Overture's 84' K100RT Build - 2.0 Veratas

[Overture]

Hi Gang,

Been lurking here for a long time!

As follows is my rabbit hole of a K which I've enjoyed for a few years, and is currently torn into every part imaginable.
My goal was to turn my 1984 K100RT/LT? into a naked scrambler type build with solid road handling and a bit of a flair.
(Some have you might have seen her on another forum, but I've decided to move over to MB as the majority of the discussions and info I follow are here.)


After a couple years of her being in storage, I really need to get this thing going and wanted to share with the Brick community which has helped me with so many threads and posts!


The beginning;


The journey starts with a clean K100RT well loved and well ridden, this is the mid 2000s, digital camera's are becoming a thing, no one knows what crypto currency is and K-Bikes are common in the riding community from your commuter to your highway hiker chewing up the miles on these beasts.
Not a Supersports or Naked wheelie machine but what we all know them as, torque-y, well balanced machines with bullet-proof engines.




Along comes some tough love for the K, she's dropped a couple times by the then owner and has a bit of weight loss routine going on. Gone is the big screen and some of the extra plastics, gained are some battle-scars and scrapes.

Enter into my possession, my former manager and good friend mentions to me one day he's got a bike and it's been sitting a couple years. He looks after it when he can and can't find the time to ride as much any more.
Thinks it might be time for the K to find a new home.



As he was a shrewd negotiator and I love anything with two wheels we agreed on a fair price and this is how I took her home for her first wash in a long long time. I had taken the K for a spin around the block after replacing the slugged fuel pump and filter, and was immediately in love! 





I had done a few projects before, a 1973 CB35, a late 2010s Street Triple and was right at home with what the K needed, attention to detail, care and time.
Started with some strange early mods, BEP 3.0, Acewell 2835, strap-ons, wacky custom brake-lines designed for a Yamaha R6, LED Headlight from Max Inc. anything to make the K usable everyday! (Side note strap-ons are not the best idea  )



Then I started a new role and riding to work became less possible, I vinyl wrapped the tank and, messed around with the exhaust and other pieces with the K only coming out 1-2 times for the Distinguished Gentlemen's ride in 2018 and for a local Toy Run to support providing gifts to children at Christmas. (Parts: Lots of Cafe4Racer gear, fuel cap, rear sets from Raask, plate adapter from UNIT, other things I'm probably forgetting.)



Then became her slumber, working from home, the dreaded spicy cough Covid-19 strikes. Poor K goes into the shed and doesn't get to come out for a long time. Priorities changed.... the world was ending! *jokes*
In reality all that was ending was my ability to ride and get out, and enjoy the freedom that I feel motorcycles are to me so she sat, fuel and engine stabiliser, a machine frozen in time.

Now the new beginning, just coming out of Christmas 2022 Australia's summer has started to finally come in and we had long nights and what felt like short days at work.
I had spare time, a new dog, but my life was missing the one thing from pre-covid! The K! I said enough it enough and luckily, I was about to also move house.

Scored a place with a double garage and enough storage to put all my junk and so the K's resurrection had to start.



A few weeks into January 2023 I started to really get a move on, started a welding course and with the help of my brother we went to work.
Boxed the frame, installed a rear hoop and seat from Cafe4 and went down the rabbit hole of making the K what I had always dreamt of.




Finally got to use my 3d printer again and popped out some covers for the engine and began the tear down.... and I mean allllll the way down.



Fresh and fired up I was ready to tackle the neglect from the years and refine the K into a modern bike I can once again enjoy!

Intake ultra-sonic cleaned (Thanks Distang for the inspiration), new seats, o-rings and lots and LOTS of scrubbing. New stainless hardware and plenty of elbow grease later;



The harness needed plenty of love, cracked connectors, mould, heat damage the thing was a mess!


While I was chasing all this the frame was getting some much needed TLC, full Zinc primer and a Satin Black Powdercoat by the team at DNA Powder Coating;



That along the a mountain of parts that also got coated or painted in a 2k Black by the team at Motorvation.


Luckily my partner was away for the so I've got temporary claim to the dining room table, thing's were starting to fall into place.

Rebuilt the forks with the help of my service manual and this lovely dude on YouTube!

(Thanks again Workshop43!)



The final update for now is that my local Suzuki dealer had the lovely camps for the intake just sitting on the shelf! (PN: 09402-48208) and I managed to score x8 of them for a steal!



All the pieces have been coming together, I'm just waiting for parts from Motobins and Tills and the show will be on the road... I'm hoping to find the time and some other tasks to complete before they arrive!
The journey that has now spanned years will hopefully come together without me pulling my hair out too much  !

Thanks for reading so far!

[Chaos]

I'm impressed, 3D printed intake port covers (With Logo!) instead of shoving an old shop rag in them.   

[Overture]

I'm impressed, 3D printed intake port covers (With Logo!) instead of shoving an old shop rag in them.   

They were a pain to get flat, and I 100% don't take credit. Patrick over on Thingiverse did the heavy lifting: https://www.thingiverse.com/thing:4082430
I scaled them a little on the Y axis due to some seating issues, but an amazing part that saves the face of the ports so you can really go nuts with a bristle disc. (Work great for everything, needs almost no force to clean up aluminium. Compared to wire wheel etc. https://www.3m.com.au/3M/en_AU/p/d/b40064937/)

[Overture]

Quick update, my Tills order is in!!!!
While waiting I've cleaned and re-wrapped the entire loom, replaced a couple of runs due to thermal damage/mould and added Superseal connectors to to a couple of broken housings. Will add more as I plug stuff back into the bike as they are really solid and feel very secure.
A lot of it is a little hard to visualise, but thanks to how I wrapped the loom each run/connector as easy to undo if needed.

[Overture]

Test fitting some parts today, the one thing I didn't check before coating the frame was the Unit Garage suspension lift;
https://www.unitgarage.com/support_rear_suspension_k_series



It looks like I might have to abandon using it as it would mean getting rid of the centre stand, getting a longer rear brake line and cutting down that small area around the freshly powdered frame!
D:
That's what I get for sitting on parts for 3 years.

[Laitch]

t looks like I might have to abandon using it as it would mean getting rid of the centre stand, getting a longer rear brake line and cutting down that small area around the freshly powdered frame!

Can you explain why you need to remove the center stand? As far as the shock clearance of the frame gusset goes: Have you looked at the clearance with weight on the rear suspension? If cutting is needed it shouldn't be much and easily masked by a few coats of Rustoleum; besides, taking off the powder coating on the main frame ground plate and rear frame lug was necessary so it's been deflowered already. 

[Overture]

Can you explain why you need to remove the center stand? As far as the shock clearance of the frame gusset goes: Have you looked at the clearance with weight on the rear suspension? If cutting is needed it shouldn't be much and easily masked by a few coats of Rustoleum; besides, taking off the powder coating on the main frame ground plate and rear frame lug was necessary so it's been deflowered already. 

With the rear lift, the center stand no longer touches the ground effectively lol and cannot counter-lever the bike correctly.
The main thing I'm worried about is clearance from the rear tyre -> frame hoop.

Plus the rear brake line is very tight with the bracket, I'm thinking instead to add 30mm~ of clearance via an YSS Eyelet instead to add some extra space.

https://www.xt500parts.com/en/yss-mounting-bracket-30mm-thread-m16x1-0-inner-diameter-26mm-width-18mm-1-piece-jack-up-kit-not-street-legal-22808.html

[Laitch]

Spacers  can be added to bring the center stand mount and assembly back to earth.  Before further change in geometry or more expense is undertaken, consider viewing the moto when its fully assembled weight is acting on these components. Clearance and adaptation could be more obvious at that point, to me at least.

[Overture]

Just a quick update, managed to get a 30mm YSS end eyelet from SuspensionRUs locally, giving me the clearance needed.



Bit of mock-up and final fitting for the seat, threw on the bars, mirrors and some of the controls.



Currently in the middle of wiring, stripped out a bunch of useless shielding from the ignition loom and am working on a brand new one now due to thermal damage.


But almost everything is routed, BEP 3.0 installed on a custom aluminium electronics tray.
Cut down the stock under-seat tray that holds the ECM for some storage, and made a custom bracket for a Supermoto front fender for a mudguard!
It came out pretty good so far!

Just waiting for a couple more parts to come in for the build! (Working on a video also for Ford Fiesta Leads/Coils for the K100!)