New owner of an 88 K100RS with about 58K on it now, bought it from dealer when I was kind of low on cash and was tired of being bike-less. I wasn't really expecting much, partially it was curiosity about the BMW multi's and partially because I was in the mood to do some long distance runs and for various reasons you kind of want a BMW when you're taking off across the desert.
I've been very pleasantly surprised by how much fun this bike is. As I've come to expect from BMW products, it's designed to be easy to work on. Solid as a rock. It's just this side of that fine line between fast and insane. And it's kinda pretty in its own way. Wifey calls it "the imperial cruiser" cuz of it's Star Wars era design.
The p.o. put an aftermarket shock on the back which is working pretty well. The front end setup needed work. He had some el cheapo Harley tire in front that was about a cm too tall, really jacked up the handling. A nice Bridgestone BT helped quite a bit. It still tends to "worry" in rain grooves and snakes, and uneven pavement upsets it in turns a little more than I'd like, but I expect any further improvements in the suspension will cost more than I want to spend. Beyond that, learning how to ride the bike has paid off in a big way.
For one thing, there's a real tendency to want to shift at 3000 RPM because of all the high frequency noise at that point. Had to look up the torque curves to convince myself to wind it out a little more.
The main thing that threw me off was the schizophrenic personality change this bike undergoes at right around 30 mph. Below that speed it's a fat little piggy with a high center of gravity. Rather unpleasant to horse around the parking lot. But once you get it going, all that weight disappears. You can still feel the weight at times; in S curves you notice it takes a few moments to precess from a full lean on one side to the other. But it only requires a very light touch. I just could not get this thing settled into a turn until I quit trying to jerk it around. Just turning your head and putting a little weight on the inside peg is all it takes to initiate a turn. Finger pressure on the bars is enough to fine-tune the line. It does like your weight a little forward. But the bottom line is, I'm amazed that a bike that's so good on the open highway can be as decent in the twisties too.
It gets up to speed with very little fuss. In fact it's very easy to underestimate you speed. It's plenty quick. (And I'm thinking, the K1300S makes 85 more horsepower at the same weight? Wow....)
Lot of bike for the money.
I really appreciate this forum. I guess these bikes will go and go and go if you maintain them properly; this forum is a great resource to accomplish just that.
