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Off the grid
Chaotic Good
Joined: 05 Jul 2006
Posts: 3414
Location: At the local taco truck waiting for Jo.
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 Posted: Sat Sep 12, 2009 12:22 pm Post subject: |
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Nice work mate!
My thought would be that why would a bike with 40k miles need a complete overhaul? 
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Bane of your existence since July 2006
2007 Triumph Tiger ABS. "Sabertooth"
2009 Husqvarna TE610. "The dirty Italian mistress"
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Saltcreek
Flying Brick Rider
Joined: 22 Oct 2008
Posts: 957
Location: New Hampshire
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| Posted: Sat Sep 12, 2009 1:18 pm Post subject: |
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Great work!
It caught my eye that you rebuilt the brake lever to eliminate buzzing. How did you determine that the lever was causing a buzz and what did you do about it?
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Jim
1994 K1100LT Mystic Red, bfd, 37000 miles, sold 
2009 Wilderness Systems Zephyr 155 ST
2002 Litespeed titanium |
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malcolmt
Flying Brick Rider
Joined: 23 Apr 2007
Posts: 369
Location: Parys, S.Africa
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| Posted: Sun Sep 13, 2009 2:18 pm Post subject: |
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Hi Ken, I have a question... Why are you running your bike without the lower portion of the the fairing ???
I'm just courious !!
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A Bike on the road is worth two
in the shed
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kengibson
Brick Rider
Joined: 22 Aug 2008
Posts: 30
Location: Colorado, Boulder area
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| Posted: Sun Sep 13, 2009 10:49 pm Post subject: |
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>My thought would be that why would a bike with 40k miles need a complete overhaul?
Well, I didn't open up the engine. I felt confident the engine internals were just fine. I overhauled the rest for a few reasons. First and foremost, to nail the electrical problem that was causing the engine to shut itself off at inappropriate times, like for example going 75MPH down the highway in heavy traffic. I like to do solo touring and I had lost confidence that this bike could get me to work and back, let alone take on a multi-thousand mile tour. After all the diagnostics on the electrical system described earlier in this post failed to fix the problem, the only way I was going to feel comfortable taking this bike on long tours again was to go through the whole electrical system and make sure it's in good shape.
Second, I bought the bike used and did not have a good maintenance history. I know several BMW riders, including K-bike riders who've been stranded by drive-train spline failures so I wanted to make sure the drive train was in good shape. Once I had the transmission off, it was worth the $140 to put a new clutch in, even though it didn't need it yet
The previous owner (a good friend of mine) was also the type who believed life is too short to waste time washing your motorcycle so it had years of dirt and grease built up on various parts. He also regularly commuted on it so plastic parts were faded and cracked by the high-altitude Colorado sun.
Finally, there were other parts like brake lines and brake caliper seals, that regardless of miles, were 14 years old and I wanted to replace them.
I now feel much more confident that I can trust this bike on long tours and, if I do have a breakdown, that I can fix the problem.
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'95 K1100RS with only 47k miles |
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kengibson
Brick Rider
Joined: 22 Aug 2008
Posts: 30
Location: Colorado, Boulder area
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| Posted: Sun Sep 13, 2009 10:55 pm Post subject: |
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>It caught my eye that you rebuilt the brake lever to eliminate buzzing. How did you determine that the lever was causing a buzz and what did you do about it?
Because when I put my hand on the brake lever, the buzzing stopped. It was worst around 3k-4k RPM and quite loud.
To fix it, I wrapped teflon tape around the spindle that the lever pivots on to hold it in place tightly. This seems to have eliminated the buzzing. At least for now...
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'95 K1100RS with only 47k miles |
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kengibson
Brick Rider
Joined: 22 Aug 2008
Posts: 30
Location: Colorado, Boulder area
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| Posted: Sun Sep 13, 2009 11:05 pm Post subject: |
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>Why are you running your bike without the lower portion of the the fairing ???
I just like the looks better. I don't notice any added vibration on the upper fairing and the lower fairing just seemed to collect dirt and oil.
I bought the piece that covers the spark plugs which comes on LTs but not RSs and added that. I just had to thread the machine screw holes in the valve cover in order to attach it.
Maybe I'm just a gearhead at heart but I don't like covering up that nice-looking engine 
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'95 K1100RS with only 47k miles |
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Off the grid
Chaotic Good
Joined: 05 Jul 2006
Posts: 3414
Location: At the local taco truck waiting for Jo.
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| Posted: Sun Sep 13, 2009 11:12 pm Post subject: |
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| kengibson wrote: | >My thought would be that why would a bike with 40k miles need a complete overhaul?
Well, I didn't open up the engine. I felt confident the engine internals were just fine. I overhauled the rest for a few reasons. First and foremost, to nail the electrical problem that was causing the engine to shut itself off at inappropriate times, like for example going 75MPH down the highway in heavy traffic. I like to do solo touring and I had lost confidence that this bike could get me to work and back, let alone take on a multi-thousand mile tour. After all the diagnostics on the electrical system described earlier in this post failed to fix the problem, the only way I was going to feel comfortable taking this bike on long tours again was to go through the whole electrical system and make sure it's in good shape.
Second, I bought the bike used and did not have a good maintenance history. I know several BMW riders, including K-bike riders who've been stranded by drive-train spline failures so I wanted to make sure the drive train was in good shape. Once I had the transmission off, it was worth the $140 to put a new clutch in, even though it didn't need it yet
The previous owner (a good friend of mine) was also the type who believed life is too short to waste time washing your motorcycle so it had years of dirt and grease built up on various parts. He also regularly commuted on it so plastic parts were faded and cracked by the high-altitude Colorado sun.
Finally, there were other parts like brake lines and brake caliper seals, that regardless of miles, were 14 years old and I wanted to replace them.
I now feel much more confident that I can trust this bike on long tours and, if I do have a breakdown, that I can fix the problem. |
Good enough reason as any, the old, "I was in there so I did it".
Same princible works for open heart surgery. 
_________________
Bane of your existence since July 2006
2007 Triumph Tiger ABS. "Sabertooth"
2009 Husqvarna TE610. "The dirty Italian mistress"
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