I don’t know what to do (as usual.)
My BMW K1100RS is up for sale. I’m not really promoting this fact too hard, I posted it on the IBMWR Marketplace, I put it on Adv Rider, etc.
I’ve gotten a few scammers pretending to buy it and one serious looker who stopped sending emails.
I had been driving my new sidecar rig for the past month or so, but yesterday and today I drove the K1100RS to work.
Man that bike is nice to drive. Every time I drive it after being off it for a while, I wonder why I want to sell it.
My main issues with the bike are these:
- It makes my hands go to sleep during long rides.
- It makes my shoulders sore during long rides – especially with a passenger.
- I think the spring on the rear shock is too stiff – the previous owner was a much larger man than I.
- It runs hot in the summer.
So, what to do.
For number 1: For a while I had made the modification to stiffen up the rubber mounts for the handlebars. Then I removed it. I’m not sure why now. I think I will try that again (it only takes about 15 minutes.) This changes the frequency of vibration in the bars and may help with my hands falling asleep. I’ll probably make this change this weekend.
For number 2: I’m not sure what to do. I already have bar-backs installed on the bike. I may try rotating the bars up a little bit this weekend when I do the change above, but I’m not sure how much that will help. I might have to swap on taller bars… this means getting longer cables (clutch, choke, throttle) and a longer brake line. That’s not going to be cheap. It also would appear that Heli does not make bars for BMWs. Wonder why that is?
For number 3: I suppose all I need to do is send in the shock and get it re-sprung. That’s more money…
For number 4: There is nothing to do about that. It’s the nature of the beast. Update: Apparently, this is not true. I spent some time at the K1100 Owners Group Forums today and found some things to try to abate some of the heat. Also, something to try to get rid of the gas fumes that it produces when it’s hot.
It’s not like it’s all bad either. There are Pros to this bike:
- It is fun to drive.
- It’s a great bike to ride long distances – it eats up the road like no tomorrow.
- It gets a pretty consistant 45-50MPG! (Getting more and more important these days.)
- I love the styling of the fairing.
So I have mixed feelings about selling it. If I can sell it, then I can afford to get the carbs on my R100RS dynoed in so I can ride it some more. And maybe buy a different bike. What bike? Who knows?
I am running an ad in the next issue of the BMW Owners of America magazine, so we’ll see if that gets any bites.
I guess we will see what happens.
