1987 K75s with 95k miles -Good Deal?

[tlescht@glgroup.com]

Hi - I am new to flying bricks but think they are awesome! and wanted to get some opinions on a bike im interested in. 1987 k 75s with 95k miles. Offered at 3500. Bike is in excellent condition and previous owners have taken good care of it. Should i be worried by the high mileage? I know these bikes can go for ever! What would be a good price for the bike?

I live in Texas.

Thanks in advance!

[jrmull]

I would look into the service records deeply before jumping. It costs a lot to get service the bike so your price should be flexible to compensate for anticipated repairs. You can take the VIN to the area's BMW dealer for any repair records to help out missing records. I hear tell the K75 are great bikes even with high mileage. Who owned the bike and what service done is a key to happiness.

My 2003 K1200GT is a great bike but it took another $2500 from purchase price to get it "recently serviced" status.

[chunk]

Hi - I am new to flying bricks but think they are awesome! and wanted to get some opinions on a bike im interested in. 1987 k 75s with 95k miles. Offered at 3500. Bike is in excellent condition and previous owners have taken good care of it. Should i be worried by the high mileage? I know these bikes can go for ever! What would be a good price for the bike?

I live in Texas.

Thanks in advance!

I'm in California but, that's not too much of a deal, at least from what I see here on my local CL. That sounds more like a $1,500.00 bike, at least around my parts. I think I'd keep looking or offer a lot less $, but as always YMMV. Good luck on the search. I gave $3,000.00 for this 1993, for reference. K75's seem to be under valued IMO.
K75_090.jpgK-75_002.jpg

[tlescht@glgroup.com]

Amazing thanks!

[darrell]

I sent you a private message with my contact information and some information on a 1993 K75S with 64,000 miles that is going up for sale by a friend of mine.

[detbmw]

I'm in Texas also, and I'm selling a K75S.

http://marketplace.bmwmoa.org/classi...ing-16145.aspx

[JeffDiCarlo]

While the bricks are known for their longevity, it's really the main components, engine, gearbox, etc., that wear well. Other stuff like brake mater cylinders, water/oil pumps, radiators, cooling fans, rear main seals and all the rubber bits have much shorter lives. And I know that prices go up in the spring, but that's a stiff price for a 22 year old bike with high miles that is in plentiful supply.
I'd keep shopping.

[98lee]

Jeff,

You need to check your math.

U.S. spec K75S production started in May 1986 as 1987 models. These bikes will be 33 years old next month!

As far as how available these are; they only imported 4600 of them over their 10 years of production.
With insurance companies propensity to total these bikes for the slightest damage, dealers hesitancy to work on older bikes, some owners tendency to part out a poorly maintained or damaged bike and my observations over the past 15 years of all the Ss being parted out on ebay, I would be confident to estimate that there are probably only about 2500 left. Of those, the majority of them are not for sale because their owners love them.

The few for sale vary greatly in mechanical and cosmetic condition. Last November I compiled a list of all the K75Ss for sale in the US on Craigslist, Cycle Trader, Ebay, MOA Marketplace, and IBMWR. I had to do this to convince a customers insurance company to not total his bike and to bump up the amount that they would pay to fix it.

I found only 21 for sale in the entire country. Of those, one had a blown engine, 4 didn't run or had major mechanical issues, 2 had major crash damage, and 4 were seriously cosmetically challenged. Of the 10 that LOOKED good, 1 was asking $7500 for a claimed sub 8000 mile bike, 2 were asking $5000 for claimed low mileage bikes (odometer readings on early K bikes do not always reflect actual mileage due to common failure of the instrument clusters that were replaced with new zero miles clusters). The other 7 ranged from $2200 to $3600 asking price. There was no way to tell spline condition or valve condition.

Where you live will determine how many are for sale within a few hundred miles. Most will be on the east or west coasts. Very few in between.

More so than mileage, the most important thing that determines value (as opposed to asking or sale price) is condition. Specifically(and most important) is the condition of the splines (driveshaft/final drive and clutch/trans input shaft), the condition of the valves (how far have they receeded into the head and how much adjustment is left before you have to have the head rebuilt), and the cosmetic condition (paint is expensive).

A beautiful well running old bike can be hiding bad splines or valves that are on the thinnest shim available.
Or it could have been well maintained and be in great shape with well over 150,000 miles.

[PGlaves]

Jeff,

You need to check your math.

U.S. spec K75S production started in May 1986 as 1987 models. These bikes will be 33 years old next month!

As far as how available these are; they only imported 4600 of them over their 10 years of production.
With insurance companies propensity to total these bikes for the slightest damage, dealers hesitancy to work on older bikes, some owners tendency to part out a poorly maintained or damaged bike and my observations over the past 15 years of all the Ss being parted out on ebay, I would be confident to estimate that there are probably only about 2500 left. Of those, the majority of them are not for sale because their owners love them.

The few for sale vary greatly in mechanical and cosmetic condition. Last November I compiled a list of all the K75Ss for sale in the US on Craigslist, Cycle Trader, Ebay, MOA Marketplace, and IBMWR. I had to do this to convince a customers insurance company to not total his bike and to bump up the amount that they would pay to fix it.

I found only 21 for sale in the entire country. Of those, one had a blown engine, 4 didn't run or had major mechanical issues, 2 had major crash damage, and 4 were seriously cosmetically challenged. Of the 10 that LOOKED good, 1 was asking $7500 for a claimed sub 8000 mile bike, 2 were asking $5000 for claimed low mileage bikes (odometer readings on early K bikes do not always reflect actual mileage do to common failure of the instrument clusters that were replaced with new zero miles clusters). The other 7 ranged from $2200 to $3600 asking price. There was no way to tell spline condition or valve condition.

Where you live will determine how many are for sale within a few hundred miles. Most will be on the east or west coasts. Very few in between.

More so than mileage, the most important thing that determines value (as opposed to asking or sale price) is condition. Specifically(and most important) is the condition of the splines (driveshaft/final drive and clutch/trans input shaft), the condition of the valves (how far have they receeded into the head and how much adjustment is left before you have to have the head rebuilt), and the cosmetic condition (paint is expensive).

A beautiful well running old bike can be hiding bad splines or valves that are on the thinnest shim avalable.
Or it could have been well maintained and be in great shape with well over 150,000 miles.

What he said. Nobody in the United States knows more about K75S bikes than Lee does. Nobody!

[98lee]

What he said. Nobody in the United States knows more about K75S bikes than Lee does. Nobody!

Boy, have I got you fooled!

[JeffDiCarlo]

I must live in a K75-rich zone. I see them frequently.
And yup, you got me on the math. It was late.
As for availability: it's early here in the Northeast. Not really riding season yet. Chance of snow in tonight's weather and roads still have a fair amount of sand and salt on them, so gauging the bike's rareness based on current For Sales is probably not fair. Given that, there are four currently listed in New York's Craigslist ($1700-3800) and a few more sprinkled around Philly-Baltimore. There are nine of them listed at the MOA marketplace, out of a total of 20 Klassic Ks. Cycle Trader has 14 of them. Obviously some of those may well be duplicates.
That said, by BMW standards, I'll still call that "not rare."

[jrmull]

Craigslist in Chicago has one for $2750 38k miles.

https://chicago.craigslist.org/chc/m...849693912.html

I haven't seen it in person, though

[98lee]

JR,

That one is an RT. A slightly different animal than an S.

The fairing on an RT is huge compared to the fairing on the S. It was designed for rider protection from the elements (wind, rain, and cold). It does that really well, which can be a good thing or a bad thing, depending on your needs. Commuting in poor or chilly weather is its strong suit. At freeway speeds you are in a cocoon of dead air. But that cocoon of dead air is also there on hot days, which can make it uncomfortable with the heat of the engine coming up on your legs and lap.

The fairing on the S was designed more with aerodynamics in mind. The S is faster, with exactly the same drivetrain, than eithe the RT or a naked K75. The S is much nicer in hot weather than the RT. Not so much in really cold or crumby stuff. The windscreen takes the load off your chest that you would get on a naked bike at speed. It has also been referred to a "wind noise generator" for its ability to direct a stream of high speed air right to the base of your helmet. You definitely want to wear earplugs with an S!

The riding position is way more upright on an RT as the handlebars are about 5-6" taller than an S. The S is more flickable in the twisties as it is lighter on the nose.

The RT is a tourer. The S is a sport tourer.

Only you can decide which bike is best for you depending on how you intend to use it and in what weather.

[Paul_F]

Hi - I am new to flying bricks but think they are awesome! and wanted to get some opinions on a bike im interested in. 1987 k 75s with 95k miles. Offered at 3500. Bike is in excellent condition and previous owners have taken good care of it. Should i be worried by the high mileage? I know these bikes can go for ever! What would be a good price for the bike?

I live in Texas.

Thanks in advance!

That's about what I paid for my '87 K100RT back in 2004, with similar mileage.

I'd keep looking.

[georgej]

Lee,
How good is the ABS on these K75's that are so equipped? I've been looking and see some have it some don't. Seems like the last models years have it. Is it something to have or shy away from on these?