Found this site while I was looking for tips on my K100 project (main seal and clutch work, other oil leaks etc.) and it has been refreshing trying to write in english - 15 years after schools.. Dictionary has been in use sometimes ( http://www.sanakirja.org ) but I think this will get easier as time goes by.

What about me? Well as said in title I live in Finland, on the west coast in a city called Pori. Got my first moped back in 1988 and first (125cc) motorcycle 1990. After selling that Yamaha DT round 1992 there was a good 10 years with no bikes - allthough I was near buying one on mid 90's. 2002 bought first bigger bike - Yamaha FZS600 - but then again had a period of time without a bike (some changes in insurance policies etc. in my country) but 2006 got one again, and I'm planning to have atleast one bike in my garage as long as I live. That said, I will turn 40 next year, so hopefylly many biker years left still.

I have had the opportunity to own many different kind of bikes from many different brand. At the moment I only own K100 from 1986.

Greetings Tenox welcome to the asylum. Your English is fine it's a lot better than my Finnish.
There are lots of riding years left yet, I am 62 and still riding and another member Ajays is 84 and has just purchased a K100.

Hi Tenox and welcome to the forum.

Gee at age 39 you might just qualify as a junior member on this site.

Have you done any riding up North of your home?

Best wishes from Australia.

Dee Why

dee why wrote:Have you done any riding up North of your home?

Actually I have. 2011 me and three of my friends / coworkers went up north with motorcycles. If I remember correctly we did about 3500km ride (one week) and stayed 4 nights at Kilpisjärvi in "the arm of miss Finland" http://goo.gl/maps/qDW6T from there we did 3 trips to Norway to here http://goo.gl/maps/WTJqi and here http://goo.gl/maps/itfCv and in here http://goo.gl/maps/Fnd0E - nice trip. Had a Harley-Davidson XR 1200 back then - no problems with bike. Some with numb ass.

Ride season in Finland is a bit short. Best months are from may to september, but weatherwise it is possible to drive from end of march or beginning of april as far as beginning of november. Some years one could drive up to end of december, but last three winters there have been lot of snow, much more than usually - climate change? In the other hand it is not that nice to drive early spring or last days on autumn, because of the temperature, which gets round 0 celsius. Coolest I've driven was -3 celsius, but it was a very short trip - about 20km. Too cold.

Hi Tenox,
Great to have you with us and for the informative biography. Finland is a beautiful country and great for riding, I used to work with a guy from there and the photos he showed us were superb. Looking forward to reading about your travels there and to Norway the home country of of the extremely wise Inge.
Regards,
K-BIKE

What I've heard it aint so bad in New Zealand what comes to landscape. I wish I could someday visit your country.

And thanks all for warm welcoming.

We are about 24 hours give or take from Finland, think of it as a day where someone says I am going to give you a break from phone calls, emails, clients and co-workers plus you get to sleep as much as you want, eat drink and snack as much as you want, watch movies as much as you want and you arrive in heaven going both ways.
Regards,
K-BIKE

Welcome to K-holic annomious What ever you need we are here to help and offer our support and even sometimes true wisdom.(depends on the number of beers ) I have been here but a short time and have found the friendlist bunch of guys. have fun and enjoy. Everyone here is willing to do what ever to help another brick thrower

Welcome to the forum

Here is me and my son - just completed my work with K this winter.

https://www.dropbox.com/sh/wso2wf0jajx9dju/Us9IpM3PD1#lh:null-FSandholyK.jpg

Now that is the kind of workshop we should all aspire to!
Joking aside what a lovely looking young lad you must be very proud of him.
Regards,
K-BIKE

welcome along Tennox. Some nice machinery there in those pictures! Good to have you along.



88

K-BIKE wrote:Now that is the kind of workshop we should all aspire to!
Joking aside what a lovely looking young lad you must be very proud of him.
Regards,
K-BIKE

Very proud indeed! He is 2½ years old and my firstborn (and only child for now).

What comes to my humble garage - it haves 80m2 of warm (well about +6 celsius at winter) space and some 32m2 of cold space. We bought the house little less than 2 years ago, and garage was something I always wanted (the house is nice too..). Did some bargaining and got that carlift in the deal. There is also internet connection via WLAN and used to be a 42" tv and 5.1 dvd set, but wanted some room and sold them. There still is a little gym, darts and tablehockey etc.  

View which the "gym" can partly be seen: https://www.dropbox.com/sh/wso2wf0jajx9dju/Us9IpM3PD1#lh:null-Garage.JPG

Welcome to the site Tenox.

You will enjoy.

I was reading about the cold and remembered one night just over 2 years ago I had been to see my mother in hospital. I stayed much longer than intended and left around 10pm in -2C to drive 200km home. I was worried but as I was expecting cold I had brought fleece liners and fleece undersuit. The K was great and 3 hours later I was home and quite snug when I got in. The LT was the answer with the fairing baffles removed in winter. I have done quite a few since and use rain overgloves to keep wind off hands and they work very well. I dont have heated grips!!. The trick is to keep the wind off your hands.

Long rides in cold weather are made much more bearable with http://www.hippohands.com/ or for lower quality the local farmer supply shops often stock the same sort of thing for farmer quadbike users but note if you pull your hand out of the farmer versions whilst riding they may collapse preventing you getting your hand back in, the genuine ones do not do that! Hippo hands are not stylish but they really work very well.
Regards,
K-BIKE

Last bike (R1200S) I had was equipped with heated grips, now I have grips made of metal and no heaters...

I was just doing some covering of electrics and noticed while testing lights etc. that throttle was stiff - had to take it in pieces and then noticed that I really do have fully metallic grips. Throttle works well now though.

Happy New Year!

Happy new year and welcome to you too Tenox Finland looks great one of my must visit countrys, Great bikes the K's and this is the place to be.



BIG D

Still waiting for the summer...

If it's any consolation to you Tenox, I have noticed a couple of maple trees here syarting to change colour, Autumn tones here=new life for you guys. Get set.
RT

20cm of fresh snow just fell of the sky... with heavy wind too.

It was like +3 - +6 celsius here for almost a week before this. Now it hit -20 last night and now this. Just few more days on plus side and the season would have started. Now this means like 2 weeks more waiting. For minumum.

Well. Our hockey team just won 13th time in a row and has went from 12. to 3. and getting in the playoffs.

Edit: And another 10-20cm snow came during last night. Hope that that was the end of it before the spring.

http://foreca.fi/Finland/Pori/tenday Finally it seems to get on the + side on daytime. Pretty cold nights still coming and it is soon april! It has been very very cold march. Maybe the coldest than any in 50 years they say. Usually I have started the season at march, once even 8th of march but now I'm lucky if I get the K on the road round aprils first week.

Put the speedometer and it's light on the bike (kept them inside during winter) and now it is as ready as it gets.

And guess what? The thermal spring has not yet started (should have)... And it is snowing here. It seems that the spring will be very very short this year. Forecast predicts that beginning of friday we finally are on the + side also at nights.

Spring is finally here. Temperature on plus side also at night. Season will really be starting soon.

Tenox,

I must warn you about your son...

My son also rides motorcycles. He has always laughed the K, thinks its a bit 'not a real bike'. However we were on a trip with a 200 mile [about 320km] ride home. He decided he was going to show his dad how to ride a bike so he shot off into the distance. As he was near home he guessed he would ahve half an hour before I got back. Much to his surprise, he saw ahead of him, a K bike that looked like mine. Much more to his surprise.....it was me!!! He struggled with that but continued to make fun of it.

Then, one day he finally sat up on it and I will always remember his words 'hey, I could like this'........and he is tempted.

He still remembers my brother taking him on a motor bike when he was only 4.

I hope you get a good summer....enjoy it and take your son for a ride on it.

92KK K100LT 193214 wrote:He still remembers my brother taking him on a motor bike when he was only 4.

That is the point it all starts. I still remember my friends dad taking me on a 200m run on his bike few times some summer when I was about 4-6 years old. I remember very little from my childhood so that must have been very impressive! No helmets or anything. Times were different back in 70's. My wife would kill me if I would give my son a ride this summer... Maybe after 2-3 summers. Maybe.

Some finnish music: https://www.youtube.com/watch?NR=1&feature=fvwp&v=6ym2F3rbKmM

(some beer after sauna and some red wine too.)

Tenox wrote:

92KK K100LT 193214 wrote:He still remembers my brother taking him on a motor bike when he was only 4.

That is the point it all starts. I still remember my friends dad taking me on a 200m run on his bike few times some summer when I was about 4-6 years old. I remember very little from my childhood so that must have been very impressive! No helmets or anything. Times were different back in 70's. My wife would kill me if I would give my son a ride this summer... Maybe after 2-3 summers. Maybe.

Some finnish music: https://www.youtube.com/watch?NR=1&feature=fvwp&v=6ym2F3rbKmM

(some beer after sauna and some red wine too.)

Hmmm... two wheels are very addictive ... no surprise that you were impressed as a kid.

in my case it was my uncle. He was a representative bicycle racer and used to take me for rides on his bicycle up and down the hills for kilometres. He was a very fit man

I often take my 4 and 6 y o grandkids on the back of a 250 around my back paddock. They love it. I sometimes wonder if I'm destroying their souls in the process.
I started riding because everyone told me how dangerous it was.

Get them riding well before they get out on the road. Small trail bike and let them have some busters and then they know they aren't invincible, gets the crazies out of them before they go out on the roads.

"Get them riding well before they get out on the road. Small
trail bike and let them have some busters and then they know they aren't
invincible, gets the crazies out of them before they go out on the
roads."



Never a truer word was said!

My 20yo daughter wants to learn to ride...finally. I bought her an XL185 Honda so she can do some bush bashing before getting on the road.

Coldest damn spring I remember ever while having a bike. I usually get round 1000 - 2000km on the odometer by end of april. Now, hardly over 200km so far. I was planning to get to work with bike today, but the roads are wet, only +5 degrees and forecast says it starts to rain again soon. So it would not be fun anyway to freeze my ass there. This is pain!

I think I have to buy another bike aside the K. Something like Yamaha Super Tenere or Honda Africa Twin and with heated grips, bags, and Scottoiler. When time comes that I have some money again. I will stay home (not going to work that means) from may to end of december with my boy and my wife returns to work after over 3 years of being with youngster at home. So that means that our budget is tight till end of 2013.

So you will be home all summer, how did you manage that?, You better get a sidecar organised.
Hope it warms up soon for you.
RT

Tenox wrote:Well. Our hockey team just won 13th time in a row and has went from 12. to 3. and getting in the playoffs.

And now they - Porin Ässät or Pori Aces - are playing in the finals! Lost the first game, but 4 wins are needed for the champion so lots of possibilities left. Our last win of the season was 1978 so it is about time...

RT wrote:So you will be home all summer, how did you manage that?
RT

It is a thing called "Vuorotteluvapaa" translates to something like Exchangeleave. In Finland when you have been working over 10 years (+ some other rules) you can have this leave from work for minimum of 3 months and maximum of one year and someone who is unemployed gets to go to work on your workplace instead. I took 8 months this year and left an option of 3 months at 2014. I will get paid little less than 1/3 of my normal salary for the time I'm home. That is for doing absolutetly nothing. I think it is quite nice system. After 5 years I can aply this again and so on.

Hold that thought, I'm on the plane.

Tenox wrote:

Tenox wrote:Well. Our hockey team just won 13th time in a row and has went from 12. to 3. and getting in the playoffs.

And now they - Porin Ässät or Pori Aces - are playing in the finals! Lost the first game, but 4 wins are needed for the champion so lots of possibilities left. Our last win of the season was 1978 so it is about time...

I just have to say. We have won the finals today!!! Wuuuhaaaa!

Congratulations on your victory. It's a wonderful feeling to be the best in your chosen sport.

wooowooo yet another K rider a winner...not a surprise at all....good on you and your team.

Just to keep it right. I don't play, I am just a fan. I don't even know how to skate. :DMy wife used to play in Ässät as goalkeeper when she was younger (in female league of course). She was at yesterdays match (I was at work...).

Ässät (Aces) plays the SM-league which is like our NHL.

Well well. Team had this victory celebration at local market place. I was not in there since I do not like masses, but I choosed to drive around the city of Pori. Of course with my wifes old hockey jersey on.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BcBGkhAcAPw

Must add an add - heh. Really good concert by finnish band called Nightwish. Old stuff. Well relatively old. I love the way the band looks like. Doing what they love.

+22 celcius today, +25 forecasted tomorrow. Tomorrow I will be spending with my son, but today its time for a longer trip with K. About +300km mainly on those small tarmac roads with lots of corners. I just love it! Planning to go and testdrive a Honda 750cc Africa Twin. I may have to buy one for longer trips. Or somekind of enduro / travel bike. Maybe Yamaha Super Tenere, or Honda Transalp. Maybe even Yamaha TDM850 which would suite me well since I have owned a TRX850 once and really liked the engine.

Tenox wrote:+22 celcius today, +25 forecasted tomorrow. Tomorrow I will be spending with my son, but today its time for a longer trip with K. About +300km mainly on those small tarmac roads with lots of corners. I just love it! Planning to go and testdrive a Honda 750cc Africa Twin. I may have to buy one for longer trips. Or somekind of enduro / travel bike. Maybe Yamaha Super Tenere, or Honda Transalp. Maybe even Yamaha TDM850 which would suite me well since I have owned a TRX850 once and really liked the engine.

We had a great weekend up north last September. I did 880 miles from Friday morning to Sunday evening, all on the K100LT. I also do round day trips of 320/350 miles in work. I find it hard to believe anything could beat it for long trips.....Thats just my thought, comfortable seat, good power, great position and weather protection.

92KK

Well. It did not went like I expected. More in here: https://www.k100-forum.com/t4809-my-k100c-2009
And in here: https://www.k100-forum.com/t5568-photos-from-inside-the-fuel-tank

(Soon)

For days it has been +20 celsius, often more than +25 celsius here. It is weird but I'm not complaining. A bit too hot for my taste for driving, but I have driven anyway. +500km last 5 days. With a Honda since K100 is still hanging from my garage ceiling.

Odd winter here in Finland. Spring seems to be 1½ months early. +8 celcius degrees at monday.. One could already drive and I think I will do my season start at saturday if weather stays like this. No snow left here at city of Pori. Normally it would be something like -5 to -10 and lots of snow at this time of year.

I'm not complaining!  

Edit: Removed some non functional links from my messages.

Neither am I complaining...  

Season is on! Only about 60km on +3 celcius but sun was shining, and tarmac was dry! K100 performed perfectly after winter!

Excellent start to the season....glad you had a great day....Now you will have stories to tell us, more photographs.

Any trips or meet ups planned for the summer??

One trip on end of august with K to up north coast to place called Kalajoki. Few days there and some driving on there. Not much more this year. Except that I will try to break the 100 000km barrier this year (10th riding year with bigger bikes).