you are looking for a tool to fill out your roll let me know what you need. The rolls I have are not in great shape but I am sure anyone with a sewing machine could copy and remake one from an old one.

brickrider wrote:Here's a twist on that oft-heard story about the tools going missing. When I checked out and later bought my K100RS, the owner had a lot of trouble answering what I considered basic questions about the bike. He said there were no tools, but when I had the bike home and began exploring, there they were, and looking for all the world like they hadn't been touched since they left the factory.
Amazing!

I have had that experience before too with other things.. The suspense was palpable after I spend 30 mins figuring out how
to unlatch the seat (yes, twist the key then PUSH the button...geez), then looked at the plastic cover plate to the rear compartment.. an Indiana Jones moment. Unfortunately for me, this time, the golden idol wasn't in the temple of doom.
The original user's manual was there though.. and some worthless old registration papers. No sign of the toolkit.