G'day people, my name is Adrian but you are welcome to call me Shaggy. 

My Uncle has my late fathers K100RS sidecar out fit and needed some parts to get it back on the road. He found the parts required but had to purchase a road going RS as well. My Uncle is a bit of a collector and has over 40 motorcycles ranging from early Norton's, BSA's, Triumph's and the likes. There's a couple of early R90's and also a very special 860 GT Ducati, an RZ 500 Yamaha that's a true weapon and his latest purchase is a V-Rod Harley. So, with a collection like this what was he going to do with another bike when space is at a premium in his garage? "I'll give it to my Nephew" he thought. 

So now I'm a proud owner of an '85 K100RS. It's in a most unusual colour of metallic gold, which is a genuine BMW colour Iv'e been lead to believe and has panniers and a top box. Unfortunately it also has over 200,000km's on the odometer, uses about 500ml of oil per 2000km and has a bit of rattle on a cold start up that goes away but hey, it was free, I've always liked the RS, it's a "classic motorcycle" and parts are relatively cheap.

My last bike was a Katana 1100, so I'm use to heavy, powerful bikes but the RS is something else! Except for that mid-range buzz, nearly perfect for a tall, skinny, 44 year old Aussie male.

Talk to you all again soon, fellow flying brick riders...

Shaggy.       

That's what I need to get.... A rich uncle with an over-abundance of classic motorcycles in the garage.  

Welcome to the forum!

Welcome from way up north.

You should enjoy that. Not sure I would pull it apart yet for the oil consumption, check a few other things first.

A bit of a rattle at a cold start could be a few things so don't panic just yet, but first check its got the right oil in it. He may have left a very thick oil like a 20W50 in it, change it to a thinner oil as it may bring oil pressure up quicker. Main thing is see how quick the oil light goes out. The oil also affects timing chain tensioner. If it was sitting then maybe do a second oil change soon after. The engines are pretty unburstable, my LT is hitting 110k miles and doesn't take much oil. Have a look at the home page about what to do when you have bought a K100.

If the rest of the bike is fine then maybe enjoy it for what it is and keep the oil topped up. Parts are easy to come by and with a K you will meet the nicest people.....

One of my uncles passed away two years ago. When I was young he had often spoken about some nice Nortons but I had never seen him on one. Turned out he kept them hidden away for years. Wrapped em up and left them somewhere nice and warm.

Lots of guys down under fro advice and parts too.

I had a beer in Townsville back in 2000.

I was thinking of the oil consumption again and the number of car manufacturers who often put down that a consumption of 1 litre in 1,000 miles was within acceptable limits. If you are using a 500ml at 2,000km then that's about 1 litre per 2,600 miles or a proper [imperial 20oz] pint in 1400 miles. Your next 100,000 km is looking at 25 litres or so, not worth doing anything for that on its own as it can never be got down to zero.

Of course if you are really enjoying the ride and push the engine any engine it will lose a little.

If that was my K I would just be minding the oil level and no more other than making sure none is leaking out anywhere.

Welcome Shaggy.
And most importantly, don't park it on mums drive.
Without a drip tray.

The "allowable consumption" spec from BMW is more than 2.5 quarts of oil per 1,000 miles.  Which I think is insane.

Duck

They used to get away with that back then, until someone found a car engine in spec that failed emissions tests due to high oil consumption that were within spec as they say.

That level in a car now will not pass an emissions test so they all had to pull up their socks. 2.5 US quarts is about 1 UK pint in 250 miles, a bit savage all right but it allowed them all to avoid warranty claims. Emissions controls have brought some advantages.

 Hi there, Shaggy !
Welcome to this 'place to be'; enjoy !

Jos

Gidday Shaggy welcome to the Knuthaus.
200,000k is not a lot for a K100 there are a lot around with 400,000 on them and more. I have heard of one in the US that has over the million miles and I think it goes better than the owner.
My advice is make it road worthy and ride it for a while then you will get the feel of what needs doing.

Welcome Shaggy,

I worked for a while a bit north of there and bought my F650 GSD from Townsville.  The dealership was run by a South African chap named Marius.  Every time I was visiting town and popped by for a coffee he used to throw the keys at me to test ride the latest demo bike.  It was kind of embarrassing.

Any way I have always liked Townsville but as it is relatively flat you need to head out of town to find the twisties. 

Cheers, Dave.

just a reminder ....along the coast of kweensland it rarely ever...... gets below 20 degrees c ...and that's overnight in our little piece of the world, just on the low side of heaven , so too thick an oil might not be the issue .

i'm reminded that I have seen folks heading to work in Townsville with cold weather gear (hoodies and stuff, pullovers etc ) and complaining bitterly if it gets below 22 c

the rattle at startup seems completely normal to me ....and all machines I have seen pre 86 ...that have over 180,000 k on them (without remedial work ) ...and especially if they use oil..... lots of factors here including that redesigned spring on the output shaft hitting the rivets on the early ones ..and so many other things .
time, patience and a little research into parts and causes and a handy bit of spannering could well resolve some of the issues ...

appreciate the ride mate ...and keep reading ...lots of info in here shaggy  ,,,
welcome to the forum and enjoy !