Questions From a Non K-bike Owner

K 75 Value

froggy said:

Its threads like this that jack up the street price on these Ks.Alright everyone,its time to start a "how much I hate the Ks"thread.Soon their value will tumble

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Ok, I will give it a try.

I hate my K75S so much that I went out and bought 2 other bikes so that I would not have to ride it as much.

I hate my K75S so much that I have kept it for 14 years and do not plan to sell it just so no one else can own it and suffer what I have been through with it.

I hate my K75S so much that I still add various farkles like expensive auxillary lighting because the stock lighting is not very good.

I hate my K75S so much that I am riding it today, Dec. 29th.

There, how's that!

I sat down fully intending to jokingly bash the K75's, but even in jest, I just can't bring myself to say anything negative about a bike that provided me with so much fun. I mean, even when the engine crapped out just three weeks, and only 3000 miles, after I'd bought it, it still got me home. But after BMW gave me a new shortblock to have installed in my 8yo bike, it was constantly getting me in trouble with either my wife or the law. Like the time I woke her up and suggested a short ride which ended up being 250 miles. She was madder than a wet hen because I didn't give her time to put on her makeup before we left on our "short" ride. Who could love a bike after it made you do that? Worst still, we were riding to my mother-in-laws when a couple of R1100's passed us. I twisted the throttle to match their speed. We had an extra forty-five minutes to spend with my MIL thanks to the time we made running with those guys. A slower bike wouldn't done that to me. But it was the trouble with the law, that should most cause me to speak ill of the K75. That bike was always getting me in trouble. There was the time a patrolman stopped us in AL because some logging truck driver, we'd passed rather rapidly, radioed ahead about this white motorcycle with two people in "red riding suits" breaking the sound barrier out in the county. The patrolman, who was part of a large number of patrolmen awaiting our arrival at the city limits after we'd slowed down, was really nice. He checked the bike, made sure we were sober, then let us go. Down in MS, it didn't go as well. Yep, K75's are trouble alright, but I still can't say anything bad about them.

Tom

The trouble with mine is I can't find enough wrong with it justify buying something newer.

They follow me home. Almost (but not quite) as badly as they follow Paul Glaves home.

I need to sell my 85 k100rt only 42000 miles on it .
I need to put more money in a project k1200lt i just got
runs great almost done just some trim and mirrors to buy.
I just keep putting off listing it in the flea market.
Ernie

35634 said:

The trouble with mine is I can't find enough wrong with it justify buying something newer.

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But if you wait, you may never buy another bike. Do you really want to do that? You need to buy a newer bike as an additional toy. Then you won't have the regret that you sold your K75.

35634 said:

Mine does most everything well, has enough idiosyncrasies to give it a personality, elicits positive comments from non-bikers and most bikers, smooth & dependable, good parts availability and cost, no canbus, easy to work on. Ridden newer that are certainly nicer but not 10- 15K nicer, and I couldn't work on 'em. Owned airheads before and never looked back.

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I am curious what is a "canbus" and why the importance of not having it on a K-bike. I believe I have heard this term before when I owned a 2008 R1200RT.

Can anyone provide guidance on "canbus".

Canbus is a combined wiring system that allows various systems to share their wiring loads. Helps to shed significant weight from the bike, due to not having redundant wires leading to (nearly) identical places.
people don't like it because it is different, and it makes adding aftermarket electrics a bit more challenging. all the newer BMW bikes (including that R12RT you had) are running Canbus, and have been for several years.

bikerfish1100 said:

Canbus is a combined wiring system that allows various systems to share their wiring loads. Helps to shed significant weight from the bike, due to not having redundant wires leading to (nearly) identical places.
people don't like it because it is different, and it makes adding aftermarket electrics a bit more challenging. all the newer BMW bikes (including that R12RT you had) are running Canbus, and have been for several years.

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They have been using Canbus on cars for 27 years.

I'm a died in the wool K kind. Love the bricKs and even the new wedge, though, I always thought it should have come with an M designation as it is definitely not a bricK. BricKs are relatively easy to work on, relatively bulletproof, and the styling has always been attractive to me.

bikerfish1100 said:

Canbus is a combined wiring system that allows various systems to share their wiring loads. Helps to shed significant weight from the bike, due to not having redundant wires leading to (nearly) identical places.
people don't like it because it is different, and it makes adding aftermarket electrics a bit more challenging. all the newer BMW bikes (including that R12RT you had) are running Canbus, and have been for several years.

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+1

Probably more than the original questionaire ever wanted to know: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/CAN_bus

IMHO, people don't like it because you can't troubleshoot with "simple" tools and because they incorrectly associate it with some questionable implementation choices which are BMWs alone (e.g. the 5A limit on the accessory port). There are a lot of potential benefits if implemented well.

It suited me fine

I had a 16 v K100 for several years and it suited me very well. I did not ride super-fast, so Hayabussa-style extreme performance was not a criteria.

I was very reliable, was smooth, and it has plenty of power. It was comfortable and quiet. It also had excellent brakes, the only performance dimension that I ever used 10/10ths.

It was more Honda Civic than '57 Chevy. You could get on and ride it every day and anywhere as much as you wanted and it would give you little or no trouble.

Styling is a matter of personal taste. My K-bike did not attract a lot of attention to itself, which suited me fine. Others might want to make more of a statement.

I don't know if others view the bike differently. I guess I never asked anyone if they were happy with my choice.

Marketing Strategy

I own a 93 K75S but started off on BMW R-model motorcycles at first.

In my opinion, I think that the model designation letter "K" was somewhat of a "slight" oversight by BMW. Have a look at the BMW logo, the spinning prop, a vestige of a once proud aeronautical engine builder. The logo still fits and still symbolizes craftsmanship and reliability.

However, labelling a motorcycle model by the letter "K" might have had more negative consequences than anticipated, especially for the North American market. In Canada, "K" is synonymous with K-Mart, K-car, or K-Tel, all representative of manufactured low-end quality, cheapness, frugality and junk! K-Mart closed all its stores in Canada years ago; the auto K-car was not a popular family automobile and K-Tel was, wells As-seen-on-TV, a joke.

I think, believe it or not, that the nameplate "K" has had a perverse effect on the sales and promotion of the infamous K-bike and all in the name of poor marketing.