I'm gonna be replacing my tired, OE front discs for some new EBC jobbies over the weekend. Whilst I have the wheel off I'll check the bearings. I haven't noticed an issue with the bearings that are in there, but I have no information to confirm that they've ever been changed and its a 31 yo bike, so I bought some replacements just in case which are currently chilling out in the freezer.

I wondering if I am likely to encounter any problems removing the old bearings without BMW's £8.6M tool (or whatever it costs). In fact I don't have a bearing remover at all.

Anyone done this job without fancy tools (its a 16v - if that makes much difference)?

The removal can be made easier by heating the rim around the bearing with a heat gun or hair dryer. Try to heat the rim only and not the bearing. And don't burn the paint work.
Regards Martin.

There is a steel spacer between the bearings and it has 2 very flimsy rings around to locate it central to the bearings. Stick a big lever in past the first bearing almost to the second bearing and give a mighty heave sideways, this will bend the flimsy rings so you can then get a drift at the inner race of the opposite bearing and knock it out. The spacer can be fixed with pliers very easily but before you reassemble cut or grind a recess into the end of the spacer so it is easier next time. 
NOTE:- once the bearings have been removed this way they are scrap because the impact of driving them out damages the bearing surfaces.

Here are the illustrated proceedings from the 2011 Conference Of Brick Wheel Bearing Removers.

Thanks gents 

I found the bearings to be very tight, possibly 'cos they'd been in there for 30 years.

I tried my wife's hair dryer - waste of time. Then a hot air gun but was very wary of burning the paint. While it warmed the wheel up, there's a lot of metal on there and I couldn't get it anywhere near hot enough.

BMW's habit of centering bearing spacers with plastic discs makes getting behind the bearing with a drift and absolute pain in the bum. In the end I welded a bit of scrap steel to the inner race on the 6005 side so I could drive it out. Then remove the spacer and drive out the other side. Support the hub around the bearing while you wack  things - ie. don't take the load thru the rim and spokes.

I have fitted a 6205 instead of that expensive angular contact one. Needs spacers made up to pack out behind the bearing, housing and axle spacer, but a quarter the price.

Easier to get some heat into the hub when the bearings are out. Draw the new bearings into the hub with a spacer acting on the outer race, big one first then smaller one to just grap the spacer.


Is it looking good for the Manx GP this year?

Well, turns out I aint touching the bearings (yet). Theyre fine and I'm not gonna fix what aint broke as they say. I'll just crack on with the rotor replacement 

"Is it looking good for the Manx GP this year?"


No Stan. Cancelled 

Bonzo wrote:"Is it looking good for the Manx GP this year?"


No Stan. Cancelled 

Do you have some inside information? Not seen any annoucement and nthing here yet: https://www.manxgrandprix.org/

stanthomas wrote:Do you have some inside information?

This looks suspiciously like inside information.

Not really inside information as that refers to the IOM TT, not the Manx which is held later in the year (late August to early September).

Mike.

stanthomas wrote:

Bonzo wrote:"Is it looking good for the Manx GP this year?"


No Stan. Cancelled 

Do you have some inside information? Not seen any annoucement and nthing here yet: https://www.manxgrandprix.org/

And now I'm doubting myself  

I'll get back to you 

mike d wrote:Not really inside information as that refers to the IOM TT, not the Manx which is held later in the year (late August to early September).Mike.

It refers to the Classic and the Grand Prix toward the end of the article.

I was trying to get some sense of the 'mood' from our man on the Island.

For the benefit of those who don't know the situation, everything on the Isle of Man is open and running as normal. But the borders are closed with strict 14 day quarantine for essential travellers (medical treatment and jet ski lovers). There's been a recent outbreak, about 20, linked to SPCo staff but by and large they've keep the virus out. The TT doubles the population so, with the virus raging in the UK and Europe, you can understand why the TT was cancelled.

But what's the mood looking ahead to the Southern and Grand Prix? They're smaller events and much of the UK will have been vacinated by August although there's still a question mark over vacination rates on the continent. I wondered whether Bonzo was party to any discussions with the marshalls or race organisers or indeed anyone 'in the know'.

Apologies, my replies were rather brief yesterday. I planned to spend the morning & early afternoon swapping the discs/pads & bearings and then the rest of the afternoon & early evening riding in the sunshine, gently bedding in the newly fitted components. Ahh my naivety 

Of course the calipers were a bugger to get off and of course my youngest came round for me to help him fit fog lights to his van and of course I rounded off the abs ring mount screws in my eagerness to get out in the sun and of course my drill bits are all shagged and so I need to go to the only place open today (B&Q) to look for a drill bit that will do the job 

Any recommendations for a quality drill bit that wont blunt after one screw?

The mood on the island? Its been fantastic to be fair as the only difference to our lives for many months (bar a two week 'circuit breaker' earlier in the month) is that we haven't been able to leave the island as the borders are shut. To be honest I would'nt want to anyway just yet. Sadly yesterday afternoon the Govt made an announcement to advise us all to stay home as there have been 2 cases in the community that have unexplained origins. An update will be coming later this afternoon.

As for the MGP (or the Festival of Motorcycling/Classic TT as it is now known), no I don't have any 'insider' word, I'm just positive it was announced earlier in the year that there would be no m/c events this year. But I'm getting on a bit these days and could have dreamt it 

Bonzo wrote:Any recommendations for a quality drill bit that wont blunt after one screw?

Tungsten carbide. The downside is that they don't have much sheer strength. Run them slowly and keep the pressure on. Good for boring stainless too.

https://ctpcryogenics.com/carbide-drill-bits/#:~:text=Carbide%20drill%20bits%20are%20made%20out%20of%20tungsten,in%20one%20of%20two%20forms:%20carbide-tipped%20or%20full-body.

I'ver got a set here and I wouldn't be without them now.

Dai wrote:

Bonzo wrote:Any recommendations for a quality drill bit that wont blunt after one screw?

Tungsten carbide. The downside is that they don't have much sheer strength. Run them slowly and keep the pressure on. Good for boring stainless too.

https://ctpcryogenics.com/carbide-drill-bits/#:~:text=Carbide%20drill%20bits%20are%20made%20out%20of%20tungsten,in%20one%20of%20two%20forms:%20carbide-tipped%20or%20full-body.

I'ver got a set here and I wouldn't be without them now.

 Thanks Dai 

Bonzo wrote: Sadly yesterday afternoon the Govt made an announcement to advise us all to stay home as there have been 2 cases in the community that have unexplained origins. An update will be coming later this afternoon.

Announcement earlier, no restrictions/lockdown.

Looks like we dodged another bullet 

@Bonzo

Unfortunately, it seems you spoke too soon

On a handling related tack, it's always interesting to compare notes with someone who has same bike (even down to the colour). Since we are familiar with the same roads...
Suppose you go thru Barregarrow, drive down the hill and take the left at 80 - 90mph. As you come out do you think:
a) yeah, bring on Mad Sunday
b) this is not really the bike for this

stanthomas wrote:@Bonzo

Unfortunately, it seems you spoke too soon

On a handling related tack, it's always interesting to compare notes with someone who has same bike (even down to the colour). Since we are familiar with the same roads...
Suppose you go thru Barregarrow, drive down the hill and take the left at 80 - 90mph. As you come out do you think:
a) yeah, bring on Mad Sunday
b) this is not really the bike for this

c) I used to be so much quicker 30 years ago 

But leaving riders out of it, lot's of the roads round here are similar to the Course from Glen Helen to Ramsey. I'll go as fast, maybe faster, on my R100RS and while it gets a wiggle on sometimes it never feels like it's going to get out of hand. The K is very good at 5/10ths, rock solid, stable and confidence inspiring but when I try to shift the balance towards sport raher than touring it doesn't seem to like it. It feels like a heavy bike, which it is, that doesn't like being chucked around and is going to bite back. I was wondering whether yours is like this on Manx roads or whether I need to try the find the hinge in mine.

I changed the shock to a Wilbers unit years ago - the original was very tired. Likewise when I changed the pitted stanchions I put some Wilbers progressive springs in too.

I was blown away by how taut and responsive the bike was after the change. But I have an R200RS with ESA now and after that the K seems like a wallowing fridge on wheels. I tend not to rag the K so much and prefer to potter in it's charm through a rose tinted visor. Barregarrow left at 80/90? More like 60 max for this old giffer these days 

This is not a pi**sing contest gents, but...
Back around 1990, Performance Bikes magazine stationed one of their guys at the approach to the Bungalow on Mad Sunday, with a speed camera.
Fastest bike of the entire day? They were astonished to report it was a K100RS, in motorsport colours, two up. Doing 90 something miles per hour.
It wasn't an RS, it was a sprint fairing, plus some other bits. And there's no way it would have stayed on the road without being two up 

Sorry if this has come across as some sort of willy-waving exercise, that wasn't my intention.

Rather it was to try to understand where a 16V K is positioned on the sport ... tourer scale. And Bonzo has given me the answer I was after. Thanks.

When I bought the R100RS a few of years ago, not only did it perform as I remebered from a test ride in 1981 but it impressed and delighted. Thinking an RS from BMW is an RS from BMW I got the K100RS 16V. It has its pluses: a good autobahn cruiser and with new Metzeler radials it excels in the wet but pushed a little harder on dry A/B roads it's rather disappointing. Bonzo's answer tells me that it's not that there's something wrong with mine, rather that the chassis has a different focus. Pity, as I was coming round to fancying a K1.

Not a problem, I'll use it conservatively, which is probably better for my licence anyway.