Sunday, 27 October 2013

The Last of the K1100LT

I said this last time – but I REALLY must update my blog more often.

The K1100LT is no more – or at least much of it has found a new home and the rest is on eBay looking for a new home.

The reason? A combination of circumstances - most of them unfortunate.

I had offered the bike for sale through a selection of online communities and nearly had a buyer. I lost him when the speedo packed up between him agreeing to buy it and collection. If you know your ‘K’s, you’ll be aware that speedo failure is common and easily rectifiable IF you can remove the speedo. The problem with the LT is that the big fairing makes that something of a chore. I guess a previous owner had faced the issue in the past as two of the bolts were comprehensively chewed and even with screen and headlight removed the speedo was staying put.

I carried on riding the bike with the remaining MOT reducing on a daily basis until it became necessary to book it in – for the MOT and to replace the front fork oil seals which were the only clear failure point as the speedo is not (currently) tested at MOT

The week before the test, the final straw occurred. I tried to ride the bike with a substantial Oxford U-lock fitted to the back wheel – the result, apart from falling off L was damage to the rear disc, dist carrier and brake pipes.

I now had an unrideable bike, (within a week) no MOT and a commute into Central London.

Given that the value of the bike was now substantially reduced, I decided that the only sensible thing to do would be to buy a cheap commuter bike and break the K

The result was the Kawasaki KLE500 that features in future posts – and the remains of a K1100LT that has funded it (with change).

If you need any K1100LT bits get in touch – and read on to hear about my experiences with my first Japanese bike in over 30 years !


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