Sorry about my user name....

[hondated]

but having owned Hondas for the last twenty years it sort of fitted.Now to my story, about 2 months ago I decided after having had motorcycles for 40 years to call it a day.And so I brought myself a gorgeous Lotus Elise great. Great but boy am I missing my bike which was a Blackbird.Anyhow looking back it seems that one of the reasons I sold the bike was it was great in many ways but at the same time it lacked character and that is why I now want to buy a 1100s because I know that this bike may not be as fast as the BB but it will have character. Given the cost of the Lotus I will not be able to buy before next year but I wonder if anyone could yell me what I can expect to buy for next year for about £3k. Is there anything I should be looking out for with regard to wear etc. Will I get a fairly decent one for that sort of money.

I would appreciate any views that you all may have.And oh yes if anyone is thinking about giving up biking a word of warning don't. You meet all the best people on bikes. Cheers Ted

[JoeC]

From my experience over the past year and also reading the info on the Forum I have the following :

When looking for any BMW, not just an S, look out for the following :

- front fork lowers get flaky paint (they all do that - easily repainted)
- as above for the lower fork clamps
- exhaust down pipes get tarnished (lot of people take off and polish/buff up)
- exhaust downpipe nuts on the manifold get corroded, clamp nuts into catalytic converter/Y peice and snap when taking them out. Keep these regularly greased with Copperslip.
- rear indicators pop out as most people hit them when lifting leg over. These are easily unscrewed and remounted. BMW sell these in three parts and are fairly cheap to replace.
- if bike has a centre stand then the bike wheels do not really clear the ground when put on it. It can easily topple off the stand unless on very smooth ground. Use the side stand instead.
- Leaving bike on side stand for a period of time you may find that oil seaps past piston rings in left cylinder and you get a cloud of smoke when starting up. As long as smoke disappears then you are OK.
- Bike may use a lot of oil. All depends on how it has been run in and what oil is used. There's lots about oil so do a search.

[Boxered]

Hi Ted, and welcome aboard, 3K should get you a pretty decent bike right now, prices seem to have plunged to new depths recently, I have not long ago sold my beloved 02 1100s for a pittance
get em while they're cheap!

Steve

[Stevie]

Welcome Ted,
I agree with Steve. I have a 00 R110S with < 21K on it, bog standard but in good nick (all the usual provisos about fork legs). I advertised it on MCN at £2800, got a couple of sniffs but nobody even made me an offer.

There are some good bargains out there right now.

Stevie

[Paul]

Hi Ted,

My brother-in-law has an Elise. he tells me Lotus stands for "Lots Of Trouble, Usually Serious"

Good luck in your search for an R1100S. There should be plenty of good ones out there in your price range.

Cheers,

Paul

[GeordieBoy]

According to the Parkers website, my '05 SS (with 6000 miles) is only worth £3.6k as a part-ex!!! That's only £400 more than a seven year old 1150GS (but considerably more than the ST1300 to your left ).

Mark

[Cobbster]

Hi Geordieboy,
Parkers online are way way off the mark when it comes to bike prices. Try www.wisebuyers.co.uk Their much closer to reality.

Cheers cobbster.

[GeordieBoy]

Cheers mate. £5180 sounds a bit more reasonable

[darkness]

Hi Ted

It good to see that even a lotus cannot keep a good man down, the step from a Blue Blackbird to 1100s will be a bit like, chalk and cheese.


Darkness

[Cliff]

Welcome ted.... but change your user name.... cough h*nda... cough.... something in my throat... cough