1993 BMW K1100RS w/ K1200 Engine

I bought this bike on eBay as an impulse buy. I found it in the last few minutes of bidding and thought it was underpriced so I put in a low bid and won the auction. (I recognized the sellers name from Inter forums so I was sure it was well taken care of.)  Only after I'd won the auction did I realize that the bike was in North Carolina! (I'm in Seattle.)  Oh well, it was a good excuse to go for a cross country ride and do some exploring.  I paid the deposit and called the seller to arrange a date to fly to North Carolina to pick it up.

On July 15, 2009 I flew to Charlotte, got picked up, did some minor prep work to the bike, packed and and was on my way for a 3,737 mile eight day ride:

Here's a link to my ride report.

UPGRADED FRONT FORK SPRINGS: From the factory, K1100s had slightly wimpy fork springs and the front end would dive a bit too much on braking.  This bike has had the front fork springs upgraded to stiffer ones.

REAL CRUISE CONTROL: Aside from the engine, this is probably the best modification to this bike.  This is not a throttle lock but REAL cruise control which allows you to set a specific speed and cruise at that speed.  Like many car cruise controls it also has "tap up" and "tap down" to allow you to fine tune the cruising speed.  Better yet, I was able to implement the cruise control using BMW OEM switchgear so the control buttons look stock and there's no need for kludgy add-on aftermarket controls. 

MANIC SALAMANDER BAR END WEIGHTS: The factory bar ends (metal weights with cheap plastic covers) have been replaced with Manic Salamander 18oz solid stainless steel black powder coated bar end weights.

HEATED GRIPS: The bike also has BMW OEM heated grips with both high and low settings.

AFTERMARKET SERGEANT SEAT: BMW stock seats are notoriously uncomfortable on longer rides.  This bike has an aftermarket Sergeant seat which has very recently been recovered and is in new condition.

"CYCLOPS" DRIVING LIGHT: In order to increase the conspicuity of this bike and reduce the number of cars that "didn't see him" I have added a driving light under the headlight which really helps the bike stand out in traffic.

UPGRADED REAR LIGHTING:  Another weakness of stock K bikes was the rather anemic rear lighting for both the tail and brake lights.  Both the tail lighting and brake lighting on this bike have been upgraded so that the brake light stands out better during the day and the tail lighting stands out better during the night.  This reduces the chances of getting tagged from behind.

LED INSTRUMENT CLUSTER LIGHTING:  The green backlighting in the instrument cluster has been upgraded to LEDs.  This provides crisper and brighter (though not obnoxiously so) nighttime backlighting and makes the instrument cluster much easier to read at night.  In addition, all of the indicator bulbs have been upgraded to LEDs so you never have to worry about them going out or removing/disassembling the instrument cluster to replace bulbs since LED bulbs last "forever."

CALIBRATED SPEEDOMETER: From the factory, K bike speedometers generally read about 10% fast like many motorcycles.  The speedometer on this bike has been calibrated to read accurately to eliminate this minor annoyance.

BLACK POWDER COATED WHEELS: Both the front and rear wheel rims have been powder coated in black.  The bike currently has a Michelin Pilot Road tire on the front and a Michelin Pilot Road II installed on the back.  The front tire is starting to get low on tread and will need to be replaced soon but the rear tire has plenty of tread and many thousand miles left in it.

UPGRADED HEAT MANAGEMENT: Another issue with K bikes is the amount of heat they put off to the knees and thighs of the rider.  Although not a big issue in the Pacific Northwest since our temperatures are mostly moderate I have done several things to improve the heat management on this bike.

a) Insulating blanket: In order to reduce the amount of heat that gets emitted to the rider's legs, I have added an insulating blanket under the tank, side panels and seat which channels the heat to the rear away from the rider.

b) Larger radiator: I replaced the stock radiator with a 50% larger radiator.  This improves the efficiency of the cooling system.

c) Fan switch: When riding at slower speeds in warmer temperatures K bike fans tend to come on rather late and exacerbate the heat problem.  I have added a manual fan switch which allows the rider to manually control the fan and check the heat buildup sooner.

d) Red Line "Water Wetter": I also added Red Line Water Wetter to the cooling system.  Though this doesn't effect the heat transferred to the rider, it does reduce hot spots on the engine and improves the cooling system's ability to cool the engine.

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