Mikeserv Support Forum

So while I do look in occasionally I don't say much. Been busy with stuff and things, daughter, son in law, and granddaughter live with us now.

Aaaaaaanyway ... I accidentally bought another murder-sickle and then deliberately bought one.
Got my whole arse scammed off on the first one, an old BMW. Made the mistake of trusting the seller based on club reputation. Huge mistake that cost me a lot of cash, time, and anxiety to get it to the state it's currently in. SOB even caught fire on my due to the incompetent work he'd done and idjit me put the fire out before it did enough damage to make it worth claiming the insurance.
This is "Ikea". Partly from a miss-reading of the engine number ( "114EA" looks like "Ikea" when you don't have your glasses on) and partly because it's been a case of "here's an Allen key, build your own damn bike!"
A 1993 K1100RS. Ratty, tatty, a mix of '93 chassis and '95 drive train, and still brutally powerful in the mid 1990s style. She's on historic registration (much cheaper just limited use) and I'll probably have it until the end of civilisation.

The other bike is much newer, but not without her issues. Despite very low mileage that's been stupid and malicious things done to this bike, things like deliberately plugged vent hoses in obscure places that only someone that thinks sideways like me would think to look. I've been fixing things as I find them and I think she's just about on point now.
Meet "Ghost"
A 2001 R1100S, boxer engine, not a brick like the K. Not as powerful as the big K but much lighter and more nimble giving similar or better acceleration with much more refined EFI system.
I've been working on this one for a show this coming Sunday, if it doesn't piss down rain.

Congrats! Both look great for their ages.

The R is in very good condition despite a few niggles. The K ... well like I said, it did catch fire while I was riding it. There's things wrong all over the place, from broken mountings to missing screws. I've spent 3/4 of what I paid for it on top just replacing broken or incorrect parts used by the dickhead previous owner. The torque it produces though is brutal. I passed a car on the way to meet some people and hit 180kph far quicker than I thought it would. It's heavy for a sports bike though, which makes it more tiring to ride distances. The R is a good lump lighter and better balanced.

Dark Angel wrote: Tue Jun 03, 2025 7:09 amIt's heavy for a sports bike though, which makes it more tiring to ride distances...

Yeah, it's harder to pedal

I'm not a bike guy, but I would have thought the opposite, that a heavier bike would be more stable and would be less tiring to ride. However now that I think about the physics of it, turning would be more tiring because you have to lean more, and it's probably more effort to turn the handle bars.

You don't actually turn the bars at speed, you do a thing called "counter steering" where you push the right bar to go right and v/v. You'd think it would be the opposite, that pushing the right bar forward would turn you to the left, but it's not.
I'm not actually sure why the heavier bike is so much more tiring to ride, they're both sports bikes. The smaller R is lighter and much more nimble though, while the big K is more stable but you still have to use your body weight to pull it into sharp turns. That stability is a disadvantage if you have to change direction quickly as it works against you. Changing direction does require you to fight against two gyroscopes. The K is more intended for going fast on the autobahn while the R is more for flicking through tight stuff. Given I have to make quick moves quite often to avoid pot holes that could swallow a president's ego that's probably part of it. Almost ten years of development also separates the two.