Author Topic: 1985 K100 RT with 34k miles?  (Read 5327 times)

Offline bignews1and2

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1985 K100 RT with 34k miles?
« on: October 26, 2014, 10:11:06 PM »
Bought the bike from fellow in town. He was the 2nd owner. Said he bought the bike last year for $3,500. He is moving to Virginia, never got a chance to work on the bike other than replace the battery, and needed to 'thin the heard.' The bike came with a service log that shows the speedo was changed at 8k miles. The only other 'noteworthy' service documented was a spline lube done at a NY state dealer that is now out of business. At the time the bike had 11k.

I bought this June it for $2,100 with 25k on it (17k on odometer + 8k for speedo change) I've done as little as I can to get 'safely' riding with the help of 2 wrench inclined friends (new tires, oil (twice now), plugs, antifreeze) To keep this post short they both said the bike looks reasonably well taken care of. Up until tonight I thought that I had low mileage bike. Then I stumbled across Tim's post:

Get on your knees behind the bike and look into the tail light housing from the bottom where the license plate light shines. If the bike really has 14k miles the inside of the taillight housing will be pristine white. If the speedometer has been swapped the white plastic inside the tail light housing will be yellow from the years of heat of the tail light bulb.

It's not white, it's not yellow, it's honey brown and there may even be signs of bubbling!  :mbird

I wonder if there are any other tell tale signs of age? Or should I stick to enjoying the ride until the Winter when I plan on getting to the bigger maintenance items (spline lube, bleed brakes, ...) and not worry about mileage because these bikes will run forever when properly taken care of.
1985 K100RT 0052326

Offline TimTyler

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Re: 1985 K100 RT with 34k miles?
« Reply #1 on: October 27, 2014, 12:54:32 AM »
Looks for paint wear in the footpegs where your ankle would rub.

From what I've seen, any bike with less than 20k will have almost no visible wear there. Well, maybe a little.

50k will have a fair amount of metal showing through, although maybe the 85's didn't have the black footpegs?




Offline TimTyler

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Re: 1985 K100 RT with 34k miles?
« Reply #2 on: October 27, 2014, 01:00:53 AM »
Either way, if the bike looks to be in good shape and it sounds and runs well, $2100 is probably a good deal even if it has 65k on it.

Offline bignews1and2

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Re: 1985 K100 RT with 34k miles?
« Reply #3 on: October 27, 2014, 10:53:34 AM »
It runs well and is in very good shape. I notice the bike buzzes through 3200 rpm to 4000 rpm but once your over 4k it is very smooth until it starts getting loud around 7000 rpm.  It is a buzz that transfers to other parts of the bike and causes them to buzz and not a vibration in the handlebars.
BTW, no paint on the foot peg plates. It's bare aluminum. A fellow club member has an 85 RS and it is the same.
1985 K100RT 0052326

Offline NickAndHisBrick

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Re: 1985 K100 RT with 34k miles?
« Reply #4 on: October 27, 2014, 01:11:13 PM »
My 85 k100rt has 75k and shows it. The lower brackets for the side panels were busted, causing grooves in the crank and cam covers. The front fender and rear slash gaurd are sandblasted on the tire side. The gauge cluster has small grooves in the top corners from rubbing the fairing. The fins on the bottom of the oil pan are well rounded from flying rocks.

The inside of the tail light could be from him leaving the lights on every time he came home drunk, or from someone installing the wrong bulb.

Mine looks like this: (dropped it the other day :( )


Offline Grim

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Re: 1985 K100 RT with 34k miles?
« Reply #5 on: October 27, 2014, 07:40:02 PM »
It runs well and is in very good shape. I notice the bike buzzes through 3200 rpm to 4000 rpm but once your over 4k it is very smooth until it starts getting loud around 7000 rpm.  It is a buzz that transfers to other parts of the bike and causes them to buzz and not a vibration in the handlebars.
BTW, no paint on the foot peg plates. It's bare aluminum. A fellow club member has an 85 RS and it is the same.
The 100, and 1100 are known for the buzz. Normal. The k75 has a balance shaft and much smoother in those ranges.
1995 Morea Green K1100LT

Offline blakey

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Re: 1985 K100 RT with 34k miles?
« Reply #6 on: October 27, 2014, 10:45:53 PM »
The brake pedal is dimpled.

You would see some wear on these dimples over time. The "more rounded" the dimples, the greater the kilometers. It's a guide only.
blakey
K100RS 1986 RED!
North of Bris Vegas, Queensland, Oz.

Offline bignews1and2

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Re: 1985 K100 RT with 34k miles?
« Reply #7 on: October 28, 2014, 03:09:46 PM »
Thanks everyone. Lower bracket on each side panel is busted. Fins on oil pan are slightly yet uniformly rounded that I assume they were never really crisp.
Gauge Cluster is pristine. I've seen mention that the K100 brake light is wimpy over in the an upgrade article in the "Lieberry" http://www.motobrick.com/index.php?topic=461.msg950#msg950
I've never felt that way about mine so maybe there is a brighter bulb in there.

Here is a pic of the brake pedal.


The shiny part is me :) (Don't remember it being like that when I bought it.) I've put 11k miles on the bike in 4 months. Not sure how worn out that is compared to others.
1985 K100RT 0052326

Offline bignews1and2

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Re: 1985 K100 RT with 34k miles?
« Reply #8 on: October 28, 2014, 06:36:48 PM »
Bad math. 6k not 11k.
1985 K100RT 0052326

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