Hi everyone, my name is Ian and I am a 20 year old motorcycle enthusiast from Kentucky. My family has had a long history with BMW motorcycles, so I have been interested in them for as long as I can remember. One in particular that always stood out to me was the R1150RS. I have had a diecast model of one for at least the past 10 years, and always wanted to buy one one day. A little over a month ago I found a 1995 R1100RSL with 47k miles locally on facebook marketplace for the bargain price of $500, not running and looking to be in pretty rough shape. The description stated that the bike did not run, presumably due to not getting any fuel, and did not have working brakes. This particular RS also sat outside for a number of years. I contacted the seller to try to make plans to get it, but someone else had already committed to buying it. I upped my offer to $600 in case that fell through. Luckily, it did, and the next day the seller said he would hold it for me to get it that night. After going with a friend and my grandfather to get it, this is what I wound up owning. Not quite the pristine R1150RS I always envisioned, but close enough for me.
(Excuse the messy garage, we just moved and have not had time to organize)
I started taking the bike apart that night and was pleasantly surprised by how clean it was underneath all the bodywork.
My friend thought it was the fuel pump causing the bike not to start, and he was correct. After hooking up a jump box to the bike the fuel pump just made a short gurgling noise instead of priming. We borrowed a fuel pump from another member of the local MOA club and were able to get it running that same weekend after draining the tank and filling it up with fresh gas.
After flushing fluids, with an especially tricky stuck oil filter that took about two weeks to actually get out, and bleeding the front brake I was able to take the RS on my first slow ride around my front yard.
The RS beside my brother and I's R90/6, formerly owned by my grandfather before he decided to pass it down to us.
I kept having a pretty severe oil smoke problem, which went away after I drained the old oil that had almost turned to tar out of the airbox. Must've been overfilled at the last oil change.
After getting to "ride" it and determine that overall everything works as it should (even the ABS from what I can tell from 10mph stops!), I started polishing paint and overall just detailing every part I could.
I started with the gas tank, which shined up nicely after wetsanding with 5000-grit sandpaper to remove the oxidation and then machine polishing. I ceramic coated every painted and plastic surface with Gtechniq CSL.
The paint isn't as nice as I would like, but compared to how it used to look I am happy.
I moved on to the side fairings and headlight fairing next. This bike had been down on the throttle side at some point so the corner beside the turn signals was pretty rough. I touched that up as good as I could using Hellrot touch up paint from my dads old 1995 M3. That color matches surprisingly well once it dries. The existing paint I made as nice as I could by wetsanding with 5000 grit as well. I followed the same method for the windshield which is really similar to headlight restoration on older cars with plastic headlight lenses.
The turn signal/headlight controls I was able to revive by wetsanding and polishing as well to remove the oxidation and bring the color back to them. They were very faded. The plastic lenses for the gauges I polished and ceramic coated and look mostly new. I scrubbed the seats to get the mold off of them and they look good enough. I might replace the rear seat since it is torn and they are cheap on ebay.
Here is what the keys look like after cleaning, the bottom is clean and the top was how they both looked before.
These next pics are how it sits as of today. I still have a few pieces to finish detailing, but cosmetically it is starting to be getting there. I ordered a new front wheel to replace the current one as it is bent, and a new rear master cylinder to get the rear brakes working. A new headlight is also on order.
I will post more updates once I get more done, hopefully only a couple of weeks away from being able to take it on my first street ride.
(Excuse the messy garage, we just moved and have not had time to organize)
I started taking the bike apart that night and was pleasantly surprised by how clean it was underneath all the bodywork.
My friend thought it was the fuel pump causing the bike not to start, and he was correct. After hooking up a jump box to the bike the fuel pump just made a short gurgling noise instead of priming. We borrowed a fuel pump from another member of the local MOA club and were able to get it running that same weekend after draining the tank and filling it up with fresh gas.
After flushing fluids, with an especially tricky stuck oil filter that took about two weeks to actually get out, and bleeding the front brake I was able to take the RS on my first slow ride around my front yard.
The RS beside my brother and I's R90/6, formerly owned by my grandfather before he decided to pass it down to us.
I kept having a pretty severe oil smoke problem, which went away after I drained the old oil that had almost turned to tar out of the airbox. Must've been overfilled at the last oil change.
After getting to "ride" it and determine that overall everything works as it should (even the ABS from what I can tell from 10mph stops!), I started polishing paint and overall just detailing every part I could.
I started with the gas tank, which shined up nicely after wetsanding with 5000-grit sandpaper to remove the oxidation and then machine polishing. I ceramic coated every painted and plastic surface with Gtechniq CSL.
The paint isn't as nice as I would like, but compared to how it used to look I am happy.
I moved on to the side fairings and headlight fairing next. This bike had been down on the throttle side at some point so the corner beside the turn signals was pretty rough. I touched that up as good as I could using Hellrot touch up paint from my dads old 1995 M3. That color matches surprisingly well once it dries. The existing paint I made as nice as I could by wetsanding with 5000 grit as well. I followed the same method for the windshield which is really similar to headlight restoration on older cars with plastic headlight lenses.
The turn signal/headlight controls I was able to revive by wetsanding and polishing as well to remove the oxidation and bring the color back to them. They were very faded. The plastic lenses for the gauges I polished and ceramic coated and look mostly new. I scrubbed the seats to get the mold off of them and they look good enough. I might replace the rear seat since it is torn and they are cheap on ebay.
Here is what the keys look like after cleaning, the bottom is clean and the top was how they both looked before.
These next pics are how it sits as of today. I still have a few pieces to finish detailing, but cosmetically it is starting to be getting there. I ordered a new front wheel to replace the current one as it is bent, and a new rear master cylinder to get the rear brakes working. A new headlight is also on order.
I will post more updates once I get more done, hopefully only a couple of weeks away from being able to take it on my first street ride.
Nice to see you bring the bike back to life!
