K11 Owners Group

[Flying Duck]

The 87 K75C with a Pichler fairing I bought a couple of weeks ago was generally in pretty good shape for a 22 year old bike with 80k. The previous owners had obviously kept it garaged and maintained it pretty well but it needed some extra TLC and a few upgrades.

After flying to Idaho to buy it, I installed a powered mounting bracket on the handlebars for my TomTom Rider for the ride home.

On the way home I noticed that the downshifting was sticky so the first order of business was to tear the rear end off and give it a transmission input spline lube.

Based on a post from Paul Glaves I stumbled upon recently, I lubed all of the splines with a 50/50 combo of Honda Moly 60 and SIG 3000 grease. That SIG 3000 is mighty sticky. I made the mistake of mixing the lubes in the palm of my hand and it took me half an hour to wash my hand afterwards.

While I had the bike open, I also pulled the clutch apart to check the clutch plate thickness. It was quite good so I imagine the clutch plate had been replaced in the not too distant past. It also looks like the clutch cable is pretty new as well so I won't have to worry about that breaking.




While I had the rear end off, I degreased and scrubbed down the transmission, swing arm and final drive. I also detailed the rear wheel which cleaned up pretty nicely.

Upon reassembly I swapped in a K1100 center and side stand since the K75 center stands tend to rust and eventually collapse, resulting in a forced bike nap. I also installed a sidestand switch and wired that into the bulb monitor indicator in the instrument cluster so I now have a side stand down warning light in the cluster.



It already had a Progressive rear shock which worked OK but I swapped in a new custom shock from REALM Engineering in the UK who specialize in car suspension but have also been making custom shocks for Ks for the last few years. The bike already has fork boots and Progressive springs so there was no need to mess with the forks.



While I was at it, I gave the bike a full Level II service including:

Engine flush and refill with Shell Rotella T synthetic.
Refilled the transmission with Mobil 1 75-140 gear oil which tends to make K transmissions operate more smoothly
Refilled the final drive with Mobil 1 75-90 gear oil
Fuel filter
The air filter looked pretty clean so I didn’t bother replacing that
Bled the brakes
Replaced the spark plugs with NGK iridium plugs and synch’d the throttle bodies

While I had it apart, though not really necessary, I also swapped in some low mile coils and spark plug leads that I recently scored on FleaBay.



I also upgraded the alternator from the old 32 amp alternator to a 50 amp alternator in order to run driving lights and heated grips/gear without having to worry about draining the battery.

Once I had the rear end back together, it was time to start doing some mods. I started with lighting.

The first order of business was to LEDify the front and rear reflectors to serve as side running lights. I wired them up with relays so they flash off when the turn signals flash on so they double as side turn signals. The picture below is actually of my K1100RS but these look the same:



I also filled out the sides of the tail light lens with additional LED bars, added a BRAKE! LED license plate frame and wired those up to a flashy blinky brake light controller that flashes the LEDs 8 times before going solid.

In order to run an LED tail light, I eliminated the bulb monitor relay.

I installed headlights relays and swapped in a PIAA Ultra White H4 headlight bulb.

In order to run 30 SMD LED turn signal bulbs front and rear I replaced the factory flasher relay with a Kisan SignalMinder.

When I bought the bike it had some fork mounted PIAA driving lights but the way they were mounted was over the fork reflectors which would’ve blocked my new LEDified ones so I swapped in some CATZ XLO lighting.



I have two sets of lights that fit these. Fortunately the lenses, bulbs and reflectors are integrated into one unit so it only takes a screwdriver and a couple of minutes to swap the bulbs.




For riding conspicuity I have these very bright and very orange bulbs which do an exceptional job of making the bike stand out in traffic from all front angles, even in bright sunlight:



If I’m going to be out hunting deer on rural roads at night then I’ll swap in these blue/white driving lights:



The next order of business was instrumentation. I opened up the instrument cluster and calibrated the speedometer so it doesn’t read 10% fast like most K bikes do from the factory:



While I had it open I also replaced all of the bulbs in the instrument cluster with LEDs.

Fortunately the Pichler fairing has places to mount gauges so I built my own wiring subharness and installed VDO fuel and temp gauges, also with green LED backlighting to match the instrument cluster.



When I got the bike all four of the switch slots were filled with switch blanks. I won’t be having any of that!



The leftmost switch is the on/off switch for cruise control. (More on that later.)

The second from the left is for the emergency flashers but I modified that switch so that the up position doubles as a high altitude switch which eliminates the need for the BMW altitude plug you’re supposed to plug in under the left side panel when riding above 4,000 feet. It’s much easier to hit a switch than to stop, get off the bike and insert/remove some stupid plug when you pass through 4,000 feet.

The next switch is for the Symtec heated grip elements I installed. While I was at it I also replaced the grips with my favorite ProGrip gel grips.

The rightmost 3-position switch turns on the fog/driving lights so they can be run with either the high or low beam of the headlight.

I’ve installed the Audiovox CCS-100 on all the K bikes I owned so I had to do it on this one as well. Somehow I got the bright idea of swapping in the left side switchgear from a BMW with an electric windscreen and using those switches to control the cruise control:



While I was installing the switches I also installed a dash pad with a Powerlet socket in order to run a radar detector and cell phone charge in my electrified tank bag. And I also swapped in some newer, less faded, right side switchgear.

At some point in the past, a previous owner had the valve and crank covers polished. K75 headers are notoriously ugly once they blue so I had the headers coated in a chrome-like ceramic coating. I also replaced the exhaust can with a newer shinier one with a heat shield that I had powder coated and is now bolted on with chrome bolts.

While I was having the headers done in ceramic coating I also had a set of peg plates done to match.





Somebody used to make a nice plastic cover for the fuel injectors but it’s no longer available so I made my own out of aluminum and had it powder coated.

Exposed fuel injectors:




Covered fuel injectors:



You’ll also notice in the picture above that I installed some K75 tank knee pads that I had coated in LineX truck bed liner.

I replaced the old Corbin seat with a very nice Corbin Dual Sport with a faux carbon fiber cover.

I replaced all of the exposed hardware with stainless steel fasteners and also added a read fender extender.

I did a bunch of minor stuff too. Like replacing the missing plastic fork cap covers and replacing the choke lever with one that didn’t have some paint worn off of it from use.



I replaced the plastic oil filler cap with a machined aluminum one:



I probably did some other stuff too that I’ve forgotten.

Last but not least I replaced the factory tail rack with a level Givi rack and a base plate for a small helmet-sized top case that I have. And, like my K1100RS, I had to add a Kato action figure (from the TV show The Green Hornet) to match my Bruce Lee “The Master” helmet.



For it’s first ride, I took it up to Bruce Lee’s grave to see if he would approve:




Round 2 of Pimp My Ride will occur in the fall when I’ve worn out the rear tire. I plan to swap in a disc brake final drive with a 3-spoke rear wheel and convert the front end to K1100 forks, brakes and wheel so that the bike will have better brakes and I’ll be able to run Pilot Road 2 tires on the bike.

That is all……
_________________
93 LT (x2)
94 RS
86-97 K75F(K75/100/1100 Frankenbrick)
86 K75C w/paralever, hi perf cams,TURBO!
91 & 92 K75Ss
91 K1
86 custom K100
14 WR250R
IBA #17739 (SS1K, BBG, 50CC)
Buy parts HERE

[owrstrich]

have you ridden your dirt bike...

j o
_________________
yeeeeeehaaaaaaa...

[whyoldbill]

Nice work! That paint job ROCKS. Your detail work really adds the finishing touches.
I've got a GREAT idea, I'll do your clock mods, you pimp my LT...
_________________
'02 - GL1800


The desired effect is what you get when you improve your interplanetary funksmanship - George Clinton

[Flying Duck]

I knew I'd forgotten something. The bike was originally a K75C before the Pichler fairing was installed. In the C fairing the back of the instrument cluster was in the C fairing so when the Pichler fairing was installed it left the instrument clusteri knd of standing out in the open. I got rid of the old mounting hardware and replaced it with the instrument cluster mounting from a K100RS that has a backplate. The cluster also fits lower in the fairing now and makes it easier to see my newly installed fuel and temp gauges.


_________________
93 LT (x2)
94 RS
86-97 K75F(K75/100/1100 Frankenbrick)
86 K75C w/paralever, hi perf cams,TURBO!
91 & 92 K75Ss
91 K1
86 custom K100
14 WR250R
IBA #17739 (SS1K, BBG, 50CC)
Buy parts HERE

[Shoganai]

I can't see pics at work, but now I can't wait to get home.
_________________
1993 K1100RS aka The Shop Whore
1994 K1100RS aka Blue Streak

The long road is a rainbow and the pot of gold lies there.
So slip the chain and I'm off again,
You'll find me everywhere. I'm a Rover. - JT


Nana korobi ya oki

[jpberens1994K1100RS]

WOW! You did all that in a couple of weeks?

Just awesome & beautifully exectuted.

Your K skilz are mad mon, simply mad.
_________________
1993 K1100RS that I'd rather be riding FAST!
2014 Moto Guzzi Norge

[owrstrich]

bruce lees nipples aint glowing... slacker...

j o
_________________
yeeeeeehaaaaaaa...