1 Mandatory intro? okay Thu Nov 27, 2014 4:51 pm
Honolulu
New member
Mandatory? okay...
Member in Honolulu Hawaii with two '85 K100RS, acquired 8 years apart. Surprise, one is only 79 VIN's from the other... they could have come off the assembly line on the same day. Long lost brothers!
The (only very slightly) older one is the daily driver, mostly as a 5 to 7 mile commute one way each working day. I appear to be the only Civil Engineer riding a bike to work, although one of my University of Hawaii profs had a Honda 4 cylinder. That was in 1976, so probably a 750, a big bike in those days.
Over 8 years the DD has thrown a very few surprises... bad ground from trans to B- that caused intermittent engine outage, and a injection controller that went bad once on the freeway. Fortunately I was just moving to the (downhill) exit, and got off. Then it restarted a minute later, only to stall at the crest of the overpass, three blocks from work. I coasted it to a parking spot, got a pal to truck it home and just on a whim (not really knowing where else to start) swapped the controller from bike #2. Voila!
Bike 2 had been sitting five years when I got it. I cleaned it up, replaced hoses, etc. then went nfor a first ride with the wife. "Honey I smell gas", "Oh it's probably just the injection cleaner I put in the tank"... Then a block later WHOOSH and we have fire at 0900. I laid it down and beat out the fire with my gloves, but not before toasting the fairing on that side. Fortunately I'm a FRUGAL dude, so my gloves were heavy leather long cuff welding gloves from the local industrial supply house, and eventually the fire was out.
Much later, I figured the likely cause was NOT that I'd kinked a fuel hose that subsequently burst, or that I'd forgotten to tighten a fuel line clamp... this bike, just like the other, had a pinhole leak at the low spot. Unfortunately it was on the left, and dripped onto the ignition/spark plug side.... We were only three blocks away, uphill, so after the cop and fire truck came (20 minutes too late) and left, we re-boarded and coasted home.
High drama, but #1 has been wonderfully reliable but for the two issues. #2 is near to completion, then what am I gonna do?
Member in Honolulu Hawaii with two '85 K100RS, acquired 8 years apart. Surprise, one is only 79 VIN's from the other... they could have come off the assembly line on the same day. Long lost brothers!
The (only very slightly) older one is the daily driver, mostly as a 5 to 7 mile commute one way each working day. I appear to be the only Civil Engineer riding a bike to work, although one of my University of Hawaii profs had a Honda 4 cylinder. That was in 1976, so probably a 750, a big bike in those days.
Over 8 years the DD has thrown a very few surprises... bad ground from trans to B- that caused intermittent engine outage, and a injection controller that went bad once on the freeway. Fortunately I was just moving to the (downhill) exit, and got off. Then it restarted a minute later, only to stall at the crest of the overpass, three blocks from work. I coasted it to a parking spot, got a pal to truck it home and just on a whim (not really knowing where else to start) swapped the controller from bike #2. Voila!
Bike 2 had been sitting five years when I got it. I cleaned it up, replaced hoses, etc. then went nfor a first ride with the wife. "Honey I smell gas", "Oh it's probably just the injection cleaner I put in the tank"... Then a block later WHOOSH and we have fire at 0900. I laid it down and beat out the fire with my gloves, but not before toasting the fairing on that side. Fortunately I'm a FRUGAL dude, so my gloves were heavy leather long cuff welding gloves from the local industrial supply house, and eventually the fire was out.
Much later, I figured the likely cause was NOT that I'd kinked a fuel hose that subsequently burst, or that I'd forgotten to tighten a fuel line clamp... this bike, just like the other, had a pinhole leak at the low spot. Unfortunately it was on the left, and dripped onto the ignition/spark plug side.... We were only three blocks away, uphill, so after the cop and fire truck came (20 minutes too late) and left, we re-boarded and coasted home.
High drama, but #1 has been wonderfully reliable but for the two issues. #2 is near to completion, then what am I gonna do?