So a couple years ago I bought a '93 K75S w 31,6XX that had been rode-hard-and-put-up-wet, with intentions of remaking an adventure bike out of it, inspired by the pics I was seeing here and elsewhere (but especially here). It had once been Pearl White, and when I got it, it had been crashed, and the front fairing was pretty much wrecked and the lower parts and belly pan gone to Beemer Valhalla.
The speedo worked when it felt like it, and the ABS was kaput. I did a 24K and clutch spline inspection.
As I planned and familiarized myself with the bike, I used it as a bar hopper, and run-to-the-corner-store bike. I didn't have any buddies with Adventure bikes, so my enthusiam would come and go.
I rode for a while with no gauges at all, and mostly rode her on little hops of less than thirty miles. Usually without cases. I began to see visions of cafe racers. This site gave me lots of temptations that direction. During this time I replaced the cooling fan with one from Drake. That was the only failure, and I think it cost about $85 to fix. Then over the winter, my sister's significant other got a steal on a low-miles 2012 Honda NC700X that was already tricked out, when the Hardly Ableson dealer he finances for took it on trade. So my priorities returned to an ADV bike. And here we are now, on our way to a 'K75GS'-of-sorts.
Progressive 412 rear shock (not shown in pics), Shinko 705 dual sport rear tire with IRC heavy duty tube*, Dominator dual 4" headlights (on double throw switch and relay) and flyscreen on GoldWing brackets mounted above the Drag Specialties headlight and brackets I'd been using for a while, added fan relay switch, added hazard flasher switch, Danmoto Nano speedo/tach/indicators, Autometer trans temp gauge (sender on final drive, with low-profile sender enroute for transmission, and I will fix toggle switch to use either sender on same gauge) and a little homemade dash out of the same material as radiator screen (visible in head-on shot and pre-flyscreen shot with lights on). The trans temp gauge thing is probably silly, but once I get good base line temps established, I hope they at least give me a little added confidence in a 25 year old bike when I start to go a couple hundred miles from home, and maybe some early warning about any future issues. Danmoto just had one red warning light, it has my overtemp and oil pressure warnings wired to it. My bike has been clutch-kill-overrode since I got it (its a grown up's bike), and I wired the neutral indicator green light up to my fuel warning, since that's all I got with an S. It has a blue high beam indicator. It also has turn yellow signal indicators. I guess I could wire both signals to one indicator and still have one yellow indicator light. I may do that in the future, and separate the overheat and oil pressure warnings. I cut up an old "John Deere" tag that used to be on the front of my truck and made a bugshield between the forks behind the bottom headlight, and below the top ones, to protect the wiring and front of the tank.
Did ANOTHER full fluid/filter change (had been two years and >4000 miles), all brake pads and final drive spline lube with new back tire. Removed back pegs, ABS modulators and computer, repainted bags with rattle can textured plastic paint. Plan to do front shock and front tire (also 705)and front bearings** before my birthday (May). I need to get stainless steel brake lines made for the front also, as I still have the ABS soft lines on it, and its alot of useless hose. I'd also like to find some rock guards for the headlights, preferably black. I am trying to get up the courage to order one for the 5 3/4" light and just 'make it fit'.
I'll be posting some pics from some rides, as we both now have Thor's Day off, and I will be using the opportunity to field test.
I live in the country, where nearly all the roads are paved asphalt, but a few (that I don't HAVE to drive on) are packed gravel and lime. We rode last week and I was happy with how my bike kept up, and its comfort at the speeds we keep.
I think one of the blue "two-up" factory-style seats on ebay would look good and be easier to strap a watertight rollbag to than the "solo saddle" that I have now, and which also needs recovering. At some point that crease in the right side of the tank might get slide hammered out, or I might find a RT tank and just replace it with the higher-cap tank. The white is growing on me (especially if I get the blue seat) though I might go with a flatter white if I repaint it. I've used parts that were economically priced. I know I could've gotten a better shock, but I like this one for the money. So far. I am getting really close to $2500 in this project: bike, riding gear, parts, tags, insurance, beemer boneyard maint kits, premium fluids, everything but my time and gas and some scavenged free parts from past/future projects.
Comments welcome and appreciated on anything you've seen or heard in this post. Not much of a "build", but its what I've done. Thanks for looking.
*So the guy at the local Honda shop who mounted the tire acted like I was making a mistake going this route instead of a tubeless. I am about to do the front tire. Any advice? Planning to stick with the stock front mag wheel for the time being.
**Anything else I should do while I'm doing these?
