K75 - K100 for first bike?

[mic]

Hi

No rush to buy but theres a guy near me selling a couple of older BMWs. I thought a 750 or 1000 could be heavy on the insurance but its actually a bit cheaper than a cbr600 f.

Would they be ok for a first or too big??

cheers
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zzr600

[garth]

What do you want from a bike and what is your budget?

A flying brick wouldn't be my first choice.

[Zen Dog]

Nothing is too big if you're confident. If you're not, anything can be.

Don't know much about the K-series bikes, so can't help there though.

Zen Dog
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Current - '94 VFR750FR (Dead), '00 VFR800FI, '11 600 Hornet - Previous - '11 CBF125, '10 Street Triple R, '92 MZ ETZ301, '05 TTR250, NSR125R, KMX125, "Honda" Win
My bike trip around S.E. Asia 2010/2011

[Oldie]

I had a K100 until recently and loved everything about it, apart from the low bars. I didn't find it too big or heavy - just right - and it rode sweetly. Great value for money too.

[Teflon-Mike]

The K's are not particularly powerful bikes, the 1000 was designed to be bang on the TUV 100DIN bhp limit, K75 75Din, so both are not partucularly powerful, compared to modern 600's.

What they do have though, is a tractible, flexible power delivery, with a LOT of that power available low down, and they are fairly refined machines.

Do advocate that a 'lack' of refinement can be good in a newbie bike; rough edges and sawness offering riding 'sensation' and feed-back, learning to ride by the seat of your pants a bit.... something that a comfy tourer or highly composed sportster wont do as well as a lightweight that has to be thrashed to get any where or middle weight commuter that still has to be worked reletively hard.

But Beemers are a reletively tame place for a newbie to be.

Worry in your query was the word 'OLD'. Old when applied to the air-head bozers, translates as 'low tech', simple, and easy to work on; and not prohibitively hard to keep on teh road for sensible money.

The K-series is now what, thirty years old? Was it 82-83 they were launched? And they were a leap out of the iron age straight into the space age, technology wise, with water cooling, multi-valve heads and fuel injection.

Over engineered at conception, by engineers concerned to preserve the BMW reputation for dependability, with such advanced design, that have proved to be pretty durable and high-mile capable machines. BUT..... where you can pull an old air-head boxer out of a barn after thirty years, clean the carbs slosh in some fresh petrol and chances are the thing will start and ride.... the K-Series have shown themselves modern 'sealed for life' machines, that when they stop getting used, are probably 'dead', beyond ecconomic repair. Tendancy is they get ridden into the bargain basement, used as plush commuters, the owner apreciating relatively low running costs, until something, probably the clutch going, means major repairs; and that in-line drive layout and car style clutch means that its an engine out job to replace teh clutch plate.... parts aren't exhorbitant, I'm told, but if you are not a hands on mechaniky person, its daunting, and often beyond DIY capability. Sending it to a mechanic, expensive, becouse its a finickity time consuming job. So bike either ends up in bits like a chinese puzzle toy, with DIY owner out of thier depth, or it gets left stood, with "Well, its a good bike, but its going to cost £300 to fix the clutch, and its only worth £500'.... Then soon as they are 'stood' any length of time, the injectors gum up, and that means they need reconditioning by a pro, which is another 'expensive' hassle.

I have been offered, and I have to admit very tempted by a few old bricks over the years; I was offered a K75 for 'take it away' few years back... and not so put off by the mechanical practicalities, I keep kicking myself into sensible mode, reminding myself that they will always 'just' be a cheap hack bike, and if I want an old Beemer (which I still rather do!) then an air-head boxer is the thing to have..... a brick, no matter how cheap or how good, will always be an old brick, and prices rarely top a grand, but can easily outstrip that a couple of times over if you have problems.... air-heads, probably cost double in the bargain basement for something a bit scraggly, BUT, command pretty sensible money in decent nick, and come with far less risk that any repairs will be difficult or so expensive, and if they need doing will be worth doing; so as a project or a rider, are still the ones that make most ecconimic sense; the bricks, like so many more modern machines merely potential money pits.

THAT is my warning about them, more than whether they would be a more or less sensible first big-bike, the answer to which is, that they probably aren't THAT bad a choice.
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My Webby'Tef's-tQ, loads of stuff about my bikes, my Land-Rovers, and the stuff I do with them!
Current Bikes:'Honda VF1000F' ;'CB750F2N' ;'CB125TD ( 6 3 of em!)'; 'Montesa Cota 248'. Learner FAQ's:= 'U want to Ride a Motorbike! Where Do U start?'

[mic]

for me, it would be the easy option as the guy who has them lives down the road and isnt in a rush to sell

ill never own a new bike.... all i need is a commuter for work and pottering around town. to be fair, the mz does a good job of that but naturally id not be looking to ride it after getting rid of the L plates!

i dont wanna buy something small and build up, id just wanna find something i wont get bored of after 6 months. ive toyed with thoughts of the sensible first time old cbr600 (or similar) but then i thought why not go for an old cbr1000.... then i turn my thoughts to other big bikes like pan european (mate at works fault, he lives near me and has a huge bmw tourer 1200 thing and still does the 3 miles to work on it) and the K bmw have the optional side panniers etc. cbr might look a bit gay with a top box.

so yea, i dunno. i love rear end of a honda VTR 1000... huge tyre between twin exhausts. i love the phsyical size of a cbr600. i think my mates bmw is way too big for a bike but can see why its appealing. id like to get something with a topbox that has a padded bit in hope one day i could convince the wife to go pillion. decisions decisions
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zzr600

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