The K75S had been standing in my garage, minus its front forks, crankcase supported by bricks, for far too long. I had the fork seals replaced by a BMW garage in Cape Town, but when I was diagnosed with an eye problem, I wasn’t motivated to anything about it. Now the problem has eased somewhat, I've decided to get it ready for the road. I have owned it for 26 years and it deserves no less.
The fettling of the bike is going well; I’ve:
Refitted the front forks and re-assembled the front end
Replaced brake fluid for the front discs (the old stuff was the colour of brown ale) and bled the brakes
Checked front and rear brake pads – which were fine
Replaced engine coolant
Changed the engine oil and oil filter
Cleaned and checked the spark plugs
The only nasty surprises so far were to do with the rear brake. The master cylinder reservoir (made of plastic) had deteriorated and fractured, causing some of the brake fluid to drain off and cause some corrosion elsewhere and on inspecting the master cylinder itself I found some corrosion in the bore, which a friend polished out with Brasso! (He maintains an old truck in good running order and has repaired many parts which a commercial garage would deem to be non-repairable.) I hope it works, as a new master cylinder is ridiculously expensive.
So the K75S is being reborn and when the required part arrives from Germany and a new battery is fitted it will soon be ready for the road. While I'm waiting for the part I will lube the final drive splines and replace the drive and gearbox oils. (Thanks Dr L Hubbard Duck for my induction in the science of splientology.)
Unexpectedly, I find myself enjoying working on the bike again and it has led to two serendipitous encounters. One was with a German engineer who was responsible for the team of production engineers which developed the BMW System Helmet. His guys took the design concept from the BMW designers as well as input from many other interested parties e.g. safety specialists and worked all the diverse strands into an engineered product to be handed over to the BMW marketing men. Unsung heroes no less. The other was a retired engineer who lectured at a university in Holland and is a former motorcycle racer. He competed in the 1970s with some of the top riders on the GP racing circuit. Although I had met him and his wife before, we hadn’t talked bikes previously because neither of us had realised the other was interested. But when he learned I was working on the bike a connection was made and later that evening we spent an enjoyable couple of hours chatting over a bottle of wine. Well they do say motorcyclists are the salt of the earth.
