G'Day from Australia.

[Snowy Mountains Mick]

I have been riding BMWs for about 6 years now (50 years in the saddle with an 18 year gap in the middle on other brands) before picking up a trio of K100s.

A K100RS Frankenstien bike (my mate bought it with a tired motor and leaky gas tank for not much money, swapped out the motor and gearbox for a low km one and swapped the tank. This one is road registered and was his regular ride.

The deal also included a fairing less K100RS (complete with leaky tank) as a parts bike and a K100RT  sans seat and running rough, which is on historical plates (thirty years old min in the State for club plates) which is going to another mate. Also a few boxes of parts and bits and pieces.

My only previous exerience with K bikes was a test ride of a second hand K100RS in the late 80s where I forgot about the two new tyres on the bike and promptly dropped it a few blocks into the test, whoops! Throttle response was way different to my Jap four and I stalled it whilst leaning over negotiating a corner at low speed. No biggie for the Suzuki, but the BMW hesitated, hiccuped and down we went.

I live in a country town 200kms (120miles) from the big smoke so the RS will see a lot of twisty and sweeping country roads around here soon.

Looking forward to performing preventative maintenance so that the RS can be trusted for long distance and speed.

it is a faded gun metal coloured with a white tank with a red and blue stripe at the moment. I sort of fancy a wild Orange colour, maybe the R1150GS Mandarin colour or something brighter. Whether or not I actually get around to painting it remains to be seen.

My main interests in motorcycling are touring and I am a member of the BMW Touring Club of NSW.

[MonkeyMcBean]

welcome. and happy riding.

[drut]

Hello and welcome.Hope you find this forum as helpful as I do:definitely been a great source of information for me.

[Snowy Mountains Mick]

Thanks for the welcome. I have since found out that the K100RS Frankenbike I bought has a motor transplanted from a one owner 32,000km (18,000 miles roughly) K100LT and when it was getting fitted, the rear main seal was replaced and the front and rear splines lubed! (the bike is showing 314,000 kms on the broken speedo/odometer).

When moving the bike today I noticed that it also has an Ohlins rear shock!

This is working out to be a real sweet deal.

[MonkeyMcBean]

Nice! Hope to see some pictures of your rides. what's the geography like where you are down under? Mostly flat?

The best advice I've gotten for the k bricks is to run them harder than you might think. It took me a while to realize that I was often a gear, sometimes two gears, higher than I should be. This could explain your stall in the corner you were talking about.

[Snowy Mountains Mick]

The country to the East (to the coast and Sydney) crosses the Blue Mountains which is hilly. The country to the west , north and south is rolling hills and further west it flattens right out.

The RS Frankenbike is the one in my avitar, I haven't picked up the K100RT or the parts bike yet. All of my other bikes are Rs. Two Airheads (a 1990 R100GS PD and a 1994 R100LT (Aussie special order RT, luxury seat and paint, tragkorbs, top box and heated grips) and an Oilhead, a R1150GS. I also have a DR650. As my Dad always said, a fool and his money are soon parted.

You are right about being in too high a gear, I thought it would respond as nimbly as my 650 Suzuki, which would have roared out of the corner. The K just stalled and the front wheel decided to go right.