hello,i am a new owner of a a k1100 rs 1995,when riding around town the temperature gauge sits at half way but as soon as i get on a good bit of road it instantly goes up to 3 quarters and higher.the temperature light does not come on,and the fan does cut in but when the gauge is in the red,all levels are good and the bike has done 98000 miles with impeccable history,it does not feel that hot to me to touch,should i be worried?any advise would be greatly appreciated,thank you for taking the time to read my post 

Welcome to the madhouse.......Heavy right wrist on the open road?

I would check the radiator for old debri, insects, old fork oil and such.....
if needed use a hose from the rearside of the radiator (no high pressure)
take care with the fan motor....it isn't that fond of water.

Inge K. wrote:Welcome to the madhouse.......Heavy right wrist on the open road?

I would check the radiator for old debri, insects, old fork oil and such.....
if needed use a hose from the rearside of the radiator (no high pressure)
take care with the fan motor....it isn't that fond of water.

thank you,is it common then?the rad is clear,will it do any damage as is?

The 4V's is running rather hot so this sounds normal....but on mine the fan seldom turns on the open road....but quite often in slow moving traffic.

And that the fan starts first when you reach the red field in the gauge is normal.

Over heating shows a problem and it needs to be dealt with.  Yes overheating will do damage.
To me it sounds like a lack of air flow through the radiator.
Does the temp drop quickly back to normal after an open road run.
I had to use degreaser on my K1100 to clean the fins as the fork oil had leaked back onto the radiator and it gathered a lot of dust.
The engine must be overheating because the fan coming on and the high reading on the gauge are from 2 separate senders.
It is possible the thermostat is not opening properly. Don't just take it out and leave it out, the thermostat needs to be there.
In the long run I would say that the radiator will have to come out.