Looks like I may be obtaining another bike, a K75, this week. I say maybe, as nothing is finalized yet. Will give those details later. But the bike's been  stored in doors for some bunch of years, i.e. before the pandemic. Battery's probably gone, tires are way past use by date, and for sure no gas has been in the tank. I don't know the status of the bike before it was stored/abandoned in a bike shop. I will be getting it under a mechanic's lien. But I'd like to start thinking about how to check it out once I have it in my possession. And while I "THINK" I know a little bit about K75's and their workings thought I'd like to ask the assembled wisdoms suggestions on what to look for and what order. Oh BTW the price is so low that even if I can't get it running as it is it will still be within reason as a project.

Well, it arrived today. A K75S. Last time it was licensed was 2008. Got a chance to see her in direct sunlight. Some minor blemishes, paint scratches and some stress cracks to plastic. Not going to do any real work on her until I get the title proper. But I did wash her and  pulled the battery and tried it with a charger. Nada. Well what  do you expect of a machine that's not had any TLC since 2008?  That's 16 years? Sad thing is the tires are hardly worn, just too aged (bit like me). And the battery is stock BMW and looks like it was never on the road much at all. Mileage 18,644 miles on the odometer. Guy just takes her to the shop and walks away. Oh, there was no key. So just for a teaser I tried the key from Silver. Hey it works and I was able to open up the trunk and all. Full toolkit and tire repair stuff. Well if the engine doesn't work I have a spare and for USD $200. I don't think I can complain.

For sure you will have to change all the tank internals and fuel hoses, the flywheel gasket, probably to overhaul the master cylinders and the waterpump.

Yeah. My rule-of-thumb based on financially painful experience is that if it's been standing for a long time, allocate between £500-£600 to see if it will even run.

My trusty 83 RS that I bought in 2018 sat in a nice warm boat shed for 17 years.

I was only asked for advice by the owner as to selling it.  However one look at the vintage plate on it made my mind up. Of course everyone reminded me of my favourite saying....'you will never find me on an RS'. I absolutely love it and have put 30,000 miles on it, its been to Kedada, lots of France and UK trips.

I ended up with a long list of things to do. The previous owner did have it running so that part was fine.

A rough list of what was needed.
Vacuum lines, vacuum caps, Z pipe etc- needed to get it to run and tick over.
So far so good then air filter, oils and coolant change. Now I have a good running bike.
Full brakes overhaul, master cylinders replaced, caliper seals etc braided pipes [PO did the pipes].

At this point I rode it home.

Tyres obviously. Riding it home on a cold wet evening on 20 year old tyres was interesting.
Rear shock, still working ok but they are not good, swapped out with YSS on my RT.
Full in tank replacement, all fuel lines, injectors but prices at the time were cheap at www.tills.de. I did this lot about a year later.
A few cosmetics like heat shield [I got a load of brand new originals, early and late ones are interchangeable- difference is an extra bolt hole on later ones]. They dont last and the new one from 2019 is being replaced by another new one shortly.
Wheel paint [sorted by an eBay pair of freshly painted wheels with new bearings in, bought for £95 delivered].
Clutch cable broke 2,000 miles after I got it. It had been brand new but PO routed it wrongly.
Rear brake disc as the original slotted one had not been replaced on the recall.
Tank leaked eventually, got a same colour replacement.
K1100 stand assembly, those curved ones break and it had already been repaired.

I had a lot of the parts in my shed as brand new old stock purchases so the outlay was not high and not so far off Dai's estimate if I ignore the cosmetics.

A few other things died, like indicator relay, coils, a switchgear but I had these.
Given what I spent, I am happy as in present condition I will get it all back. All of it was diy.

For wear parts I tend to buy brand new rather than used. I am sure I could have saved some money buying used parts but I use all my bikes daily, 7 years not even using a car, so I like them to be reliable. Having parts on the shelf also saves a lot of grief when something does go wrong.

The day the clutch cable broke I was on a vintage outing. I rode it home without the clutch, parked it and sat on another bike beside it and rode out again. So my saying there is nothing like having a spare cluch cable, but it's even better when its already attached to a bike.

A low income stream has distinct advantages!

Probably dating myself on this. As I said I wasn't going to get into the restart until I got legal title to the bike. I don't know how many if any of you have had any experience with California's DMV (Dept of Motor Vehicles). Allow me to assure you that Ca's DMV is intentionally organized to make the legal side of owning a vehicle totally unpleasant. I got away with two visits and only a couple of hours standing in lines. It's so my legs are in pain but I got the process started. Title should show up in a week or two.

So I gave into my urges and started changing the fluids. Just to get a feel for what to expect you understand. Background, I purchased the bike on a mechanic's lien. The fellow who sold the bike had purchased a bike shop, MotoGuild out on Treasure Island in the middle of S.F. Bay,  about 5 years ago and the bike came with the shop. Based on the license plate's last registration, 2008, best guess is the bike has been sitting in the shop for maybe 16 years. Certainly Craig, shop owner, only knew that he had been stumbling over it for 5 years and wanted it gone. It might be interesting to compare these legal processes from the viewpoint of different countries and legal systems. But suffice to say based on storage fees Craig had a legal right to sell the machine if the old owner didn't object and so forth. So when I started in I expected to find the fluids are completely yech! So I was mildly surprised that when I drained the engine oil it looked as good or better than some I've seen coming straight from the can. The tranny and rear end fluids were considerably darker and more used looking. But NO water was found. Then I pulled the oil filter. The thing was dry! I mean there was some oil on the outside and on the gasket but none in the filter proper. Best guess is that the previous owner had changed the engine oil and filter and then stuck the bike in the back without ever starting it up. An aside, the MotoGuild, like the name implies, is a place where riders can take their motorcycles and work on them using the shop's tools. They charge you for time and space but its definitely cheaper than most other shops. Also if interested they provide a convenient place to sell used biker clothing and stuff. Very nice folks if you're in the SF Bay area.

So it looks like the prev. owner started a maintenance project. Just got started and either there was a problem starting the bike or for some other unknown reason just walked away from it.

Chances are good your bike was brought in for routine maintenance which may have included some extra work that brought the cost to more than the owner thought the bike was worth.  Since it was probably after the work was done, it has sat for all those years with clean fluids in it. 

Four years ago I bought a similar bike, a 1988 K100RS SE that had sat in a shop for 16 years.  Despite being filthy and missing the seat and tank, the entire bike was in pristine shape as far as fluids, splines, valves and brakes.  It had an almost new Fox Twin Clicker shock that was worth what I paid for the whole bike.  I was told the owner had abandoned it rather than pay a large shop bill.

Ok, I found all the old suggestions and will start there in cleaning this tank. I still don't know where my spare is. Someday I'm going to clean out my garage and see what there is.

thanks
J.

Beware of the aliens making their home at the back.

Dai wrote:Beware of the aliens making their home at the back.

oOoh, is that what that is? And I thought it just the neighbors.