New member, older bike.

Greetings from Chicago.

I just bought a 1987 K75T. I really want a GS, but my budget now was $3500, and I'd rather ride for 2-3 years and save 5-10K for a nice GS than have no bike for a year or two. I figure a K is a great bike, and I could make short (day or two) trips on it, just nothing too adventurous. Plus, it'll probably be a better around-town bike since it's lower and lighter, and less attention-getting while parked on the street.

Prior to this I rode a 1982 Yamaha Maxim 650 to learn. Fun bike, but not very reliable. I sold it last year when I moved to Chicago rather than transport/register/winter a $1000 bike. And with carbs it was definitely a nice-weather-only bike, I'm hoping the K will be okay in the 30's and 40's.

I don't think the bike needs anything right now, but I'm going to need to keep an eye on the fork. The left one leaked on the trip home in a pickup truck, but I'm guessing it's just from being partially compressed for a long period of time. Dunno if I blew it / damaged it, or it just weeped a bit under pressure and will last a while more. I figure I'll clean it up and change the oil and watch it. There was no leaking or indication thereof before loading it. Hopefully I can ride it as is and maybe rebuild and put in progressives over the winter.

Anyway, that's that. Looking forward to hitting the road.

Welcome to the forum baroo!

You will find this a very helpful and informative place.

You should find a lot of information in the K-Bike forum.

Enjoy your ride

Luis

K75T Cool. I'm in the process of collecting parts, I'm going to convert my K100RT to a K100T . Tired of the RT fairing, ready for a change.

Welcome to the forum!

I will be interested to see if you get ride of the K75 after a few years or figure out a way to keep while building a stable of bikes. K75 owners hate to part with them once they have had them for a while.

the K75, depending on the condition, is much more than a one or two day bike, i wouldn't hesitate to drive a well cared for K bike with a ton of miles to the ends of the continent.

and as far as carbs and the cold go:



-40, not a problem

The K75T is a great bike. I owned a nice one and it is a wonderful touring bike. That is what the "T "designation means. You can do 20 or 30 day trips if you wish. No need to limit yourself to two or three day short trips. As to compression of the fork? From all I have read it will not damage forks to compress them, such as when trailering with the forks compressed.

jamesdunn said:

The K75T is a great bike. I owned a nice one and it is a wonderful touring bike. That is what the "T "designation means. You can do 20 or 30 day trips if you wish. No need to limit yourself to two or three day short trips. As to compression of the fork? From all I have read it will not damage forks to compress them, such as when trailering with the forks compressed.

Click to expand...

That's what I'm afraid of, that it just produced symptoms a bit ahead of when they would have appeared on their own. I'll keep an eye on it, but I'm hoping to avoid having to replace the seals until winter. When a seal "blows" is it a dramatic all the oil shoots out / handling is affected type of thing, or does it just start leaking a lot more? This was about 3-4 quarter sized drips in the bed of the truck. I have fork gators and it was coming from the bottom of the left gator.

As far as touring, yeah the bike would probably be okay for longer trips, but it's naked and bags are expensive and hard to come by, I gather. If I had a garage, I'd love to keep it and build a stable, but for now at least it'll be parked on the street, covered, and garaged in the winter at a friend's house in the suburbs... I may poke around on craigslist, etc. and see if I can find a cheap garage spot in my neighborhood.

I'm itching to get the bike out and ride it. I got my tags/title today, so it's fully legal. Going camping in wisconsin this weekend, tempted to ride the bike but with the fork I want some "observation" time before going hundreds of miles.

Bags

Used bags can be had for under $200 if you don't mind scuffs and loose fit.
I found a pair for $125. One had a cracked hinge on the bottom which I replaced for cheap (don't remember exact cost from dealer) and overspray white paint flecks, and the locks were binding. WD 40 loosened the hinges, washing cleaned up the paint.
This just occurred to me, does the bike have the mounting brackets for the bags?
Post a pic.

41077 said:

Used bags can be had for under $200 if you don't mind scuffs and loose fit.
I found a pair for $125. One had a cracked hinge on the bottom which I replaced for cheap (don't remember exact cost from dealer) and overspray white paint flecks, and the locks were binding. WD 40 loosened the hinges, washing cleaned up the paint.
This just occurred to me, does the bike have the mounting brackets for the bags?
Post a pic.

Click to expand...

I don't remember there being brackets. I can look and see. I don't mind scuffs, it's an almost 25 year old bike and it doesn't have any chrome bits anyway.

Welcome. Hope you enjoy the K bike.

I rode a K 1100 LT which had, I thought, a bad fork seal. Replaced it and still had fork oil running down the side. Finally figured out that there was a flaw in the fork leg. Confirmed it by removing fill screw and putting compressed air in it. Leak showed up immediately. JB Weld fixed the leak.

Glad to have you here.