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MOTOBRICK.COM => Welcome To Motobrick.Com => Topic started by: HM2PAC on November 30, 2015, 06:16:24 AM
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Hello Everyone,
I have recently completed my safety course and have a motorcycle license for the 1st time in my life. Lots of different reasons for waiting till 45 y/o to do something like that. Basically bikes were never big in my family, can't think of anyone that ever owned one. My new GF is really into them and gave me the instruction course as a present last Christmas. I finally got around to taking the course this past September.
Obviously this has all the makings of a really disastrous mid-life crisis....
Turns out the course was really fun and I enjoyed riding. So much so that I began looking at bikes on-line. Triumphs really caught my eye. Really like the "cafe racer" look.
So a couple months ago we headed out to test ride a few bikes. On the way to the Triumph dealership she saw a white motorcycle sitting on the side of the road with a For Sale sign on it. On our way back we checked it out...
Turns out it was a 1987 K100RS. Odometer is broken at 62,xxx miles. Oil was contaminated and milky. The mechanic at the shop said he bought it from a guy this past spring and it had just been sitting there.
It turned over on the first touch of the button. It's a lot bigger than other bikes I had been on, but was smooth and comfortable to shift.
I took it home for $850. Not too bad I don't think.
The oil problem was interesting. Seems as though someone changed the oil at some point without realizing they had left the gasket from the previous filter. Once the extra gasket was gone and the oil was changed a couple times, it has been clear since.
Winter is here now and my time to ride has passed for the year. The tires are bad and will need to be changed before it will pass inspection. I have ordered new plugs and a K&N air filter. Need to replace the fuel lines and fuel filter I'm sure. I am not a fan of the fairing and am going to remove it as well.
I'm enjoying all of the info here. The stickies are fantastic. The threads with people revamping older bikes are really great. I have a lot of questions about how to do many of the projects I have in mind, but will hold off on them until I am certain that I can not find the info otherwise.
Great place you folks have here,
HM2PAC
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Welcome!
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BTW, this is the bike as I found her...
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Welcome to our menagerie!
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Welcome! The striping on the fairing looks like a special edition model. Have you done the splines yet? You might also want to bleed the brakes and replace with new fluid. Neither job is expensive, just a bit time consuming if you do it yourself.
Have you taken your girlfriend out yet? Personally, I would get at least a couple thousand miles on the bike before I tried taking a passenger. When I started out long, long ago I didn't wait to really get the feel of my first bike and wound up hitting a stone wall in El Paso, Texas with my wife on the back. The wall was a good thing. It was between us and a 200 foot cliff.
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glad you are saving that brick! get a Clymer manual and do an entire major maint on the bike as described in the first chapter.
agree....no passengers for a long time. unless of course she is an experienced rider and takes you as a passenger on it! :-)
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Nope, no passengers yet!
The bike came with a Clymer manual in one of the sidebags.
Saw a video about the shaft and splines. Not sure I have the right tools or patience to do that by myself, let alone enough experience to know what kind of wear is acceptable.
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Don't worry, it's not as bad as it may seem. You can buy all the tools and supplies you need for way less than half of what the dealer will charge you, and you'll have the benefit of knowing the work was done right.
If you can handle the f-bombs, the videos by Chris Harris on YouTube are a great way to see how to do a lot of the common jobs on our bikes.
Brake bleeding only requires a phillips screwdriver, an 11mm combination wrench, a brake bleed kit(a bottle with a hose to collect the fluid) and a bottle of Dot4 brake fluid. A couple old towels and a bucket of water to wash off any fluid spills are important as well(brake fluid is a great paint remover) Everything you need shouldn't cost over $20.
The spline lube needs a set of long metric Allen wrenches(with ball ends are best), a set of metric combination wrenches, a pair of Vise Grips, the bike's wheel nut wrench and possibly a hammer. Some good molybdenum base lube and a can of copper base anti-seize. Some rags, a couple chunks of 2x4 and a piece of 1/4" rope to tie up the swing arm. A camera to take a couple of clear close ups of the splines and we can tell you how they look.
If there is a Harbor Freight near by and you have a decent tool kit with the bike, you should be able to get all your tools for about $40. Copper anti-seize at NAPA, and the moly lube at a Honda dealer(ask for Moly 60 Paste. If they don't have it ask for the replacement as long as it has at least 50% molybdenum). The lubes will set you back about another $20, but they'll last for years. Depending on how things were put together and how much corrosion there is, a can of Liquid Wrench and a cheap propane torch can be very handy for breaking loose nuts and bolts.
Assuming you know almost nothing about the bike, and this is the first time I would figure about an hour and a half for the bleed, and about 3-4 hours for the spline lube. Figure a couple Saturday afternoons in the garage. It's good to know how your bike works, and the best way to learn is to do it's maintenance. There's a lot of satisfaction in being able to take care of your bike, too. For those of us in the northern climates, winter maintenance projects lets us continue to play with our rides.
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Hi & welcome,nice looking bike!
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Stick with it HM2PAC ... lots of support and help here ... all good!
Gio
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You stole it!! Go give the guy another couple a hundred bucks!! Sweet deal. I hope she's in great shape. The fairing might grow on you!! Quirky, German design....they are unmistakable.
Have fun.
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That is a great looking bike at a low price. If you ride fast for any distance, that fairing is going to be a blessing.
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I've thought about keeping the fairing. However I won't be making long trips, and the other side is pretty beat up. Looks like someone took a spill or five...
Mostly, I just don't dig on fairings. Not sure why. I don't even really have any experience with bikes.
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That is a cool bike, and for a nice price. Having owned several bikes and made some modifications to most of them, I will offer this suggestion: get it all in good working order before you change anything. Ride it for a little while - and then think about what to remove, add, or change. Especially since you mentioned that you don't have a lot of experience, after some saddle time, you may find that you like the function of some things that you don't currently like the appearance of.
Substitute "disastrous mid-life crisis" in your original post with "wonderful adventure."
Safety first, fun second, speed is for later.
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Hello I'm also in Maine, we should get together sometime and ride. I have a 1987 k100RS Turbo I am in the middle of swapping the fairing for a street fighter look. Maybe you have seen my pics on my post. It's a lot of fun, and I have had my licence for 30 + years and have driven a multitude of bikes in my day. Hope to see ya around my area come summertime. And about a passenger :falldown: you should really take some time to get to know the bike before you take on a rider. Have a great day, Silvtgr
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You've probably already done so, but if not, be sure to read this
http://www.motobrick.com/index.php/topic,339.0.html
and this
http://www.motobrick.com/index.php/topic,370.0.html
Looks like you got a steal. I agree with everyone who says to keep the bike intact, at least until you know it better . . . but if you decide to ditch the fairing, PM me, I'm on the market for one.