Hello, new R1100S owner

[hadabadachada]

Howdy, I’m Jason. I love the F800ST, got out of my third one, couldn’t find another cheap enough. Have put over 100,000 miles on those bikes, great bikes. Went miami to Terlingua in Feb, on it. Just over 4000 miles round trip. Sucks in the crosswind, just holding on no relaxing, too light. But gas mileage was 49 the whole ride fully geared, and the belt, my favorite bike, and looks amazing too IMO. I will get another.

I was in the market and found a nice 2004 R1100S with 25,000 miles on it. Side cases with regular and city lids, has a laser slip on, really great looking bike. Looking forward to many trouble free memories on it.

I’m in Miami, drove up to Jupiter to get it. Put some gas, checked tire pressure and rode it 100 miles back at speed. Floated like a cloud. I’ve owned a 94 R1100RS, put over 50K on that. Got it at about 78K and took it over 100,000. Always loved the boxers, and especially the S. Always wanted one as soon as I saw the BCR with the belly pan and graphics, one of the best looking bikes ever.

So it looks like the bike had the carbon canister mod done already. He said it has a chip to make it run smoother, not sure what that is, I’ll have a look.
Trying to put the luggage racks on, I noticed a little heat shield on the left side as well as a bracket that I had to remove to put the rack on. Not sure what that’s about. Looked like the was barely on the pipe and came loose messing with things, kinda weird, hopefully it was just loose.

Bikes idles at 900, pretty low. I turned each screw about an 8th of a turn counter clockwise, still pretty low, don’t want to mess too much.

Windscreen sucks, not sure what to do between laminar lip or one of them screens with the lip on the top, the wind noise sucks.

Wondered about all the connections and wires everywhere underneath. I need to get a tire hugger or something. Any problems riding in weather with all that stuff exposed?

Brakes are pretty interesting, that initial hard wall almost and then it starts, the clicking in of the servo and the motor going, sheesh. And no brakes with no power, unless you press hard it seems like, but I wonder if that over pressures the system or something? Would suck to have that go.

I guess the only other thing is engine protection. I’m going to get those plastic things, but is there something with some bars? Would GS bars work on it?

Bike is super nice, always wanted one. Saw some HP2 sports for 15K, damn steal if you ask me, but for under 5, this 1100 is nice. I’m sure I’ll be on here all the time looking stuff up and asking questions from the experts here with time behind the motor.
I try to do most of what I can myself since we know how shops can be. Just got a Haynes ordered.

Nice to meet you folks.

 

[hadabadachada]

 

[20774]

Welcome to the forum! Sounds like you're enjoying the rides! From the picture and google, that's Coral Gables for pizza and pasta...nice!!

 

[royce]

Welcome from the coast of Kansas. If it were yellow, I would be lusting after your 1100S! Beautiful bike.

 

[skibum69]

Welcome from Newfoundland. I got a '99 new to me last August, I'd always lusted after these machines.At first I didn't like the red but it's grown on me. Mine came with a 17" screen that I didn't like the look of so I bought a 12" stock sized screen that solved my hand falling asleep and looks way better. Gustaffson have a good range of screens for the 1100S. There's an R1100S forum at Pelican parts for all your info needs, good folks on there.
http://forums.pelicanparts.com/bmw-r1100s-r1200s-tech-forum/

here's mine

 

[roninbuffalo]

Welcome to the forum.

 

[hadabadachada]

So after riding the bike for almost 1000 miles, (it’s my everyday) I had a few questions maybe someone can respond to.
Got a new battery as the bike wouldn’t start, was going to do that anyway, got an odyssey.

I notice that when the bike is running in place, there’s a sort of whine, coming from the alternator, saw somewhere this is normal, just asking again, hopefully normal.

The gear box is pretty clunky shifting, assuming that’s normal, not smooth at all at slower speeds. Previous owner said he has 80-140 oil in there, wondering if I could use something different and smooth that out?

And last thing for the time being, what to do for touring and everyday riding? Rains a lot in Miami, and there’s all kinds of wires and everything just open under the seat above the wheel. Any worried about that stuff getting gunked up?
I’m looking to get a rear hugger as soon as I can afford it in hopes to keep the under seat a little bit cleaner. What say you?

Bike feels great. Just got a laminar lip. Has this af-xied thing installed. was set to about the middle, and I adjusted it down a few clicks. Got 35mpg first fill up, 41 after adjustment, I like fuel economy.
Also notice a lot of the wires black sheaths are just disintegrating. Any idea of what to do about this beside a new wiring harness?

Thanks.

 

[m_stock10506]

Welcome! Enjoy the bike.

Clunky gear box, normal but you will have to learn to make it better. BMW boxes shift much better when you use the technique of "preload the shifter". Apply pressure on the shifter with your toe so that it's close to shifting then press the clutch lever and finish the shift. Different gear boxes work better with different gear oils. Just make sure that they are rated GL-5. Try a conventional 80w90 GL-5 gear oil. Then try other brands of synthetic GL-5 gear oils in the box. Once you've done it yourself, it's a quick oil change, 800 ml. You'll find one that feels best in your bike. Don't put synthetic in the final drive. Conventional 80w90 GL-5 there.

The outer sheath in the harness was made when biodegradable was required in the EU. No need to replace the harness. The individual wires and their insulation are fine. If it bothers you, just get a high quality wrapping tape or a plastic loom to put over the bundles.

 

[lee]

I guess the only other thing is engine protection. I’m going to get those plastic things, but is there something with some bars? Would GS bars work on it?

.

Welcome to the site.
GS bars will work but they will make other R1100S owners cry

 

[hadabadachada]

Wow, good info, thanks.
Previous owner says he has synthetic in the box and final, I’m going to change to conventional.

I usually try to preload the shifter, going first to second is smooth as eggs, but everything else is clunky. My F800 gears were relatively clunky but this is different. I bet the oil will help.

I’m not sure if he has regular or synthetic in the motor, I think I’m going to put 20w-50 conventional, conventional all around till the higher mileage.
Going from synthetic to conventional isn’t a big deal is it? Oil is oil right?

Sorry for all the questions, being newish to these bikes.
I’d say I’m an expert on the F800, more than most, as far as an armature wrencher goes, but relatively new to all this.

Those ZTechnik engine guards look nice, pricey.

The bike looks like it’s never seen rain, but it’s going to today.

 

[glenvine]

Howdy, I’m Jason. I love the F800ST, got out of my third one, couldn’t find another cheap enough. Have put over 100,000 miles on those bikes, great bikes. Went miami to Terlingua in Feb, on it. Just over 4000 miles round trip. Sucks in the crosswind, just holding on no relaxing, too light. But gas mileage was 49 the whole ride fully geared, and the belt, my favorite bike, and looks amazing too IMO. I will get another.

I was in the market and found a nice 2004 R1100S with 25,000 miles on it. Side cases with regular and city lids, has a laser slip on, really great looking bike. Looking forward to many trouble free memories on it.

I’m in Miami, drove up to Jupiter to get it. Put some gas, checked tire pressure and rode it 100 miles back at speed. Floated like a cloud. I’ve owned a 94 R1100RS, put over 50K on that. Got it at about 78K and took it over 100,000. Always loved the boxers, and especially the S. Always wanted one as soon as I saw the BCR with the belly pan and graphics, one of the best looking bikes ever.

So it looks like the bike had the carbon canister mod done already. He said it has a chip to make it run smoother, not sure what that is, I’ll have a look.
Trying to put the luggage racks on, I noticed a little heat shield on the left side as well as a bracket that I had to remove to put the rack on. Not sure what that’s about. Looked like the was barely on the pipe and came loose messing with things, kinda weird, hopefully it was just loose.

Bikes idles at 900, pretty low. I turned each screw about an 8th of a turn counter clockwise, still pretty low, don’t want to mess too much.

Windscreen sucks, not sure what to do between laminar lip or one of them screens with the lip on the top, the wind noise sucks.

Wondered about all the connections and wires everywhere underneath. I need to get a tire hugger or something. Any problems riding in weather with all that stuff exposed?

Brakes are pretty interesting, that initial hard wall almost and then it starts, the clicking in of the servo and the motor going, sheesh. And no brakes with no power, unless you press hard it seems like, but I wonder if that over pressures the system or something? Would suck to have that go.

I guess the only other thing is engine protection. I’m going to get those plastic things, but is there something with some bars? Would GS bars work on it?

Bike is super nice, always wanted one. Saw some HP2 sports for 15K, damn steal if you ask me, but for under 5, this 1100 is nice. I’m sure I’ll be on here all the time looking stuff up and asking questions from the experts here with time behind the motor.
I try to do most of what I can myself since we know how shops can be. Just got a Haynes ordered.

Nice to meet you folks.[/QUOTE]

 

[glenvine]

Hello Jason,

Hope you still have the ‘04 S. Looks like you have gotten some great advice. Here’s more info:

I’ve have/had 3-‘04 S’ and BCR’s. One BCR came from Tampa (long cold wet ride home to Cincinnati-the Smokey’s can be that way in early November)

The clunky shifting is trademark BMW. If it doesn’t sound like a baseball being thrown into a jar of pennies, I get worried. Along with the above 3 bikes. I’ve had 3 K bikes and a ‘’96 1100 RS. All have the clunk. The transmission and the final drive use the same oil. For tell tale purposes, I use purple oil for the transmission and conventional oil; the motor oil-colored stuff for the final drive. If you pull back the final drive-to-swing arm boot at its large diameter you can inspect for seal leaks. If there is a leak using two colors of oil make it possible to determine which seal is leaking.

The center coils will fail (they may have failed before you purchased the bike). The originals (last two digits of the part number train on the outboard surface of the coil) will end in 03. This is the mfg date. They failed like clockwork. Went through two every 20,000 miles until BMW superseded them with a more robust coil (09 is the mfg date). Current BCR has superseded coils. I moved them to the next two ‘04 BCR’s. They now have over 140,000 miles on them and work fine. Losing one of the four sparks is almost unrecognizable. Easy to check. Let me know and I’ll give you a tutorial.

The Delrin valve cover protectors work great. I low sided about 150 feet and the protector burned only about half-way through. Being ablative, the Delrin cushioned the impact. Hard crash bars can bend the frame mounts.

As pointed out, the looms are biodegradable. I have had problems with this as it always begins where sunlight hits the rubber. These holes at the top of the harness act like down spouts and take the water to connections. As also pointed out, a good self sealing tape works quite well.

The little heat shield I believe is to protect your right hand when putting the bike on the center stand. My BCRs don’t have center stands and I cannot remember if my S had a shield.

The S should be idling at 1100 RPM. I would check the center coil operation first. If the engine dies coming off extended high power (like coasting up and interstate exit ramp) the coil should be tested first. One bad coil can be “tuned-around”; you can artificially raise the idle just enough to think it’s good.

Balancing the throttle bodies (TB) would be a good idea. There is a relatively cheap electronic manometer (carb stick) called twin max. Easy to use, but sensitive. Doesn’t take long to figure out how to slowly turn knobs to get an accurate reading. Did you say the charcoal can has been removed? I’ve done this on all three of my ‘04s. Be sure to cap the nipple on the bottom of each TB. Also check to see that caps are not leaking. They are down stream of the throttle plates and intermittent/increasing leaking can affect the idle. Try spraying (unlit) propane from the air box to intake boot on each side. If the idle increases, you have a leak.

Just above the right TB, under the bottom lip of the fairing are the fuel lines to and from the fuel pump in the tank. If your bike has quick disconnects (QDs) of white or black nylon DON’T touch them, they may break. They are destroyed by corn fuel. Straight hoses; no QDs are adequate. Metal QDs work great. An untended fuel leak will permanently yellow the right TB.

Keep the S on a trickle charger. Jumping the battery takes 20-minutes of fairing removal and tank lifting. The tank is aluminum so be careful not to ground to it with jumpers or anything else metal. It is such a pain, BMW makes jump lugs which are mounted on the aft face of the left cylinder head (-) and through a hole drilled into the starter cover to the starter wire (+). It comes with a rubber cap. Easy to install and worth every penny. Push starting a cold S is almost impossible. BMW says don’t do it.

Windscreens are like religion and politics; one size does not fit all. I worked for Vetter Fairing and standard windshield height just doesn’t exist. You have to match yourself to the airflow. There are quite a few aftermarket options. Airflow makes a good semi adjustable (you mount it) wing. But that said, I’m 5’ 8”, it works for me.

The seat is the worst detail of the S. Very uncomfortable and it wears out along where the rider’s inseam hits it. There are really good aftermarket replacement seat covers. I especially like the French and Polish-manufactured ones (I do custom upholstery and I cannot make one from scratch as cheap as these $75 to $100 ones). I make a thermarest pillow with camelback hose attached that allows inflate/deflate from the left handle bar grip. The thermarest is in a cordura envelope which straps to the seat. Very comfortable. I’ve done 700-mile days on it.

I think you mentioned the S has an aftermarket pipe. On hot days (you should have many), sitting at idle for a couple of minutes, enough heat is generated by the better breathing muffler to melt the contact buttons on the tail/brake light bulb. They don’t drip off but the vibration and heat is enough to wear them away. Maddeningly, BMWs spark chasers developed a system where that if the tail light fails a red dash light comes on. This makes you check the operation of the tail and brake light. They both work! What the electrical engineers devised was a fail safe that constantly feeds lower voltage to the brake filament to mimic the tail light brightness and then sends full voltage to the filament when the brake is applied. Just don’t idle too long. When doing static, running maintenance, use a box fan to supply cooling to the engine.

I don’t think you mentioned if your S has ABS. If it does, it has nine brake bleeders. If you want to do it yourself read up on the procedure. There is a one to nine order that must be followed. Slip up on any one step and start over. The good news is the servo assisted brakes make one-person operation possible.

Good riding, Steve

Howdy, I’m Jason. I love the F800ST, got out of my third one, couldn’t find another cheap enough. Have put over 100,000 miles on those bikes, great bikes. Went miami to Terlingua in Feb, on it. Just over 4000 miles round trip. Sucks in the crosswind, just holding on no relaxing, too light. But gas mileage was 49 the whole ride fully geared, and the belt, my favorite bike, and looks amazing too IMO. I will get another.

I was in the market and found a nice 2004 R1100S with 25,000 miles on it. Side cases with regular and city lids, has a laser slip on, really great looking bike. Looking forward to many trouble free memories on it.

I’m in Miami, drove up to Jupiter to get it. Put some gas, checked tire pressure and rode it 100 miles back at speed. Floated like a cloud. I’ve owned a 94 R1100RS, put over 50K on that. Got it at about 78K and took it over 100,000. Always loved the boxers, and especially the S. Always wanted one as soon as I saw the BCR with the belly pan and graphics, one of the best looking bikes ever.

So it looks like the bike had the carbon canister mod done already. He said it has a chip to make it run smoother, not sure what that is, I’ll have a look.
Trying to put the luggage racks on, I noticed a little heat shield on the left side as well as a bracket that I had to remove to put the rack on. Not sure what that’s about. Looked like the was barely on the pipe and came loose messing with things, kinda weird, hopefully it was just loose.

Bikes idles at 900, pretty low. I turned each screw about an 8th of a turn counter clockwise, still pretty low, don’t want to mess too much.

Windscreen sucks, not sure what to do between laminar lip or one of them screens with the lip on the top, the wind noise sucks.

Wondered about all the connections and wires everywhere underneath. I need to get a tire hugger or something. Any problems riding in weather with all that stuff exposed?

Brakes are pretty interesting, that initial hard wall almost and then it starts, the clicking in of the servo and the motor going, sheesh. And no brakes with no power, unless you press hard it seems like, but I wonder if that over pressures the system or something? Would suck to have that go.

I guess the only other thing is engine protection. I’m going to get those plastic things, but is there something with some bars? Would GS bars work on it?

Bike is super nice, always wanted one. Saw some HP2 sports for 15K, damn steal if you ask me, but for under 5, this 1100 is nice. I’m sure I’ll be on here all the time looking stuff up and asking questions from the experts here with time behind the motor.
I try to do most of what I can myself since we know how shops can be. Just got a Haynes ordered.

Nice to meet you folks.[/QUOTE]

 

[skibum69]

I put a Gustaffson original height screen on my bike as I hated the tall one that came one it. They were really good to deal with.

 

[mhines]

Wow

Some fantastic insights here, and welcome to the tribe Jason.

I bought my 01 R1100S during Covid [2020] for a GREAT price at only 17k miles and have had a blast riding it up to 30k. Only issue I had was an oil leak caused by the dried out main seal from the bike sitting so much over 15-plus years. It also leaked a bit from the final drive under really hot stop and go... but this may have been user error on my part overfilling to combat the slow leak from the toasted seal.

I just got it back from Max BMW NH and while this service/repair was uncheap [breaking the bike in half to replace the seals and service the drivetrain is apparently kind of a hassle ] I am super psyched to ride out this year and hopefully put the better part of another 10k on it after doing around 7500 in 2022 [hope I didn't just curse myself]; the post service clutch feels amazing!!! Definitely snappier and more responsive.

I must admit that I'm jealous of your Laser exhaust, as I'm the kind of ninny who lusts for more grunty sounds. Mine has the Danmoto cat delete and it stumbles a bit at 5k rpm, need to figure that out sometime but I don't mind too much and the occasional backfires are imo kinda fun. I haven't had too many issue toasting my cojones on really hot days with mostly stock setup... but, I have ridden Ducatis for many years so I very well may be immune and likely unable to procreate any further [which is OK in my case]. LMK if you want to trade for stock. [there is also a mint unused OEM BCR exhaust on Boston Craigslist for $750.. been listed forever].

Thanks for all the input Glenvine, you are the kind of member who really makes this forum special, I continue to learn so much from these random disbursements of longstanding expertise... thanks for sharing. FTR, my Sargent seat has also held up well on one day all backroads rides of 5-700mi. I've also been thinking of getting an uglier but more effective touring windscreen... any recommendations on here? Mine came with "smoked" which looks the business, but, limited airflow protection [though good for helping to keep my Arai visor up when I so choose]. Also, if it only takes you 20 mins to get at the battery I respect you a lot. I'd plan on about two hours getting it out and back in without breaking some of the bodywork or something. Tender pigtail is a nice thing to have, indeed.

One item I am missing and need is the license plate bracket assembly. Tried to order it online but the vendor never fulfilled; Max didn't have it and I/we didn't want to hold the bike for it. I suspect these are like unicorn tears and hard to find and I may just have to get something simple made up.. but.. if anyone knows where to look??? Would love to replace with OEM if at all possible. [many list the part... but who will actually send it?]

GF is in Japan; kids are with their mom; bike is well in hand and... rain forecasted all weekend.

Summer please.

 

[33180]

Some fantastic insights here, and welcome to the tribe Jason.



I must admit that I'm jealous of your Laser exhaust, as I'm the kind of ninny who lusts for more grunty sounds. Mine has the Danmoto cat delete and it stumbles a bit at 5k rpm, need to figure that out sometime but I don't mind too much and the occasional backfires are imo kinda fun. I haven't had too many issue toasting my cojones on really hot days with mostly stock setup... but, I have ridden Ducatis for many years so I very well may be immune and likely unable to procreate any further [which is OK in my case]. LMK if you want to trade for stock. [there is also a mint unused OEM BCR exhaust on Boston Craigslist for $750.. been listed forever].

.

Glenvine, I recommend getting a new chip from John Gemi to compensate for your lack of cat. It will bump your torque up a bit anyway, but your Motronics thinks you still have a cat. You also might be able to jump your coding plug differently than present. Stock I think all 3 connection points are tied together.

 

[skibum69]

I threw mine down the road a month ago. Luckily only a cylinder head and hand protector were damaged and of course the side case. All fixed now just waiting on a new front tire.

 

[mhines]

I threw mine down the road a month ago. Luckily only a cylinder head and hand protector were damaged and of course the side case. All fixed now just waiting on a new front tire.

Glad it wasn't more serious for you or the bike.

You know what they say, only two kinds of riders...

 

[mhines]

Glenvine, I recommend getting a new chip from John Gemi to compensate for your lack of cat. It will bump your torque up a bit anyway, but your Motronics thinks you still have a cat. You also might be able to jump your coding plug differently than present. Stock I think all 3 connection points are tied together.

This is great, thanks. It's riding/running well, put on another 675miler yesterday... but perhaps this is an offseason pro-ject to consider.

 

[skibum69]

Lucky day!