Hello everybody!

Last week I bought the K 1100 RS, production date 03/1993. According to the previous owner, the bike had been imported form Switzerland. It surprised me to see in the vehicle papers that it supposedly has just 60 kw (81 HP). To me were until now known only versions with 72 kW (98 HP) and 74 kW (100 HP). But a little search gave this small add from Switzerland showing the bike that really has just 60 HP:

https://auto.ricardo.ch/kaufen/fahrzeuge/motorraeder/touring/bmw-k-1100-rs/w/an910084032/



Can someone help me with information how was the power reduced? And what I need to do in order to get the full power again??? Any help would be greatly appreciated!

Cheers
Tarik
Sarajevo, Bosnia-Herzegovina

Hello!

It's a lot of work but not to expensive.
Can you read german?
Here is a link how to:
http://technik.flyingbrick.de/images/7/7f/13_k1drossel.pdf

What you need and I don't know if it works, 
or if it's correct !!!!!!!

Idle adjustment screw 13541461261
Exhaust without catalyser 18121461833
Air filter Lower part 13721460339
Air filter top Shell 11611461833
All together about 350€ USED

You normally will need the Main engine wiring harness but you can work this out.
  
Was much easier with the 8Velvet compared with the 16Valvet.

Cheers

Chocolate wrote:Hello!

It's a lot of work but not to expensive.
Can you read german?
Here is a link how to:
http://technik.flyingbrick.de/images/7/7f/13_k1drossel.pdf

What you need and I don't know if it works, 
or if it's correct !!!!!!!

Idle adjustment screw 13541461261
Exhaust without catalyser 18121461833
Air filter Lower part 13721460339
Air filter top Shell 11611461833
All together about 350€ USED

You normally will need the Main engine wiring harness but you can work this out.
  
Was much easier with the 8Velvet compared with the 16Valvet.

Cheers

Hello!

Great thanks - and yes, I understand German perfectly so it won't be difficult to translate for my buddy who maintains the bike and don't knows the "lingua".

I will only be sorry to loose the exhaust with catalyser - dunno if it can be replaced with one coming from a bike with 98/100 HP AND a catalyser?

Cheers,
Tarik

If i had a cat on my bike then I would donate it to you as I always remove them if I can.

BobT wrote:If i had a cat on my bike then I would donate it to you as I always remove them if I can.

Huuuh - it seems Trump's scepticism about the greenhouse gases as a cause to climate change has really caught up in the rest of world too, not just the USA. I prefer to pollute the environment as little as possible 

But an engine without a cat uses less fuel so produces less CO2.

BobT wrote:But an engine without a cat uses less fuel so produces less CO2.

It may use slightly more fuel with the catalyst (and in the beginning they were producing a bit more CO2, but still much less other poisonouses gases - CO, NOx, then particulate matter).

Just compare the tables for European Emission Standards - the present one is Euro 6:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/European_emission_standards

Vehicle emissions:

http://www.air-quality.org.uk/26.php

No cars or motorbikes that do not satisfy at least Euro 4 standard can not be imported in my country - that's why I can buy a bike such as K 1100 RS only locally.

IngeK will know for sure but AFAIK all you need is the ECU from a K1100 other than Swiss and all should be OK.
That was the case with the K100

Non-cat K1100s have a different Motronic and wiring harness w/o an O2(lambda) sensor.

But non-cat aftermarket exhausts usually have a bung for the O2 sensor (at least my Staintune and Remus exhausts do) so they can run on bikes that came from the factory with a cat.

RicK G wrote:IngeK will know for sure but AFAIK all you need is the ECU from a K1100 other than Swiss and all should be OK.
That was the case with the K100

Thanks - in this paper on how to modify the "Swiss" bikes with less power, which Chocolate provided link to, it's said no change of ECU is necessary - just to rewire a few pins on the connector going to it with a pliers and a soldering iron. They recommend replacing the exhaust with one without cat too

That's right, swiss versions of K1100lt and RS are 60kW only.
Yet...I didn't notice any difference when riding it, only that power stops to increase sooner and a flat curve until it reaches the red zone. But be sure that, at least on LT, it's a problem on such a bike designed for touring because you rarely use this RPM range, and I feel - subjectivly- that the engine has more sweetness in low RPM because of the lower diameter of the throttle bodies.
Yet, it's not that simple to give it the whole power: you have to change the ECU AND the throttle bodies, because they are narrowed to reduce max power. I don't remember if there's also intake pipe restrictions. I'm quite sure that any throttle body from a K100 would fit, 2V or 4V. Cheap but some work to do.

jbt wrote:That's right, swiss versions of K1100lt and RS are 60kW only.

Can anyone tell me why the Swiss required this? I can't imagine BMW making that decision themselves.

Bill

The swiss rules used to be quite weird in the 90's. No regulation about power, but on noise and pollution emissions only. That gave very restrictive configurations ( an Honda RC30 was almost 50 kW on a Swiss configuration...) and other funny details : for example, twin front headlights were forbiddent for a long time, to avoid confusion between a tractor and a motorcycle (well considering they're going the same speed it makes sense!) So all the 80's and 90's trail bike such Africa Twin were sold in Switzerland with a single square headlamp instead of the twin round lamps.
Back to the K11, it's interesting to notice that the noise regulation leaded to use extra noise pannels that enclose the engine. THe side panel of the front fairing is coated with an noise absorber, and a lower spoiler was added to the swiss version. (Check my topic about Krossing the Karpathians if you want ics about that bike) I don't know if the RS has the same features but the K1 has. Yet, the K100, RS RT or LT never had these extra in Switzerland.
If you want to know more about the swiss versions, use the website realoem.com/bmw to spot the specific versions made for a national market. It allows you to cross the references of a part to see if it's specific to your version or if it's used on all the production.

There was a horror story doing the rounds in the 1990s that the Swiss regulations were going to be taken as a model and applied throughout Europe. That might have given HD a chance to compete: IIRC their original 1340 produced a full 37 brake horse on the road! 

jbt wrote:That's right, swiss versions of K1100lt and RS are 60kW only.
Yet...I didn't notice any difference when riding it, only that power stops to increase sooner and a flat curve until it reaches the red zone. But be sure that, at least on LT, it's a problem on such a bike designed for touring because you rarely use this RPM range, and I feel - subjectivly- that the engine has more sweetness in low RPM because of the lower diameter of the throttle bodies.
Yet, it's not that simple to give it the whole power: you have to change the ECU AND the throttle bodies, because they are narrowed to reduce max power. I don't remember if there's also intake pipe restrictions. I'm quite sure that any throttle body from a K100 would fit, 2V or 4V. Cheap but some work to do.

Actually it is not necessary to change the ECU - because "coding" for the Swiss version is done inside the wiring harness. The ECUs are exactly the same.  As I posted the identical question to the German language Flyingbrick forum, the members there pointed me to the PDF file with exact instructions what to do.THE most important part is the wiring harness - and it is not necessary to exchange it whole: it is possible to modify the connector coming to Motronic unit by cutting the wire that goes to the pin no. 14 (see the image on page 4): 

[url=chrome-extension://oemmndcbldboiebfnladdacbdfmadadm/http://technik.flyingbrick.de/images/7/7f/13_k1drossel.pdf]http://technik.flyingbrick.de/images/7/7f/13_k1drossel.pdf[/url]

As 2nd on the list come the throttle adjusting screws, and the exhaust system. The German instructions recommend also exchanging upper and lower air cleaner housing parts - 11 61 1 461 833 and 13 72 1 460 339 respectively; in the original parts there is some sort of an insulating mat which ought to be removed, but as some part of it may remain and later be sucked into the engine, it is better to get another parts.

The exhaust system muffler may be replaced with either one with or without catalytic converter.

Thanks for help - ANY suggestions make us know more!!!

jbt wrote:The swiss rules used to be quite weird in the 90's. No regulation about power, but on noise and pollution emissions only. That gave very restrictive configurations ( an Honda RC30 was almost 50 kW on a Swiss configuration...) and other funny details : for example, twin front headlights were forbiddent for a long time, to avoid confusion between a tractor and a motorcycle (well considering they're going the same speed it makes sense!) So all the 80's and 90's trail bike such Africa Twin were sold in Switzerland with a single square headlamp instead of the twin round lamps.
Back to the K11, it's interesting to notice that the noise regulation leaded to use extra noise pannels that enclose the engine. THe side panel of the front fairing is coated with an noise absorber, and a lower spoiler was added to the swiss version. (Check my topic about Krossing the Karpathians if you want ics about that bike) I don't know if the RS has the same features but the K1 has. Yet, the K100, RS RT or LT never had these extra in Switzerland.
If you want to know more about the swiss versions, use the website realoem.com/bmw to spot the specific versions made for a national market. It allows you to cross the references of a part to see if it's specific to your version or if it's used on all the production.

Germans were also selling models with restricted power on their market I guess, because beginners are not allowed to ride the full power bikes. Not sure with how many HP they can drive.

Thanks for suggestion about realoem, I found these:

http://www.realoem.com/bmw/enUS/showparts?id=0522-EUR-09-1993-89V2-BMW-K_1100_RS_0522,0532_&diagId=13_0522

http://www.realoem.com/bmw/enUS/showparts?id=0522-EUR-09-1993-89V2-BMW-K_1100_RS_0522,0532_&diagId=61_1080

http://www.realoem.com/bmw/enUS/showparts?id=0522-EUR-09-1993-89V2-BMW-K_1100_RS_0522,0532_&diagId=18_0280

duck wrote:Non-cat K1100s have a different Motronic and wiring harness w/o an O2(lambda) sensor.

But non-cat aftermarket exhausts usually have a bung for the O2 sensor (at least my Staintune and Remus exhausts do) so they can run on bikes that came from the factory with a cat.

I was just warned at another forum - if I would try installing an exhaust with no cat (and no O2 sensor - or how it is called too, "lambda-sond") on my bike which DOES have the cat and O2 sensor, I would get no ignition. So I have to go looking for a non-Swiss exhaust with the cat. Lucky factor is that K 1100 LT, K 100 RS 4valve and K 1 exhausts can be installed as well.