starter
 

The valeo starter is similar to the car ones, the brushes, cap screws, armature etc, are the same, the body looks exactly the same but when I fixed mine and got one from a citroen I think, the one I pulled from the breakers was set to spin the other way, mine only had a black bakelite type cap that had come away from where it should be and had stuck onto the armature..a strip and putting the cap back where it had come loose from and heating the plastic over with a hot knife edge fixed it..its worth stripping these to try and fix them...certainly if you are going to get whacked 200 euros......

The Valeo starter on my R100GSPD died a few years ago. Magnets broken off. I replaced it with a new Valeo - which is in fact the modified, improved version fitted to the very last airheads (1995-96). Starts perfectly. The Valeo is lighter than the Bosch, I think by quite a lot. The Nippon-Denso conversion (from a Toyota Hilux) is probably the ultimate in reliability, but again heavier. Starter motors can weigh a lot!

If that fails, kick-starting the R100GS is not so hard. Push the lever gently down for around 10 kicks, not too much force needed, then work out where its in the right position (you'll feel the point at which it resists more), another gentle kick and it should run. Quite different to the big kick needed for "ordinary" kick start bikes. I'm not tall enough to have the bike on its side stand and kick start it, so I have to have it on the centre stand.