K11 Owners Group

[ljjohns]

It’s been a rough weekend—and it’s not over—but I think it’ll be worth it. It’s Saturday night and I’m in a motel in Alamosa CO, looking at an 8 hour tow home tomorrow. Friday started with an early morning meeting with Provost candidates and then my regular three classes; got home about 12:40 but had the trailer hitched to the truck and got on the road by 1. Traffic jams in Albuquerque and Santa Fe, so I alternating signs warning of either cattle or elk and jouncing all the while. Into Alamosa about 9; forgot to check the alarm clock which the previous guest had set for 4:30, headed the wrong way when I left the motel in the morning, but made it up to Dillon CO where I had a great visit—of only a couple hours—with daughter and SIL, and then got down to business.

Business, part 1: Picking up a 1995 K11LT-SE (stupid violet) with 34 K on the clock; no extensive maintenance history but a record of recent services. Nicks and scratches from minor drops (but Phil Marvin has a paint kit he never used). Leaking front right seal; the tube doesn’t appear to be scored. Both a Clymer and a hard-copy Shop manual were in the topcase, along with extra filters, etc and the original owners handbook. (My Goldilocks story is this: K12LT too big; K75 too small; K11 just right).
My drive and tow covered parts of the ground we had ridden last summer and it was fun recalling that trip; but today I crossed another Colorado pass to get on with

Business, part 2: picking up the other part of the package, a dismantled 1996K11LT-SE (silver) with 17K on the clock and all fairing parts in very good condition. There’s a Colorado ski culture that parallels, I suspect, the surfer culture in California (though this Wisconsin farmboy is no expert). My seller is part of that culture: his primary interest is skiing, and all he does is to that end; apparently, his friend who sold him both bikes is of the same ilk, though with a twist: he was also collecting motorcycles, had twelve, wife said no more than five and so he sold both of them to my seller, one working and the other very much systematically dismantled (for what reason both seller and friend are unclear). I wasn’t able to do a complete inventory of everything, but I don ‘t see anything missing (though some things—like most of the screws holding things together—have yet to be identified and found). While the cases and fairings had been stored under a porch and were dusty/rain-streaked, the core machine was very pristine. The exhaust is almost virgin, for example. The Motronic was wrapped in bubble-wrap and stored in the tail section; I even found the gas cap that the seller had said was missing. I didn’t get a chance to examine the interior of the tank to see the status of pump and filter, but the tank had been emptied and was clean. The seller’s friend was apparently trying to do something systematically: Ted’s “golf tees” are emplaced in the fuel lines. So I’ve got a truck-bed full of fairing parts, cases for two bikes, and a couple of orange crates of the stuff taken off of the parts bike (but also things like the original owners manual and the radio code). And I know that Drake has the ’93 he’s parting out: if there are interior pieces missing, they’ll probably not be the kind of stuff that his buyers would be interested in (e.g, the windshield was removed but is part of the package; I didn’t see—not looking hard—if the covers for the mounting screws were there).

Small problem: the seller and his friend never effected a transfer of title on this bike, but his friend knew the seller and gave contact info to my seller, and my seller got a response from the guy on the title. I then contacted him separately (Google is wonderful) and he’s going to get a duplicate title and then sign it over to me so that I can transfer the title in Texas without a $25/mo penalty for late transfer.

So the bottom line is this: for $3500, I got all of the above. The ’95 just needs the front fork seals (something that I think is probably routine maintenance—I’ve already got two sets of gaiters) and then can be used for a bike to stash in Wisconsin or Austin so I don’t have to tow there. And the ’96 becomes a project bike where I can learn how to turn a wrench with confidence and, if I flunk the course, I can still part it out given the condition of the individual components.
Now if I can just make the last 8 hours back to El Paso tomorrow—and be ready for classes on Monday.
_________________
1993 K1100LT (Washington)
1995 K1100LTSE
1996 K1100LTSE (parts)
2003 K1200LTC
1991 K75RT

[Stoked Steve]

Whew! Quite a narrative, but an interesting story none the less.

Good luck with you projects! Sounds like you have a busy winter ahead!
_________________
Steve
Virginia Beach, VA
93 K1100RS Mystic Red SOLD
12 Suzuki DL650A VStrom

[ljjohns]

I used to be able to do great distances in a cage, but no longer. Did the last 450 miles home from Alamosa in 8 hours, and found my body near collapse.

But I had to show off my acquisitions to my university colleague, neighbor and emotional co-owner of my K75 (who sold it to me), so after a nap he came over and we took a closer look at what I've got.

Found a jar of screws, connectors, and fasteners (including the windshield riser covers). They weren't sorted or labelled, but I can deal with that. As far as we can tell, there are two component-sets missing. The tank is clean but doesn't have the pump and filter assembly. But we then noted a set of stains on the right side of the engine, suggesting that there might have been a fuel leak or something that the PO+1 was addressing but never finished. The second component missing are the lines from the front brake; he may have been attempting to replace that as well, but never got around to either.

So the immediate objectives are (l) to get the running '95 inspected and titled/registered; (2) get the front seals replaced; (3) do a full fluids change for a baseline. When time permits, we'll dicker with Phil and get the paint kit to touch up the scratches and dings. Having been ugly all my life, however, I don't see why my bikes should be any better.

Then, after I have sorted out where I'm going to park, store and work on the various bikes (a friend who used the K75 on our Canadian trip will probably be happy to keep it at his place; I've got to negotiate with Felicity for space in our guest-house garage which she uses for her own addictions), I'll probably bring the Harbor Freight lift currently at my neighbor's house over here, and put the '96 up on it to provide me with ample learning opportunities over the winter months.

(All of this speculation is a heck of a lot more pleasurable than considering what faces me tomorrow: my undergraduates' submission of their first essay exams, which make the collapsed front seals on the '96 look elegant.
_________________
1993 K1100LT (Washington)
1995 K1100LTSE
1996 K1100LTSE (parts)
2003 K1200LTC
1991 K75RT

[ljjohns]

I probably should give priority to grading the first take-home essay exams for my sophomore course this weekend, but I already know what I'll find and it won't be pretty. So I'll have to decide which is the lesser of two evils: grading them first, and then going through all of the parts sitting in my truck's bed and sorting and inventorying them, or vice-versa.

Probably I'll grade the exams first and get that disappointment over with, and then get more satisfaction from sorting out the parts. I expect that I will find far greater pleasure in going through the gallon jar of screws, connectors, and small stuff and so probably should treat that as a "reward" for plowing through the exams.

This is the country for old men....

Larry
_________________
1993 K1100LT (Washington)
1995 K1100LTSE
1996 K1100LTSE (parts)
2003 K1200LTC
1991 K75RT