Hey all, after several weeks of trolling Craigslist and motorcycle classifieds, I just purchased my second motorcycle and first BMW, a 1985 K100RS.
I saw it listed on Craigslist and started trying to get ahold of the guy early last week. Finally, he returned my email and I arranged to meet him this past Friday.
The ad said that the bike had been dropped and had a photo of the right side. The lower fairing is all busted, but the upper fairing is only scraped and is salvageable/repairable. The mirror is mismatched, but hey, at least it's there.
The long and short of it was that the owner had traded a friend a truck for this bike about 5 years ago, not long after the accident. The bike had always had electrical issues, and he had been unable to get it running. In addition, he reported that the brakes were inop, and he had to drag the clutch while pushing it around to stop.
"Well, at least the clutch works." I thought to myself.
I asked him to put the battery on the charger before I got there so I could at least hear it crank over. When I got there, he hadn't done that, which was okay with me...I just used it as a bargaining chip.
A quick once-over didn't reveal any obvious issues I was unprepared for. The included hard bags and trunk (not pictured) were a welcome addition.
His asking price was $800. I had convinced myself that I wasn't going to may more than $650 on the way over there, so that's all the cash I took with me.
After about 5 minutes of poking and prodding, I told him I didn't want to offend, but with the body damage, brakes, and questionable state of the motor, I was only prepared to offer $350. He himmed and hawed a bit, counteroffered $450, and we met in the middle at $400. It even came with a couple uncut folding keys and a Clymer manual, both nice touches.
I figured that even if the motor turned out to be junk, the titled frame and a number of decent parts would be enough to make my money back.
I loaded the bike up in the trailer, strapped it down, and headed home.
When I got home and unloaded it, I popped the trans into 5th gear and pushed the bike around a bit...cool, the motor isn't locked up.
I pulled it in the shop and pulled the fairings and bodywork off while gritting my teeth and preparing for the worst wiring hackjob possible and...nothing. Everything, save for a heated vest connection off the front light, was OEM and uncut. Hmm.
Hooked up the battery charger and flipped the key on...the dash lit up and no magic smoke escaped. After letting the charger sit for a bit, I hit the start button and was greeted by a buzz from the starter relay. I popped the cover off that and hit the button again and saw it arcing between the relay contacts. When I pushed the relay closed manually, I would sometimes get a little bit of a revolution from starter.
I pulled the battery off the bike and let it charge overnight. In the morning, it was only holding 6v. Well that's no good. Even with the charger hooked up, there just weren't enough amps to turn the motor over.
I grabbed a new battery since I was going to need one anyway and hooked it up. There were some dead bugs and such in the fuel tank (it had been stored dry), so I blew those out, hooked up the tank, threw some gas in it, and...
So that's where we're at...Front master cylinder needs a rebuild or replacement. Still undecided on which I'll do. I need to track down those couple panels, but overall, it's a pretty great starting point for a nice bike.
I'll keep y'all appraised of progress and probably flood the thread with questions and advice requests too.