Idling rough and random surging/jerking/sputtering while riding

2001 R1100R, 5000 miles - Stored by PO in garage for 12 yrs with gas in the tank. Just put about 50 miles on this bike after replacing the fuel delivery system, new spark plugs and cleaning the injectors. Also relined the tank with RedKoat. It’s my first BMW. Noticing it idles slightly high and while riding I am feeling random jerking/surging. Barely noticeable at times. I have yet to sync the throttle bodies and don’t know if this is the cause of the surging. Could it be something in addition to throttle body syncing.

Also I forgot to mention. The fuel distributor and regulator were replaced.

Make sure the Big Brass Screws and passages in the throttle body are clean and then sync them and see what the results are.

Simple check: make sure the throttle cable is firmly seated in the RH throttle-body.

Seems to me to be a peculiar oddity of a problem with that model.

A very careful valve clearance check/adjustment. Then a very careful throttle sync. Run a tank of Techron fuel system cleaner through the tank. Report back.

Thanks guys. I’ll try to knock out the recommendations this weekend and let y’all know the results. Have a happy new year.

All is good. Completed the throttle body sync with a Carb Pro 2. Seems to be riding better. Thanks for all the help.

Do some searching on the surge issue on the R1100 series. It was a fairly common thing and tended to happen in the 3500-4000 rpm range at moderate speeds around 35- 40 mph on a light throttle. There were some aftermarket items out there, that seemed to work with some folks. Most of the time you just learned to run it either at a little higher or slower rpm than the range where it would surge.

A couple of quirks on this bike. The throttle shafts will wear on these bikes, especially the right one and if you hear an odd clacking noise ( you might think it is valves but it isn't ), put your finger on the throttle cable, just above the throttle wheel on the right side. With very slight pressure you can make the noise go away. It will get worse as the shafts wear and can eventually cause poor running as air can leak around the shaft. The other one is that the cam chain tensioner on the left side was update, as the original one at shut down would allow the oil to drain and when you started the bike it would rattle the timing chain until the tensioner filled up with oil. Its easy to check if you have the original or the updated part, just by checking the cam chain tensioner bolt on the left side of the engine. If it still has the 17 mm bolt, it is the old one, the new one is 15 mm. Please check on these numbers as my memory could be wrong. It is an easy job to replace. Just do some searching on these two topics and you'll find lots of info.

Keep in mind that these where the first bikes with 02 sensors and the engine management computers of that day had limited capabilities. Great bikes for their time, I had both a 2000 R1100R and R1100S.