First, thank you Frankenduck for what looks like a tremendously informative site. :clap:
Here's my story. After dipping my toes into the two-wheeled world as a youngster, I came back to riding about eight years ago. I've owned a variety of Hondas and Kawasakis and currently own a 2000 VFR and a 2000 XR650L. I love the VFR and it has dragged my butt back and forth and up and down the USA. (I know what you're saying, "What is this guy doing here?")
I work with a gentlemen who owns several beautifully kept R bikes. In his attempt to get me to sample the Kool-Aid, I have ridden his '75 R90S and '78 R100RS MotorSport. Here is my first ride on the Beemers last fall at Bartlett Lake.
(I know what you're saying, "Hey, those are R-bikes, what is this guy doing here?")
I have a had a pretty lousy summer that has found both of my bikes in the yard, waiting for service. Last week, I got a call from TEAM Arizona about an application I put in two years ago to be a MSF RiderCoach. They wanted me to come in for an interview which would include riding some of the BRC exercises on on of their motorcycles. I didn't want to show up to ride the exercises wihtout having been on two wheels for more than a month, so the call went out to Uncle Ted. Of course, Uncle Ted came through and allowed me the use of his K75RT. Uncle Ted has owned the K75 since he bought it new in 1994 and it currently has 21,000 miles on the odometer.
Uncle Ted came over Monday morning and gave me the rundown on operating the K75 and was then promptly whisked away in his wife's Prius. I checked that the tires were inflated and the lights worked and then headed off to work. Before I made it to the corner, I noticed that the brake fluid reservoir was about half full. Then I realized it was so obvious the brake fluid was low because it was the color of old motor oil. Uh oh.
The ride to work went well. I don't know that I've been on a bike that was so obviously thought out before they started bolting parts to a frame. It's like it was custom tailored for a man with a 36" inseam. The "lip" on the outside of the fairing ever-so-slightly contains my legs while my knees just graze the back of the fairing. While the R100RS pictured above is a real beauty, I felt extremely cramped to the point the back brake was hard to use; the K75 fit like a glove. When I backed into my parking place at work, I noticed my headlight was out. I toggled the switch down to the middle position, and it came on, I pushed it to the far lowest position and the high beam flashed, but I couldn't get the high beam to stay on. Uh oh.
So I asked Uncle Ted about these issues. Apparently, since the K75 has never given him any problems, he has only had the oil changed and tires replaced and seemed to remember "They did something to the brakes several years ago." Thanks Ted. Uh oh. So, here's my chance to be a good nephew and repay years of kindness. I asked Uncle Ted to let me fix a couple of the issues and get the maintenance caught up, as long was he wasn't opposed to letting tear into his bike. He agreed. Now, where do I start? Well, I believe finding this site is a good step in right direction. I'll tackle the brake fluid (bleeding the ABS unit and then the caliber for each wheel) and the obvious bad connection in the left handlebar switch. I have a Clymers shop manual coming from Amazon and have been looking over the maintenance schedule to plan my next jobs. Judging from the dried on bug carcasses on the fork tubes, I'm sure the forks probably each contain only a mouthful of fork oil that has now turned to mud.
I'm looking forward to returning the K75 to what she should be so Uncle Ted can enjoy the next couple years of riding.
Funny thing about this bike, I've ridden five different bikes to the office over the years and this is the first one the non-riders in the office have commented on.
And that's how I ended up here.
And now, the money shots:
