Back to life 1995 gs

Need Some Help.... Should i get involved in a 1995 ,1100 gs. The motorcycle has been sitting for some time,motor turns but
the abs has to be flushed, brakes,ect. netural switch also has a problem have to find it. will need tires and a good going over
the bike ran but not now. should i get it if the price is $1500-2000 area. or am i going to have a big letdown?cost ect...

thanks

Hey! Noticed the post on the R1100GS. This is the Airheads forum...they stopped making Airheads in 1995. So, don't do anything at this point...I'll move this to the Oilhead section of the forum so that more knowledgeable people can give you some help making a decision. My general thumb in the air opinion is go for it!!

In good condition, running well, and less than 70k miles that’s a $3000-$3500 bike at best. Figure $400 for tires if you change them yourself, plus a new neutral switch, fuel system work due to varnish and other contaminants in the injectors and fuel pump, plus the possibility that after sitting that long the ABS pump is shot and/or the master cylinder and calipers corroded. I personally wouldn’t give more than $1200 for such a bike. YMMV, of course.

Best,
DeVern

The answer to the question may well depend on you and your desire / aptitude for doing much of the work yourself. At $2000 or less, this could be a great bike - red is the best color. I have a 94 R1100RS and I assume that many of the things that I had to do will be similar for you.

Brakes - flushing the brakes is something that must be done periodically. I like to do this annually. I use a mity-vac system to bleed the brakes. The master cylinder on my 94 RS began leaking and I replaced it along with new brake lines (from Spiegler) [Around $400 to $500]. Might need brake pads [maybe $75 to $100]

Hall Sensor - BMW didn't use wire insulation of a sufficiently high temperature rating. I replaced my Hall Sensor twice before getting one from Cata Dan (has correct wiring) [Around $200 assuming you only need to do this once - there is another feller {GSAddict, I think} that will rebuild a Hall Sensor; cost will be similar or a bit less]

Improved cam chain tensioner [around $75]

Head gaskets - mine began leaking and BMW has improved the design. I also took this opportunity to decarbon the pistons and head. One of the studs pulled loose from the engine block on re-assembly (I was following the BMW procedure for torquing the head bolts). I used a heli-coil repair and measured the torque as a function of angle. I now do the initial torque (around 20 N-M; check manual to be certain) and then the next torque at 90 degrees is at 40 N-m. I stop the final torque at 55 N-m which is about 45 degrees (rather than the prescribed 90 degrees; the stud pulled loose at 80 degrees on the final torque. I removed the cylinder, cleaned the mating surfaces to the block and used a 3Bond product (similar to YamaBond or HondaBond). Head bolts were re-torqued at 500 miles and valves readjusted. I removed the Large Brass Screws in the throttle bodies and used some scotchbrite to clean them. I was surprised at the amount of black material in the throttle bodies. These were cleaned with carb cleaner and rags. Just for fun I removed the fuel injectors and used carb cleaner backflow and flow cleaning; there are other threads and videos available to show this simple procedure. New o-rings all around. BMW doesn't sell o-rings for the Large Brass Screws, but I found that an R-03 o-ring fits fine.

Carbon cannister for fuel vapor - removed

On the RS replacement of the fuel filter was difficult for me the first time (like getting a 5-gallon bucket in a 3-gallon hole). Typically I replace the fuel filter at 7500 mile intervals. Some folks have relocated the fuel filter to a location external to the fuel tank to make replacement easier.

I change my engine oil and filter at 2500 mile intervals, some folks like longer intervals. All lubricants (transmission and final drive) are replaced at either 5000 mile or annual intervals.

I let the BMW dealer replace the clutch and rear engine oil seal and lube the clutch spline [around $1400]. Typically I replace tires, but I have let the dealer do this - cost a lot more, but sometimes circumstances require others to do work.

I replaced the front and rear shocks (can't recall the shock mfr at present, but there are many choices - Ted Porter has a large number of suppliers and can offer advice).

Information and procedure information is available on other threads and on the IBMWR.org website.

More Advice

Robsryder gives much good advice I would add a couple of more things, the faring parts and gas tank first off and last on, sometimes significant time may have elapsed between those 2 things so!
1: pay close attention, take notes, pictures do something to help you remember what you did when you removed the faring and gas tank so when time comes to button things up things go smoothly.