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Jean wrote:. . . (Wanna talk about the hydraulic disk on the rear or did we talk about THAT too much already?)

Aw heck Jean, I'm always game to bad mouth the rear hydraulic disk. I just have to be careful and not cross over into a rant.

I don't think frothing at the mouth becomes me.

Ken

Ken in Oklahoma wrote: I don't think frothing at the mouth becomes me.

Ken

I think it would be nice - just for the variety.

"...frothing...."
Just not in a full-face helmet.
Sorta like puking in your space suit.

Hi,

Thanks again so much for your help folks. I appreciate all the feedback and bringing up things I would not be aware of.

I got a couple pix of the log book and they look like this:




As I understand things this is good?
This bike has 120,000 miles. It looks like it got up to almost 80K in the first two years!
I see references to transmission (at 78K), clutch, cylinder "head"? [can't read that too well], swingarm & final drive, reseal top end, replace main seal, etc., etc.
The bike again:

If I understood you all correctly some or all of this should be what I want to see on a bike of this mileage and it makes the mileage more acceptable? This seems like a high mileage bike but it's actually been looked after and maintained, unlike some of the others I've shown you. I hope and pray that there are no major time bombs waiting to go off any minute here. Of course there will be basic maintenance, I just don't want to buy a few thousand dollars in necessary repairs before I've even had it a month.

The price is very good (lower than most bikes I've been looking at), which means that even if I pay a pro to give it a good basic service, it will still be within budget. I plan on doing a compression test when looking over the bike. If everything seems within reasonable parameters, I think this is the one, if none of you see anything that means imminent doom.

Thanks you again for all your help.

That service log is very nice.
Too bad it doesn't show fluid changes.

I'd buy it.

Looking closer at the dates and services, I'm wondering.
A new final drive, driveshaft and swingarm after only 3 years? Is there a weakness here I've forgotten about?

Yeah - I saw the timeserts earlier, but I just hoped that the engine was stronger for them. Provided they were done correctly, of course. But it's a daily rider (right?), so I guess there are no lubrication issues or they would have shown up by now.

Thanks for your reply.

One thing that puzzled me was the amount of small repairs and seemingly unusual repairs that took place early on.
Tank badges?
Carb tops??
etc.
How do those things break short of a crash?
Is it normal for rotors to wear out that much? I think there are three mentions of this.

AND
Now that those things are fixed is it not something to worry about (won't need it again)?

Thanks.

The weird things caught my eye too.

Replace rh carb top......replace rh carb a week later...
Timeserts...meaning someone, or an accident pulled the lh top studs in the engine case?
A new engine stud?
Three alternator rotors, unless brake rotors are being referred to as well.
Two input shaft seals.
Replace petcock?
Some of the entries don't make much sense.

Who knows.

120K miles is a lot of miles.

I think I like this one the best.

Steve in Golden wrote:120K miles is a lot of miles.

I think I like this one the best.

Except for the black mufflers it looks nicely unmolested.

And it has pinstripes.

Ken

I had a '95 R100R. Great bike.

Not a heluva lot I can add here at this point, but I can comment on a couple of things. The thing with the driveshaft joints is indeed pretty much a GS problem as the shaft in the R doesn't operate at much angle at all. Don't worry about it.

The electronic ignition is no cause for worry either. Mine did need a new 'bean-can' (ignition timing housing, with advance mechanism & Hall effect sensor) which was a very expensive part, due to wear on the timing shaft- but that's a REALLY unusual problem.

Some other things to consider:

How do you plan to use the bike? The R has the same low-geared rear end as the GS, so it's really fun and exciting around town but a bit of a gas-hog for high-speed touring.

How tall are you/what's your inseam? I'm 6'4" with 34" inseam and I found that the bike was really too small for my comfort, although it took me a couple of years to really figure this out. Not enough legroom to get my knees low enough for my lumbar to be happy, and unlike the older airheads, the R's pegs are not adjustable.

The speedo-cable is really easy to replace if need be.