Hello All,
 
I'm a new owner of a 1985 K100 RT with 50k miles on it - 
 
I'm in the North Carolina area and purchased it from a good friend after ten years of lusting after his Bimmer. I sold my '72 CB450 Cafe Racer to pay for this bike - I needed something to take a trip out of town on, and my research says the K bike is perfect. I have started the process of pulling off some of the rear luggage rack and saddle bags to lighten up the look a bit, and am very pleased with how well engineered this bike is. 
 
Looking forward to participating in this forum

Welcome Flamefront.

As a suggestion, don't get rid of your panniers and frames, you may need them later. I took mine off and tossed them out (they were in crap condition) and it took me a while to replace them.

Ask us anything. You'll get an answer, but it may take a while; we go off on a tangent, but eventually we return to the original question.

X2 on blaKey's comments Flamefront , I sold my panniers a long time back to help pay for some parts , regretted it ever since

JR

Welcome too.

I swapped the panniers off the RT, got these Krauser K2 off eBay brand new for £135 for the pair and got the carriers direct from Krauser, all this year. The original panniers look good but these Krauser ones are the business, bigger at 42 litres, they are locked on and locked shut and you cannot open them without the key and you cannot get the key out without locking them on or locking them closed. Keep the key with your ignition key and you never have a problem.

But don't get rid of the original ones. I put mine and the carriers in the box the K2 came in.

I can tell you after 5 years the K100 is really the business for travelling and touring, whether you keep the original panniers or not. Between them you can fit almost everything you need for a few weeks on a camping trip.

But the CB450 Black Bomber was one of my favourite bikes. It was another that went forever.

Check out the home page on what to do if you have just bought a K bike. Everyone here is very helpful and a lot of technical knowledge which everyone is willing to share.

The OEM panniers do look good and fit the styling of the K but they aren't strong and some actually fall off and get run over by big trucks.
I have a set of the older type squarish Givi and so does my wife on her K75. They don't fall off and you can get them off and back on easily and they hold more too.

Good looking bike there.

The RT is a sport touring bike and the panniers came stock. I do run mine in the springtime a little without the luggage, and it's certainly a little quicker and handles really nice.

See link in my signature for a few ideas.

Enjoy the ride!