There I found myself in a situation where keeping the R1200 wasn't viable any more - it represented a serious hazard to my driving licence as I simply could not refrain myself from riding faaar too fast. Also I had very little time for the bike so I felt it kinda wasted, sitting in the shed and doing nothing. Accordingly I sold her - with mixed feelings but in the hope that she'll be kept more on the road.
The obvious choice was a K100 - cheap but long-lasting bike, plenty of them around (or so I thought), easy maintenance, good support and advice here on the forum. I therefore started my search for a K100/K1100.
I do not think my expectations were ridiculously high:
- would have preferred a bike with ABS
- in a reasonable condition that no major time / money consuming repair should be done to it for the first 1000 km (I certainly expected the need of changing tyres, oil, filters, plugs and brake pads, that's not major)
- no rotten frame / messy electrics / expensive parts missing
- should be under 2000 euro when ready for the road
In other words I was not gonna go for a renovating or re-building project - with so many things unfinished around the house I did not want to stretch it any more. It's not unreasonable, is it?

I managed to find the Red Rocket a new home, so I thought now would come the easy part: money in the hand, just pick up a bike from the (supposedly) big supply. Straight onto advert sites - not only me but with the great help and advices of other members here (especially 88KE & 92KK - thanks for all your help lads) - with great hopes. There were a good couple of them around advertised, there was only one I had to rule out straight by the photos. Also considered paying deposit on a UK bike and fly over for it: price would be pretty much the same after registration tax and transportation is paid for. I know it sounds a bit risky but bikes in the UK are generally better maintained than here so a better chance to find a decent one. Even though if it turns out to be bad, I would be after spending a whole day and a good couple of hundreds on travelling. I checked out 8 bikes altogether - 2 of them K1100s, three K100s, one K75 and two R1150s which came into view at a surprisingly low price.
After test riding a couple of them here in Ireland I gave up the idea of chancing a remote buy from the UK. Even if there is a better ratio between good and bad bikes in the UK, it is still too low for me . I viewed bikes with fairing damage (which I wouldn't worry too much about after being offered a full fairing by 88KE), half the dash torn out, rotten frame, no power, sticky throttle, tax out for 4 years (which now would have to be paid in full), no brakes. Simply none of the Ks I checked had the ABS working, none of the K1100 had the electric screen working (GBP220 for the motor). I travelled all the way to Dublin just to view a bike when the owner turned out to be very unkeen about the thought of a test ride - even though I gave him my insurance cert showing me covered for anyone else's bike and also on the understanding that if I damage it I would have to buy it. Now obviously I was not going to buy a bike I'm not allowed to test ride, a whole day wasted again. Getting tired of it at this stage I started to regret selling the other one...

After all these pathetic efforts I ended up with an R1150RT which is younger, everything works on it, had to travel only 40 minutes to get it - for nearly the same money which my original target was.
On the other hand, I'm quite happy with what I got, ready for running along the Ks