I just got in from a ride and I noticed a few droplets of coolant on my crank cover. Not a happy camper. Had a good look and couldn't find any thing that was wet. Looks like the side fairings are coming off again.

Just as well as I am getting an irritating vibration from somewhere in there.

The joys of owning a K or just any vintage bike?

Look at it this way you need the practice and I can tell you now you will be doing it a few more times.
Coolant up there I would say is not at all serious but sounds like it may be coming from the filler cap.

Hopefully it's just the oring.

The good news is that when you fix it and go for a run, the spilt coolant will evaporate and give of an awful smell with smoke, making you think that it's on fire. Ask me how I know.
RT

That's happened to me as well...a small puddle of coolant on the garage floor. Finished up being loose-ish screws holding one of the front covers on.

There is no pool of coolant on the bike, the droplets just that, a few random droplets, about 4 or 5. I do know its coolant though as it's red and the same colour as the coolant, The hoses look fine so I suspect like Rick said, it's from the cap.

Now can anything be done about the other vibes? Passenger foot pegs for example? Will post 85 peg mounts fit? Those are solid mount and supposed to be better or is it not worth the effort?

There are all sorts of opinions on that Al. I know of people who have the old ones and say what vibrations and others that complain of blured vision. BMW recalled them to change the foot peg plates and got rid of the rubber mount that was causing the vibrations but retain the rubber mounted handlebars because it reduces the vibrations and I hear sometimes that putting the K75 top clamp on reduces the vibrations so to be quite honest HooNose.

These things do just buzz......sometimes a lot, others....not so much.
In 85 BMW originally had rubber bushings in the mounts for the foot peg plates to the engine.
Mysteriously, they changed them to solid mountings without the rubber insulators to lessen the vibrations. Lot's of things you can inspect......one of the biggest contributors to vibe seems to be improperly aligned or mounted exhaust hanger brackets and or cracks in the individual pipe inlets to the muffler.
Lots more info at various points around the forum.
As a side note, for handlebar buzz, they often put on handlebar end weights.......I have yet to try it.
Another guy told me to fill the handlebars with lead shotgun shell pellets if you can find the lead ones. I have no idea if it works.
regards, ibj...

The handle bars are not too bad on mine, just the foot pegs. I am wondering if the rubber rnounts can be removed and made into solid mounts with inserts.

You still have rubber bushings around the 3 bolts that hold the peg plates to the engine?
BMW should have taken them off under warrantee years ago.
It's not worth the effort to try to modify the obsolete brackets.
There are lots of economical used foot peg plates available for not much money. Might get a nice set of black ones. They look nice.

Hmmmmm............ was there a recall or update for the rubber bushings? I wonder if the bits are still available?

Alheng



Hmmmmm............ was there a recall or update for the rubber bushings? I wonder if the bits are still available?


I too get some vibration thru the footpegs, especially LHS.
My footpegs are pictured below

Was there a recall of the footpegs? Or just some mounting harware.
I have noticed some k100's have black ones or these replacements or just a newer style.

Mine are like that too.

They're the old ones still heaps of them around as very few actually got replaced and because it wasnt a safety thing BMW didn't have to make a bi g noise about but replaced as they were asked to. The recall finished after 10 years.
They replaced them with the newer style ones that bolt directly to the same holes on the gearbox but without the rubber inserts.

RicK G wrote:They're the old ones still heaps of them around as very few actually got replaced and because it wasnt a safety thing BMW didn't have to make a bi g noise about but replaced as they were asked to. The recall finished after 10 years.
They replaced them with the newer style ones that bolt directly to the same holes on the gearbox but without the rubber inserts.

Do the newer style footpegs have black stripes on them?

They have 5 diagonal lines cast into then . Some are alloy some are all black and somehave stripes.
http://www.ebay.com/itm/BMW-K75-K100-Left-Hand-Foot-Pegs-Mounting-Bracket-C124-/271032952402
This is one of them

Thanks Rick

Yup, they are on my radar already.

Many years ago I made some stainless bushes to replace the rubber bushes, but as it made no noticeable difference, I put the rubbers back.
Remember also that the rubber mounted footrest plates use the footrests with end weights, so that makes another variable.

Paul.

sidecar paul wrote:Many years ago I made some stainless bushes to replace the rubber bushes, but as it made no noticeable difference, I put the rubbers back.
Remember also that the rubber mounted footrest plates use the footrests with end weights, so that makes another variable.

Paul.

Foot rest with end weights??? Could you please elaborate abit more?

I don't know if you'll realize a huge improvement by changing the plates but there's lots of them available used and it's a lot easier (& more solid) than messing around trying to machine bushings. If you don't like 'em you can always put the old ones back on.
I too would like to see the pegs with end weights??????
Never heard that one before!
I guess the natural question then would be, what about trying the weighted pegs with solid plates?????
Regards, ibj....

Here's the mods I did to the early footrests (with end weights) to use the later rubbers and the pictures show the weights.

https://www.k100-forum.com/t4847-footrests

I'm sure you will have seen the early footrests but maybe not noticed.

Paul.

Ah so! Looks like I have the weighted footrest on mine. Love your work Paul.

That really is spectacular fab work.
From the pics, I'm assuming that if I want the peg end weights, I'll also need to get some earlier pegs? I don't remember my 85rs pegs having the threaded bolt holes for mounting the weights.
I do have the solid mounted peg plates and as I understand it the pegs were changed to the non weighted type when the plates were updated????

I've also never had handlebar end weights. I had a complete set of weights on my 85 RT parts bike, but they seemed too small in diameter for my rs bars so I donated them to Bakely (did I spell that wrong?).
At any rate I got back from a "Bonzie" 300 mile quick trip yesterday and my hands were still buzzing 6 hours later.
Question: Do these end weights really help? And are the rs bars larger dia. than the rt or was I missing something obvious here?

They all do it to some degree, my K1100 does it right at the 4000 mark which is just a touch over the usual speed limit on most of the highways 100kph I am waiting on our local gun dealer to get some lead shot in for me as ithe lead has been all but banned (apparently ducks were dying of lead poisoning). There is one place in Victoria, Kow Swamp where the lead from duck hunting over the past 150 years has made it commercialable minable, I digress.
I am going to try it and I have also heard that filling the bars with silicone works but have heard no reports.

Good luck with the shot.....please let me know how it works out for you and also tell me your opinions on if I should bother to get the end weights?

Ok leak fixed looks like I didn't tighten the cap enough, but have a new oring on the way anyway.

Lead shot- how much do you need and must it be lead shot? How do you keep it in the right place or do you fill the whole bar?

If you can't get it from gun shops try dive shops ask for the soft lead packs. Will cost more though.

Ah Dive shops didn't think of that. Last time I was diving we had to make our own weights out of sheaths from lead covered communication cables.
Thanks for that and dont know about the rest I will have to experiment.

How about melting down the lead from old batteries? Used to do that to make projectiles.

Could just fill the bars with molten lead

If that doesn't make the front stick to the ground nothing will! LOL!

But talk about top heavy!

The whole rationale behind filling the handlebars with lead shot, besides it being heavy, is that it IS "shot". Somehow the properties of all the individual heavy lead pellets able to move (vibrate) independently of one another is the theory behind cancelling out the vibration in the bars. Pouring them with molten lead just wouldn't be the same. I don't even know if it works anyway, but a guy I consider "pretty smart" told me about it.
If you've ever handled a "dead blow" mallet......you'll understand the action the loose shot creates.
regards, ibj...

Lead is a very strange metal it has no elastic properties at all. If you hit it with a hammer the hammer wont bounce as it does from any other metal and if you hit it with anything that mark stays as it was made at that moment, you cant make a tuning fork from lead it wont vibrate and it is very strange in that according to its molecular structure it should have a much higher melting point than it does. Filling with lead shot like ibj said is the right way but filling with moltem lead probably would not make any difference as the vibration would still travel through the steel bars.

I agree with Rick........I have no experience with this....I only reported what someone else recommended.
So.....I don't really know if it works