Re: Newbie Questions

[Robert Silas <robert.silas@xxxxxxxxxxxx>]

Conrad,

>I recently purchased a 9/94 R1100RS with 180 thousand k's

I own the same bike with 170,000 km.

>1/. The front end of the bike seems to be out of alignment, the front of
the
>tank is about 10mm to the left and looking down the centreline the ignition
>key is in front of the abs lights.

The ignition key should be in line with the Neutral-light. I just changed
the front faring supporting frame after an accident. Your bike could have
had a front end collision.

>Easy/hard to rectify or is it not a problem??

No it is not. You have to remove everything from the front to change the
steel frame. I bought mine from either the www.beamerboneyard.com or from
net, I do not remember, but I remember that it was $125.-, very inexpensive,
it was brand new.

>2/. The ABS never kicks in first up, after a few k's if I stop and shut
down
>then re start it, sometimes it kicks in!! Often not at all.

Jim Nazarian already answered this point. Just some addition: the Motronic
always takes power, as long as the battery is connected, even if you turn
the key off.  Voltage must be at least 12.6 for the ABS lights
"top-and-bottom" flashing in the same time, indicating that the ABS is
engaged. Of course the ABS sensors' gaps have to be adjusted right.


>3/. The headlight is quite poor, certainly not what I expected, I have not
>tried to adjust it so this could be due to the fairing alignment.

The head light is lausy. I have steel tube engine-guards and over both
cylinder I installed additional 5" diametre reflectors. No light is enough
or satisfactory.

>4/. Any info on aftermarket exhausts or performance enhancing tips would be
>appreciated.

I am using the original exhaust. As Tom Brown said: on a long trip it's nice
not to have to listen to a lot of noise.

>I love the bike but a little more power/acceleration would be nice!!

I love the bike too and made a lot of modification on for my convenience.
The 90 HP is plenty, for me anyway. For Super-acceleration you'd have to buy
a "rice-burner". No matter what BMW says, to me, a boxer basically is a
touring/sport-touring bike. I followed the suggestion of the late Rob
Lentini and changed both intake manifold from the RS large diametre tubes to
the narrower and longer GS tubes. This cuts off about 5 kph speed from the
end but gave a lot more handleable torque for in city use, at around 40-60
kph speed.
I made a wheel alignment jig-setup and centered the rear wheel with the
front wheel. The bike still pulling to the right (my K75 also) with
hands-off riding. You should test yours at your own risk.

>Finally added some PIAA lights.

The best solution but it's pricy.
( I just realized that these answers actually for somebody "nameless", not
for you Conrad)

Bob Silas
Montreal