I'm new here...

[Bender]

Hi everybody, my name's Martin (yes, my nickname is Doctor Dan - it's a long story...) I live in mid Kent (West Malling to be precise) which is in South East England.

I've had bikes more or less since the mid 1970's (give or take a few years when the kids were small) mostly Jap - my brother was in the trade so it seemed silly not to!

I got my first Beemer in about 87, it was a 76 R100RS which cost me a fortune when I discovered the gearbox was buggered, but once I managed to iron out the problems it was a great bike, which sadly eventually made way for a deposit on a house.

About 10 years ago I managed to get hold of a very clean US spec K100 naked in pretty good condition, but made the mistake of riding an R1100S when they were launched, and have lusted after one ever since...

I finally managed a few weeks ago to persuade her indoors to let me bid for a Phoenix Grey S spec 2003 model which came up on Ebay (very dangerous, I know) which I won for a very good price - sight unseen - reasoning that if it was that bad I could flog it on without making a loss.

I still have it, it's an absolute pleasure to ride, but it has a few issues, like an annoying misfire, cruddy engine casings and small bits of corrsion here and there.

The build quality is not in the same town as the K, but since I've had the R I don't really enjoy riding the K any more...

I am planning (when I get some funds together) to get a set of progressive fork springs, some stiffer fork oil and a brace, and a set of wider bars for the old girl, and then maybe she'll handle less than 1000 miles away from my new baby boxer...

[snavetrauts]

Welcome to the forum... and I hope you enjoy your bike.

The items you mention for stiffening up your front end is exactly what I did to my old R100RS.... BUT you should not have to do any of that to the 1100s.... If BMW got anything right on the 1100s it was the fron end in my opinion (if you like telelever that is). It's very adjustable and even with the std. shock very good

The finish on the 1100s is pretty poor, particularly the front engine case and the fork bottoms..... shoddy pantwork frankly.... and most unusual for BMW.

If you search this site you will get plenty of feed back on this issue.

Good luck and I hope you enjoy.

Regards

Stuart

[andrew s]

Welcome Martin and I hope you enjoy your stay with us.

Andrew

[Bender]

Welcome to the forum... and I hope you enjoy your bike.

The items you mention for stiffening up your front end is exactly what I did to my old R100RS.... BUT you should not have to do any of that to the 1100s.... If BMW got anything right on the 1100s it was the fron end in my opinion (if you like telelever that is). It's very adjustable and even with the std. shock very good

The finish on the 1100s is pretty poor, particularly the front engine case and the fork bottoms..... shoddy pantwork frankly.... and most unusual for BMW.

If you search this site you will get plenty of feed back on this issue.

Good luck and I hope you enjoy.

Regards

Stuart

Ah yes, I agree, having ridden the K for so long the handling on the R is awesome, but I just can't give up on the K, it's become like a part of me so I need to get it to a state where it's enjoyable to ride (but probably not as much as the R)

The K looks pretty good (even though it's dated when stood next to the R) it's black with a black engine and I fitted a K75C cockpit fairing which reduces some of the windblast.

I'll have to take some pics of the two of them when the sun comes out again. If ever...

[Bender]

Welcome Martin and I hope you enjoy your stay with us.

Andrew

Thanks Andrew!