My R100RS

I had driven a car for 10 years before I dedided to get my motorcycle drivers license. The reason was mainly because it was easier to get to work. The idea was to buy a light motorbike (250cc) but later on a changed my mind and after I got my license in 1998 I decided to get myself a BMW airhead because it's a nice bike, lasts almost forever and is easy to repair. In a motor magazine I saw my BMW R100RS from 1977 with a mileage of 74200 Km wich I bought for 5200 dutch guilders (I think that's about 2600 US dollars). After a short test ride the bike seemed to have not enough power but there were no strange noises (rather than the usual ones) and the bike was running ok. After 200 km or so it was time for some maintenance and the following was done:

Replacement of all the oil

Replacement of the spark plugs

Replacement of the air filter

Replacement of the ignition points

Greased all nipples

Tuned ignition

Synchronised carbs

When synchronising the carbs I had a problem, the carbs would not synchronise. The problem was a crack in the membrane from the right carb so I replaced both the membranes. After that the carbs would synchronise fine and now the power was allright as well. The price of the maintenance was, besides a days work, 270 dutch guilders which is about 135 US dollars.

Till now I have driven 20000 km on the bike in 1.5 years and it's running ok. The only thing with this kind of bike is that you have to get used to noises that are in the bike.
Further problems I had to deal with are:

squeaking fairing, tighten some bolts

Defective claxons, contacts inside them cleaned

leaking fork seals after the winter, placed new seals and oil (23,-)

Cracks in one break disc, replaced both discs and brake pads (620,-)

dead battery, Replaced (183,-)

broken clutch cable, replaced (36,40)

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(c) W.P.Barendsen 2000