25k LT on CL

[Flying Duck]

http://seattle.craigslist.org/see/mcy/1709138543.html

[Ted]

Looks like someone will get a great deal on that one - all the extras, excellent price and it looks like a very motivated seller.

[ljjohns]

Getting stupid in my old age, but...

My Sun Cove friends have designed an 8-day ride through Western Canada. My base plan would be to tow either the K12 or the K75 up there behind the F150 (my SO now prefers to ride trail on four wheels--has something to do with the number of times I've dropped the K!2 or, as I prefer to see it, about how she can have her Starbucks and XM radio all to herself).

I'm checking with my friends to determine how it would work to obtain this bike and then just drive up (in Felicity's Del Sol, her four-wheeled motorcycle) and travel that way. What we'd do with the K11 would depend on other things, but I've been frugal all my life and just having received my Medicare ID, I have to rethink the space I have to do things in the future.

As I understand it, the 1997 K11 is basically the same motorcycle as my previous 1996 K11LT, minus the heavier side cases and the top case and radio. Are there any other differences?

[Scott_Anderson]

As I understand it, the 1997 K11 is basically the same motorcycle as my previous 1996 K11LT, minus the heavier side cases and the top case and radio. Are there any other differences?

The only differences I know is that in '97 they offered all the accessories as options in 3 different packages.

This one looks like a base k11 with cases, non color matched, and no radio.
The cases should weigh the same minus the speaker assy for the top case.

My '97 was also a "basic" with the cases purchaced seperately.

[ljjohns]

Thanks: I figure if J.O. can scatter bikes across the country, so could I. t doesn't appear that this has a top-case, just a tank bag. I've contacted the seller--as well as my friends in WA who have to support me.

The Canada trip is planned for this summer, so we've got some time.

Thanks again.

[Flying Duck]

If you get serious about it, I'd be willing to go check it out for you for a little beer money.

[ljjohns]

Senile as I am, I'm also serious. Haven't heard back from the seller--I asked for a little more info on service history and tires, etc--and I haven't heard back from my Sea Cove friends. The SO is enthusiastic.

I do truly appreciate the offer and will stay in touch. Where is Langley?

Thanks.

[Flying Duck]

Where is Langley?

Whidbey Island. About 30 miles and a short ferry ride to the north.

[ljjohns]

Duck:

Thanks. Sent you a PM.

[ljjohns]

This is getting interesting: if things work out, I can be the K-bike king of El Paso, displacing Phil (maybe, depending on how you count: he's now got the K100 he picked up and all those K75's).

[mnb]

That bike looks sweet. Appears to be in great condition.

I've been real tempted to find a way to get the occasional K11RS SEs that pop up here. A black and silver RS to match my black and silver LT would be a nice pair...

[miKeinWIs]

Hey, 95% of the battle is won:
"the SO is enthusiastic"
What more do you need??
Mike

[ljjohns]

What I need is a body that is not rapidly degenerating.

But as long as I've got your attention, I can engage my fantasies further and presuming that I get this bike, then I'll have to decide whether to leave it, after this summer's ride, in Washington or somehow move it over to Wisconsin (where I was raised and where I still have family).

Towed the K12 up there last summer and did some great rides along the Mississippi coulees (if you make allowance for the horse-droppings at the apex of some curves up in those hills) and would like to do that again.

But you have no idea how grateful I am for the SO's acceptance, (she'd still ride postillion of that is what it took) and so you're right: that's all that matters.

[Phil Marvin]

Hi, Larry,
I have a topcase (wrong color for the red '97 K1100LT) and the mount/rack/whatever you want to call it. If you might be interested, let me know. I'm in El Paso until Wed., then back to Morenci. You have my cell phone number; it's my only mode of electronic communication in Morenci.

[ljjohns]

I'll call.

[ljjohns]

Update:

Drake's checked out the bike and I haven't abandoned the concept.

Given my history of dropping the K12LT, however, I did have a question. This 1997 bike does not have engine guards (as well as not having a lot of the other small stuff my 96 LT had). I can live without the other stuff; I was simply wondering if the 97's had the guards as standard, or did they also get dropped as BMW stripped the K11 in preparation for the K12?

(And if anyone makes any jokes about why I'm not concerned about the lack of stock training wheels when I obviously should be, "anathama sit," as we say in pre-modern studies )

[Scott_Anderson]

Yes they were stripped off as "standard".

I'm thinking like you, they stripped down the '97 to try and sell them off before the 1200 were released.

I think you will only be able to find the guards used. Keep an eye out on IBMWR, or e-bay, or check with some of the parts yards.

Max lists them yet, but Motobins does not list them new for the 16v K anymore.

[mtnroads]

That's a very clean bike - I wouldn't wait long or someone else might pick it up. the only other comment I would make is to make sure it hasn't sat for too long or all kinds of things can go wrong. Good luck, sounds like a great plan.

[mnb]

They came standard on the '97 Special Edition. At least they came standard on mine...

[Flying Duck]

I went and looked at on Wednesday and filed a scouting report with ltjohns.

It's a VERY stripped bike. I checked the parts catalog and there's an OEM plug for the upper hole in the fairing lower so I think it came out of the factory without engine protection bars. Also no radio, no heated grips. Not even amber side reflectors on the front fender.

It's been dropped, repaired and repainted. (His son dropped it on the right side and then forgot to put the side stand out before righting it so it then ended up on it's left side. ) Although whoever fixed it did a nice job of removing scratches on the mirrors and fairing and it's a pretty good repaint, he was a tad color blind because the main fairing and lowers are now more of a Mystic Pink than a Mystic Red and don't quite match the rest of the bike.

Also, the ABS is faulted. I tried a couple of quick resets grounding the diagnostic plug with the switch but no joy so the ABS may or may not be tits up.

Runs, rides, brakes and shifts well though.

Given the above I'd say the asking price in on the high side.

[Scott_Anderson]

It's a VERY stripped bike. I checked the parts catalog and there's an OEM plug for the upper hole in the fairing lower so I think it came out of the factory without engine protection bars. Also no radio, no heated grips. Not even amber side reflectors on the front fender.

Also, the ABS is faulted. I tried a couple of quick resets grounding the diagnostic plug with the switch but no joy so the ABS may or may not be tits up.

Sounds like my '97 when I bought it in '05. No radio, engine guards, heated grips. It did come with the reflectors though.

Even the ABS wasn't working quite right until I put some miles on it and it straightend itself out. It may have been a battery issue as the bike had sat un ridden for quite a while before I picked it up.