New 1988 BMW K75 Owner

[rocketbrick]

Hey y'all,

Just bought my first BMW and second street bike - a 1988 K75S. It needs some love - including some cleaning, a right front turn signal lens, and a wire to be soldered within the gas tank to power the fuel pump. But, it runs when you hold the wire to the terminal, and it's mine :)

Any recommendations for a checklist on making sure everything looks good? I checked the drive shaft splines and they're all good. Past that, not 100% sure what to do next. Also, I definitely need new locks or a new key for the luggage, I only have the one for the ignition.

I definitely need a new front right turn signal lens for the fairing, but I'd rather everything be functionally good first.

[The Mighty Gryphon]

Welcome!  The S is the coolest K75.  The Duck should be around shortly with a link to information for new owners.

[rocketbrick]

Thanks much! I'm loving the way it looks. The checkers are a bit much for me, but I think it'll grow on me. Just makes me want to deliver pizzas 

[The Mighty Gryphon]

Yeah, I saw those checkers.  Are they stickers you can remove?  A hair dryer warms the sticker up and makes it peel off.

[frankenduck]

If you paint it red then it will go faster.

http://bit.ly/new2kbikes

[rocketbrick]

I think they can be removed. I have a heat gun, would that be too intense heat-wise?

Red is the fastest color out there. I wonder how much HP it adds

[The Mighty Gryphon]

A regular hair dryer is safer.  The heat gun won't hurt anything if you use it on low and keep it moving.  It only takes a second or two to soften the adhesive under the sticker.

Run you fingers over what you are heating.  If it gets too hot to touch, back off, but by that time you should have pulled the sticker off. 

[rocketbrick]

Wil do - thanks for the advice. At least they did a pretty nice job lining the stickers up. I just can't wait to get them off and have it looking a little less ratty.

There is a bit of scuffing on the right of the tank and the fairing. Seems someone took a slide on it at one point.

[rocketbrick]

Do any of you recommend converting the lights (head, tail, signals) to LED, or are they pretty good as is?

I used to have a Honda CM400 and it was like riding with a flashlight in my mouth. Not sure if it's the case here yet, as it's not quite road worthy at this moment.

[Laitch]

Do any of you recommend converting the lights (head, tail, signals) to LED, or are they pretty good as is.

Many people are aficionados of the things. Headlights in the US are restricted by law not to exceed certain outputs, so I believe the color of the LED light is what gets buyers. In photo comparisons, I don't see their output as any better than the equivalent output of incandescence. Their value is in the amount of their output doesn't degrade through time like that of incandescent bulbs; incandescent bulbs should be replaced every few years for peak brightness because they slowly dim with age.
I don't have a problem seeing with incandescent bulbs, both on the highway and along forested back roads, but I don't out-ride my headlights either. 

[rocketbrick]

Many people are aficionados of the things. Headlights in the US are restricted by law not to exceed certain outputs, so I believe the color of the LED light is what gets buyers. In photo comparisons, I don't see their output as any better than the equivalent output of incandescence. Their value is in the amount of their output doesn't degrade through time like that of incandescent bulbs; incandescent bulbs should be replaced every few years for peak brightness because they slowly dim with age.
I don't have a problem seeing with incandescent bulbs, both on the highway and along forested back roads, but I don't out-ride my headlights either. 

Gotcha - yeah I'm not looking to blind anyone in front of me or outride my lights. I don't even think I'm capable of such a thing

So I'll look into it. As long as it's bright enough for me to see a little bit in front of me, then I think I'm good. Plus, I know that LED bulbs are made for standard H4 connectors now if it gets to be not enough.

One last question! Anyone have any recommendation on where to get the front right blinker lens? Besides eBay. I've heard there are quite a few BMW-dedicated sites for parts, used and new. I could look for them, of course, and I will - but it'd be great to have some listed out in the thread!

[frankenduck]

The best way to remove stickers and decals without damaging paint:

https://www.amazon.com/Goof-Off-FG653-Professional-Strength/dp/B002MPPYYS

and

https://www.amazon.com/Scrapers-Contoured-Scraping-Windshields-Application/dp/B07W5Z2CBQ


I run LED everything on my K bikes - headlight, turn signals, brake and tail lights, instrument cluster.




LED vs. filament turn signals:




Additional rear LEDs:

[Chaos]

Flushing the brake fluid probably a good idea.  How old are the tires, good idea to swap them out of the date stamp is 7 years or more ago even if the tread is good.  Those front turn signal lenses are crazy expensive if you can find them, sometimes they pop up on eBay.

[rocketbrick]

Wow, those LEDs are really quite an improvement. I'll be doing that - I know they usually need some sort of regulator to manage the flashing, yeah?

And the tires are brand new - the seller started to change it up bc he was planning on cafeing it. I'm happy he didn't because I just love the look of these bikes stock.

I'll most definitely be flushing the brake fluid and checking the friction material. This isn't the ABS model, luckily! Will be checking the coolant and oil, too.

[frankenduck]

Wow, those LEDs are really quite an improvement. I'll be doing that - I know they usually need some sort of regulator to manage the flashing, yeah?

And the tires are brand new - the seller started to change it up bc he was planning on cafeing it. I'm happy he didn't because I just love the look of these bikes stock.

I'll most definitely be flushing the brake fluid and checking the friction material. This isn't the ABS model, luckily! Will be checking the coolant and oil, too.

If you want to run LED turn signals then you need to do a very simple mod to the flasher relay:
http://www.kbikeparts.com/classickbikes.com/ckb.tech/0.ckb.tech.files/ledoemflrelay/ledoemflrelay.htm

Brake and tail lights:
http://www.kbikeparts.com/classickbikes.com/ckb.tech/0.ckb.tech.files/bmu/bmu.htm

[Chaos]

Replacement LED's are all over the place quality wise.  I had some go bad after a week, maybe they've gotten better but I've really had no issue with tungsten bulbs.

[The Mighty Gryphon]

Replacement LED's are all over the place quality wise.  I had some go bad after a week, maybe they've gotten better but I've really had no issue with tungsten bulbs.

The New York State Thruway Authority replaced all the mercury vapor lighting on a 12 mile stretch of Interstate 190 in Buffalo with LED lighting.  It was supposed to save millions of dollars in energy and maintenance cost.

I have no idea how much the changeover cost, but within 6 months all but about 2-3 miles of highway had non-working lights, and the ones that still worked were intermittent, randomly blinking on and off.  Commuter traffic was constantly being disrupted by crews working on the lights.  A year later they removed all the light standards and for the last 3 years there is no lighting.  There is no word as to when the LED lights may be reinstalled.  In the meantime, the LED's they purchased are really saving a massive amount on the cost of lighting the highway by not being used.

High power LED's appear to still be a crap shoot for reliability.  There seems to be persistent heat dissipation issues with these devices.  Personally, I feel more secure riding at night with a "traditional" halogen headlight bulb that I know will last at least 3-4 years and can be easily replaced with a new one purchased at almost any auto parts store.

[frankenduck]

I started using LED headlights in my K bikes in 2020. Still working. No issues. And they work better than the 100/90W bulbs I'd been running before that. The LEDs also only use 27W for either beam so they're easier on the high-low switch too. Because of that I didn't bother to put headlight relays in the K75 that I bought in 2021.

The ones that I put in a car in 2019 have not had issues either.

[rocketbrick]

Thanks for all the advice, guys - LEDs will most definitely end up on my bike.

As of right now, I've got another issue. I'm cleaning out the tank currently, and it seems the old owner bypassed the fuel level float. The in-tank wires are soldered directly to the door on the bottom of the tank.

Anyone know where I can find a fuel level float that's not an insane amount of money? Looked on Ebay and Beemer Boneyard and they don't seem to have any used. Not sure if I could use something aftermarket, either.

EDIT: There doesn't seem to be a fuel sender unit, either. Just the wires soldered right onto the tank panel.

[Laitch]

If your tripmeter works, zero it at fill-up and use it; otherwise, use your odometer. If you don't know how many miles you get on a full tank, strap a gallon can filled with fuel onto the Brick, note the miles on your instrument cluster, and run it until it starts coughing on hard turns or slopes. On my Brick, that's around 221 miles with mixed highway, mountain, gravel road and interstate riding. It gets around 50mpg on regular E10.  Keep watching eBay and Beemer Boneyard and other recyclers.

[frankenduck]

Thanks for all the advice, guys - LEDs will most definitely end up on my bike.

As of right now, I've got another issue. I'm cleaning out the tank currently, and it seems the old owner bypassed the fuel level float. The in-tank wires are soldered directly to the door on the bottom of the tank.

Anyone know where I can find a fuel level float that's not an insane amount of money? Looked on Ebay and Beemer Boneyard and they don't seem to have any used. Not sure if I could use something aftermarket, either.

EDIT: There doesn't seem to be a fuel sender unit, either. Just the wires soldered right onto the tank panel.

No aftermarket fuel level senders.

Reset the trip odometer when you fill up. Start looking for a gas station at around 150 miles.

[rocketbrick]

Got it - thanks for the heads up. I've got my feelers out there for new parts.

I'm going to solder the wires directly to the plate's connectors, then. Appreciate the advice, y'all

[milq]

Frankenduck kinda glazed over one issue that might be worth mentioning. If you headlight dimmer switch is flaky/sticky, it may need to be cleaned up and you might want to add a relay system to take some load off of those contacts. Directions for all manner of electrical stuff can be found here: http://www.motobrick.com/index.php/topic,11034.0.html

[frankenduck]

Frankenduck kinda glazed over one issue that might be worth mentioning. If you headlight dimmer switch is flaky/sticky, it may need to be cleaned up and you might want to add a relay system to take some load off of those contacts. Directions for all manner of electrical stuff can be found here: http://www.motobrick.com/index.php/topic,11034.0.html

I recently cam up with a "better" way to do headlight relays:
http://www.kbikeparts.com/classickbikes.com/ckb.tech/0.ckb.tech.files/hl.relays/hl.relays.htm#altrelays

[rocketbrick]

I did notice that my headlight switch is a bit crunchy. Takes a minute to turn the selected beam on fully. I'll look into the relays, thank you!