K100RS: what to look for?

I have just brought a 1988 K100RS Se version off ebay as a winter hack.
It has covered 80k miles and apparently has been used daily. 5 months tax and MOT: £740, I am informed it is in reasonable nick. I have found several good road tests on the net but nothing of what to look out for when buying.
Can anybody advise what to check for other than the usual?

I ran one for 9 years.

The cltuch was replaced at around 50k miles.

Nothing else other than routine servicing, bar the belly pan, the mounting holes of which slowly got larger and larger though heat. But BMW did a fix.

Nothing except the bolt that held the heat shield on the silencer showed any corrosion. All the bolts were superb.

You might need a new rear shock absorber. Fournales were reckoned very good. Fork legs might need some work, but cheap to do.

All in all a very smart bike.

Cooling fan bearing can give up due to seizure through lack of use. As you probably know, it only cuts in when it's really hot - say in slow traffic. Suggest you check it sooner rather than later. Good reliable bikes with strong high mileage potential.

Check bevel box for play.

Check the exhaust header bolts.

Check the little weep hole at the very front edge of the sump. Any oil or water oozing out of there is coming from one of the seals in the combined oil & water pump.

Does the engine make any noise when starting from cold ? which then goes away as the engine warms up ( couple minutes). If so your engines fecked.

The engine output shaft is about to tear it's self in two. Very common nowdays with the age of these bikes ( the K75 doesn't have that problem ).

Check the driveshaft/bevel box splines for wear. Quick and easy job to do. And best done as well. because if they go, your stopped wherever you are.

Centre stands break - they're hollow tube part of the problem is it fills with water, and rusts through .

Starter motor brushes wear, and give all sorts of electrical problems with the lights/horm and indicators, but funnily enough, never the starter motor itself .

Rear brake master cylinder reserviour disintergrates, becomes brittle after time.


I'll stop there, enough for you to be getting on with. Apart from those problems, very reliable well built bikes. lot better and far cheaper to run than the K1100 bikes.

Thanks everyone, looks like I will need to give it a good look over then, I bid for the bike because it's supposed to be in pretty good nick: if it not as the seller described or has faults as given here I will walk. There seems to be plenty around for sale.

...and that is kilometres, not miles.
I'ts Knuts (k-nut) bike.

Liv.