Getting naked and bricking it
 

I have been given a k 1100 LT 'Flying Brick'. The bike is not my cup of tea but something strange happened when I was stripping it. I took of most of the peripheral and totally useless BMW junk (like the speakers and the 2 kg of adjustable motorised screen) and when the fairings were off it actually started to look like it made sense - a massive engine with a seat, two wheels and some bouncy bits.

I am now thinking that all the plastics and the 15kg ABS system should go on e-bay and that will pay for the few parts I need to make this into a decent naked bike.

Has anyone pulled a brick apart and are there any big pitfalls I need to avoid/watch out for?

About to do the same myself with the K100.

The forks are 42mm, so no hassle getting brackets and a headlight. The indicator circuity is typical over complicated/low quality BMW, so no hassle if you'll just bin the tupperware and plug in a standard indicator, but could be a PITA if you want brighter bulbs or LED's.

Take care with the throttle cable routing. To add a few grammes of ballast the K bikes have this stupid cast monkey metal bevel gear in the throttle housing and weak springs in the fuel unit. Route the cable wrong and a stiff throttle is closely followed by stripped gears in the bars. As I know to my cost that's 40-quids worth of monkey metal.

I havn't got this far yet, but I think I'm going to have a water trap on top of the radiator. I'll decide when I get there between trying to source K100 bits and getting the hammerite/fibreglass out. Good news is that the air intake on the 1100 is round so will take an external filter. Cut the middle out of the one in the sandwich box under the tank and you'll be able to replace the air filter without taking the engine out. I'll be sourcing a round K1100 intake to replace my square K100 one.

If you wouldn't mind getting your lardy bits on e-bay PDQ it'll make mine go for more in a few weeks :rofl:. Seriously though, do it, I ripped out the cassette player (complete with Frankie goes to Hollywood C90 (I was expecting at least Kraftwerk)) and got 30-quid.

You do know you'll get blackballed by the BM club though. My suggestion of stripping the K100 did not go down well. I even offered to paint the fairing white and add a lime green stripe before I flogged it off :innocent:. Please keep posting how it goes though it'll be good to compare notes.

Andy

Thanks for the Pointers Andy.

I can't believe how much 'ballast' is hiding all over this thing! I've seen a photo of one with a conical K&N sticking out of the airbox which might be how I'll do it. I would have ditched the airboc alltogether but it would be a nightmare job getting the valve for the EFI housed and functioning properly again....

Have you noticed that water pools on top of the engine really badly - with the result that when I picked the bike up there was about 2cm deep layer of aluminium oxide sitting in it. I hosed it off and the puddle that remained was about an inch deep in water. Given the rest of the bike I was shocked that BMW didn't install a water level sensor and bilge pump!

I'll keep you posted with developments but it probably wont get done till August - I have three Innova rebuilds an FZR and an Elefant restoration to finish before I can get the bits for the brick...

:confused1: I see hundred of BMW still on the road with stock harness, working like a charm after having done 200 or 300 Kkm... Actually, BMW harness are starting to give problems when owners with poor electricity knowledge are playing with it.

If you consider BMW harness of poor quality, you should look at Pre 80 English bikes and Italian ones... :D

OK guys, nuf' talk! Post some pictures, will ya...? :mad3:

http://i576.photobucket.com/albums/s...e/DSC01306.jpg just got to make a seat once a k100 no reality

+1

B4 & After too! :eek3:

Nice pic, good to have something to aim for. First thing is sticking some juice in it tomorrow and seeing if she fires up, then need to sell my current project bike!