Harley wrench taking on his first BMW...wiping my shoes as I enter the house

[Hobo]

Wanted to introduce myself to the group.  I wrench on old Harleys as a hobby but recently decided to pick up a 1996 K1100rs.  Looking forward to changing all the fluids, figuring out a full spline lube, replacing old hoses, synching the throttlebodies, checking out the alternator bushings, etc.  some of these things are never heard of on old Panheads and Shovelheads, so this should be fun.  Looks like a great forum!

[roninvt]

Welcome Hobo, and you are right, this forum is a great resource.   

[johnny]

greetings hobo...

welcome to motobrick.com... im looking forward to your ride reports and other unnecessary booocheee...

j o

[argent brick]

Welcome aboard, Hobo.

[Hobo]

And to show everyone just how much of a change this will be for me, the following are my last two builds on the lift...

1980 Shovelhead:




1977  Shovelhead:




Guess I'll be needin me some BMW-specialized tools and a few more metric items.   :loopy:

[detbmw]

Your arms will definitely be in a different riding position!

Welcome to the brickyard!

I liked Harleys when I was a teenager (a long time ago) but never had one.

Or maybe I liked what you could pick up with a Harley. And I wasn't getting much of that back then either.

[motodude]

Metric, yes.  Specialized, not so much. That '77 is pretty cool BTW.

You're leaving the land of leaky oil and entering the land of leaky electrons.

Welcome,
Tom

[Hobo]

Metric, yes.  Specialized, not so much. That '77 is pretty cool BTW.

You're leaving the land of leaky oil and entering the land of leaky electrons.

Welcome,
Tom

Thanks Tom.  The '77 is my daily rider, and I had the seat made in memory of my dad who was a Vietnam vet.  As for the oil leaks, i've learned how to fix all of those on the old Harleys.  The leaky electrons is a new one on me, so I bought a BMW trickle charger when I picked up the bike.   :embarass:

[motodude]

Others' experience may differ but I've never used a battery tender or the like on my Beemers. 

My first battery (original one in '90 K75RT) lasted 7 years and the only reason I replaced it was because it was 7 years old.  I wish I'd a kept it cuz the next BMW battery lasted about 2 years and left me stranded.

By, "leaky electrons" I was referring to things like keeping the ground lug under the tank tight and clean.  A lot of electrical issues can be traced to bad grounds.  There's the big connector on the FI unit that will sometimes lose connection.  Old Hall-effect sensors that eventually go bad.  And, things like that.

Electrical issues or additions of electrical gizmos are a common theme on BMW Motorcycle sites.

I was thinking about it the other day, and about the only "special" tool I have for the K's is the oil filter wrench.  Who knew!   

Tom