Hey guys,

Great forum, I just purchased my first K & thought I had better introduce myself! I recently purchased a 1982 (I think) K100RT down here in Tasmania. It was an ex-police bike which has since been turned into a bit of a ghetto cruiser by someone with an itchy trigger finger and a lot of black spray-paint.

It's got about 140,000 clicks on the odometer, has trouble idling (have to rev up to change down more aggressively than normal), and has trouble starting every now and again due to an undersized battery. Apart from that (and a pretty worn out rear disk) the bike is fine and all the electrics work perfectly. I bought it for $1100, the guy had $1800 on it and I put in a throw-away offer of 1100 which he took. I figure if I spend a couple more grand on it, I can really make it look good and run even better. I'm about move to my full licence and will be selling my current Aprilia 650 and turning this into my daily driver.

My plan is to remove the fairing (sorry!) as it is too worn out and beaten up to be returned to spec. After all of that is gone, I'll work on getting a front-mount headlight and potentially change the bars if it looks too much like a BMX. I want to keep the original speedo, however. I'll also remove the rear gear rack, increase the height of the tail-piece and make it appear to be a smoother tail (like the older BMW Rs). The seat needs to be reupholstered as well, so that's on the to-do list. I'll be prepping and painting the tank again, preferably matte black... the joker sprayed all of the hardware (springs, engine casing, wheels) too, so I have to try and figure out a way to get all of the cruddy paint off of the bike without doing any damage. I think that in the end, I will probably take the whole bike apart and rebuild it bit by bit (as I don't need to have it ready on-road until February).



Thanks for having such a wonderful forum, undoubtedly over the next couple of months I'll be coming back here quite often to figure out what to do next/what I have done wrong!

Please, if you have any tips, hints, tricks or cautionary tales, I would LOVE to hear them!

Cheers,
Casey
Hobart.

Gday and welcome Cappa....... be very careful to use only a good fully charged battery, as insufficient power will weld your starter solenoid contacts.... when and if this happens you will have to disconnect your battery to stop it turning the starter motor.
I'm pretty sure they didnt build them till 83 and yours looks like 86+.....
................Paul....................................................

Haha, yeah I figured as much re: the year... I think the guy I bought it off may have had a screw loose. So do you think that I should replace the battery?

Welcome Cappa from the big island. With a bit of time and energy you will have your bargain going really well.

Hi mate and welcome
at least charge your battery up and get a reading on a multimeter to see if it holds power say overnight ie read after charge and then tomorrow and the day after. If it drops, get a new one quick cause that seems to be a bummer of a problem when the relay welds. Have a read through some of the battery and starter relay posts.
These are a great smooth bike and still look ok, enjoy
RT

Greetings from the North Island Casey. There should be a plate on the right side of the frame below the right side cover that will have the year and month it came to Australia. The frame number is where the real truth lies.
The original battery would have been a 30AH unit but I have a 20AH and my K100 starts just fine. If it is hard to start there may be other reasons.
Electrical connections are the major problem with the Ks. DeoxIT is a good product used for cleaning electrical plugs and contacts and is available fron most Jaycar stores. It really does work. Repalce all the fluids like Engine oil, gearbox, rear drive and forks and replace the brake fluid on both ends. Don't go to your friendly local dealer because they are only friendly while you are paying out huge sums of money for average jobs.
There are heaps of non OEM parts that are just as good and heaps cheaper.
With regard to gear changes the K series boxes are noisy clunky and last for ever. When changing I find it pays to give a bit of preload on the lever so that as soon as the clutch lever is pulled it changes and gets a smoother change.

welcome aboard casey ...lots of help here ...good luck on the rebuild mate ...getting paint off is a real pain eh ?...im sure youll figure out a way ....mind you nothing like a good wire brush wheel for the drill ...lots of wet and dry ....even a simple stainless steel pot scrubber might come in handy



cheers

Hello Casey;

Good to see another Tassie K owner.

Problem starting... does the starter spin but just doesn't seem to catch?

If so this could be the sprag clutch, had the same problem with mine, change the oil to a good diesel oil like Shell Rimula, this will give the whole insides a good clean and loosen up the sprags on the starter clutch, (thanks Dennis.). I've run this oil to repair my faulty sprag, it took a few hundred K's to lossen up, new oil starts first time all the time now.

Low idle could be a small split in your engine breather, L/H side back top of engine 1/2 '' hose shaped like an S.

Enjoy your latest purchase, $1100 a great price.

regards Bushy

Hi again guys.

Thanks for the replies, I'm in good hands!

charlie99 - Will a wire brush drill cut too deep into the metal? I'm thinking I've got to attack pretty much the whole bike with something like that in order to get back to the base again. I was wondering if there are any solvents out there that can do the trick but am somewhat worried due to the proximity to wire.

To answer your question bushy, it does seem to have trouble 'catching' and the starter seems to fire just fine, but the engine doesn't want to start.

The previous owner said to 'fire the ignition a few times to prime the fuel injectors, then press it again with the choke on' to start the bike. Seems counter-intuitive. He also said to use normal unleaded petrol with valve lube mixed in (about 10 mls every 15 litres). Are these all furfies>?

I bought a Haynes service manual on the web today as well, so that I can get more of an idea about doing the little jobs without hounding everyone on here!

Cheers,
Casey

casey ...here is my routine

from dead cold ...turn the choke to the first position (not really a choke but well leave that alone )

then push the choke lever to the second ...wide open position (spring loaded )...and hit the starter .....within about 2 seconds mine fires up ...and i let it drop back to the first position ..where it holds open ....i then let it idle like that for about 30 seconds to a minute ...till it warms some.

i live in a reasonably warm climate, but this tecnique works for me

paint stripper as such, could discolour the aluminium some mate ....i went gently with the wire brush ,,,after making sure the bristles on the brush were bent the right way ....( some good steel helps this bending/prep process ) you dont have to apply presure too hard ....your only trying to remove the paint after all. let the brush do the work and keep a similar buffing plane of attack against the surface ...so that grain of the brush scoring is in a simliar direction , i chose a brass type brush rather than a steel bristle one .

hope that helps

HI and welcome to the forum casey

BIG D

cappa_tas wrote:

Will a wire brush drill cut too deep into the metal? I'm thinking I've got to attack pretty much the whole bike with something like that in order to get back to the base again. I was wondering if there are any solvents out there that can do the trick but am somewhat worried due to the proximity to wire.

If you really want to make her shine like new, there's no substitute for hydro blasting

Welcome aboard cappa. I think it's interesting that the previous owner painted everything black but it looks like you've got a chrome heat shield on the exhaust....which is normally painted black I think.

g35, remember that we in Australia, because we are in the opposite side of the world to you, do things in the opposite way!

I would suspect that the previous owner couldn't be bothered keeping the aluminimum clean and the easy way out is to spray every thing black. If it chips, scratches etc..hit it with more paint..especially heat proof paint..dries in a few minutes.

Welcome to the forum Casey, Good luck with the restoration.

hi Casey

Sounds like your sprag clutch.

Change oil & filter (Rimula & Ryco Z418 filter)

I had to push start mine until the diesel oil did its trick approx 500K.

regards Bushy

The valves on your '82 K were not hardened vavles and seats, this maybe why the previous owner used "valve lube", I'd keep going with this, but maybe use premium unleaded as this has a slower burn rate and contains all the cleaning additives to keep your fuel system cleaner.

To start your bike (when the Sprag works) put the "choke' to the first click, press start and should fire up after a couple of second when engine is cold. If the weather is really cold as it can be here in tassie do as Charlie99 suggests.

Hope this helps



Bushy

Hi Casey,
Welcome aboard and good luck with the rebuild, heaps of good info here. When you have a problem start a new thread in the appropriate section, engine or whatever. That way you have a better chance of someone who knows the answer spotting your question and replying.
Regards,
K-BIKE

Evening gents...

Apologies in advance for the size of this post. I have been busy!

Okay, so several months ago I started with an R100RT with the idea of removing the fairing and turning into a naked bike. In that time, I've gotten a promotion with work and moved to Victoria. Subsequently, the bike project has become much harder to work on (flying back on weekends).


See below image for where I have gotten the bike up to thus far. It's not running at the moment so I had to tow it from Hobart to Devonport (my hometown) to put it at my parents' place (as I now live in VIC). I've already replaced the battery and the bike 'turns over' but doesn't engage the engine at this stage. I've read previously that this may be an issue with the 'sprag clutch' but am concerned it may be something more serious. All the electrics are fine and the bike was running before I left Hobart. I didn't start it for a couple of months and it hasn't started since.



A disaster occurred due to a tension strap breaking at low speed on my way out of Hobart. The bike fell over on the trailer and put a huge dent in the fuel tank... I'm worried that this will require a brand new tank as it's pretty banged up (but not leaking). It's a small dent but will require banging out by a panel beater at the very least (which will involve removing the entire tank in any case).



I'm 6 foot 7 and have no intention of riding 2 up on this thing, so I took the handles off the back. The bike previously had a luggage rack on the back which looked awful, so that has gone as well (leaving 4 sizeable holes). I plan to sand all of this back, use filler of some description on the gaps and sand it smooth to round the tail out (slightly). I want to retain the original lines of the K but with a bit more of a streetfighter idea. Has anyone used filler on the plastic of a K before?

Additionally, I've already purchased all the required paint and gear to strip the entire bike back. I am going for a 2 pak gloss black over primer with a clear coat to finish. I've got an auto-paint specialist in Devonport lined up to do it, but I want to make sure the bike is actually going to run and fix up the tank before I send it in to him.




Here is the front end of the bike as I've left it. Note that it still has the bracket for the fairing/headlight mounting and also the horns. My plan is to take the bracket off and sub in a 'naked' style headlight array. Any ideas? I have seen several K's with what looks like a BMW naked-style light. Can anyone shed any light (excuse the pun) on what the best option is here? Must you (by law) have a horn to be roadworthy?



The rear disk looks pretty worn. Time for a new one I'd say... Is this a job you could EASILY do at home?




Anyway, there it is... feel free to impart some of that k forum knowledge you've all got on a relative newbie. I am planning on having this project completed (one way or another) by the end of July this year. The more of it I can do myself, the better.

Look forward to hearing from you guys and again.... this truly is a great site!

Welcome. A lot of work in front of you, but most of it you ll find on this forum. Looked the pictures, but rear disc doesnt seem worn, just dirty and corroded. Before ordering a new one, measure the disc. It has to be more than 3,5 mm.

regards

Hi Casey,

Looks like you've got a bit of work to do but its all good fun.

I also live on the North West, and work in Devonport, there may be the possibility of a brainstorming event as I too have a second K bike that am chopping down to make a Naked/ Cafe style for the summer months when its too warm for the RT. Keep us all posted with your new project,

Regards Bushy

brilliant idea bushy ....onya mate ! ...

lets hope we can get this one back on the road huh ?

welcome to the board casey ...from what i see ...all is cosmetic to the tank ...yes a replacement might be the easy way out ...given that you might find a "parted out" machine and may even be cheeper than repairing ....especially if you have a planned a paint job already .

take note about the recommended proceedures in the "you just bought a k bike ...now what " thread ...all are important after sitting idle ....toss the fuel ...and start new .

good luck !