The R100RS so far...

Dropped off by Lozzo this morning, didn't have much time to spend on it
but I gave it a quick once over. Overall it's in pretty good nick but
there are several niggling and not so niggling issues...

- No oil pressure light. Turns out that both the bulb and the sender are
dead. Oops. And the back cover over the bulbs needs replacing, too, as
the screw post is broken and you can't screw down the connector
- Clock doesn't work. And the clock isn't cheap, even used
- It does crank only reluctantly. The Odyssey battery in there seems to
be fine after a little time on the Accumate. I have a nasty suspicion
as to what it is but I'll wait for Brian to confirm this (because I'd
have to have words with the seller if my suspicion is correct)

I'm a bit reluctant to take it out with a borked oil pressure switch
even though it doesn't rattle much worse than the other ones I've had
(and those Krauser heads are noisy) so it's a case of hoping that
Motorworks are open tomorrow...

 

Ah. Not good.

Shouldn't be too hard or expensive to fix.

You're not kidding. £40-50, IIRC.

Diode board? That's pricey.

And so it begins....

 

Indeed. But common.

Used back covers aren't too expensive, it's just annoying.

Try 65 quid from Motorworks for a used one, if I remember this right.

Nope. 'Cranking' is the keyword. And the component I suspect is both
pricey and a pig to fit.

If there is any real problem with it then this is going to be ending
*very* quickly.

 

Hm. Got me there. Starter motor?

 

That's my guess, but I'll have Him Whose Bed Linen Has BMW Roundels On
It check it over first.

 

So the seller has been ever-so-slightly economical with the description?
There's a surprise.

 

That's what it's beginning to look like. I'll have Brian check it over,
if he confirms that it's the starter motor and/or finds something else
then the seller is going to get a polite email...

 

Another job for Lozzo? One, perhaps, more to his taste?

 

Well, I did take it out for a quick bimble, oil pressure sensor be
damned and all that...

The quick bimble took about 1 1/2 hours because I extended it a
little and instead of a couple of miles I almost went to Rye and then
back via Lydd, with a couple of side trips.

I have to revise the initial impression somewhat - yes, the starter
motor does labour in a nasty way to start the bike but once it's going,
it does work rather well. Pulls well from low down - puttering through
Camber Sands at 30mph in fourth gear was no problem - and it pulls all
through the rev range (well, until it hits a stutter that feels like
fuel starvation somewhere around 6k; guess is shit in the carbs and old
fuel). It's deceptively quick because it pulls so smoothly through the
rev range. Plenty of mid-range grunt, too.

Gearbox works very well, none of the balking you occasionally get with
these. No idea if it's modified but I have a suspicion that it's either
got a lighter flywheel (81 should be a heavy flywheel one, right?) or
someone's stuck an aftermarket flywheel in. Clutch is nice and smooth,
too.

Suspension is somewhat Guzzi-esque as the rear shocks (Ikons) have
pretty stiff springs so it nods with the front, but it handles pretty
well for a SOBoxer. Stops pretty well for one, too, not surprising as
it's got a floating (or at least semi-floating) disk conversion at the
front.

Oh, and those heads sound like someone is holding a dance-off in an
ossuary.

 

When they went to Brembos they went to light flywheels too. If it's got
ATE calipers it should have a heavy flywheel.

Unless someone, as you say, replaced it with a lighter one.

 

Ah yes, that'll be it then. This one's got Brembos (and I'm pretty happy
about that).

I'll have to go through the stack of paperwork to check if that's the
case. Might well be, someone threw a shedload of money at this bike.

 

I foresee the future will mirror the past....

 

Was this specific to the 100s? Unless my memory is playing tricks, the
R45/65s got the lighter crank in '81 but the Brembos didn't arrive until
'82.

 

Hm. Could be. OTOH I thought that the 45/65 got the Brembos at the same
time as the lighter flywheel.

 

Having checked, it seems that the 45/65 all got the lighter crank when
they got electronic ignition in '81, then the LS only got twin Brembos
from '82 on.

Anyway this is of little relevance as it's Timo's old shed we're
interested in, not mine.

 

Nah, they definitely fitted Brembos to the 'stock' R45/65. I owned one.
Hog's had Brmebos, too.

Troo

 

I'm ignoring this thread completely 'cause I'm insanely jealous of the
Krauser heads.

Unless he is prepared to sell them to me when he emigrates.

 

No, so far he's prepared to stick the heads into a container together
with the bike.

 

Fat chance. I remember the original roadtests of them said they were
amazingly noisy, too. I've got a Bike roadtest of the Krauser MKM1000 in
my archive.

 

Croft suggests that the standard engine can be made better than the Krausers
but who cares. I passed on a set for £500 a few years ago, stupidly.

The Krauser bike was a rather lovely thing but for me the ultimate Boxer has
Magni on the tank