I put 40,000 miles on a R1100S I bought as salvage. I wouldn't worry about it. You bought it. Ride it and enjoy it.

it might have just had the frame replaced which would require re assigning the vin.
the vin is stamped on the frame edge. does texas have the motor serial number?

Welcome, Bills right, I bet more than a few could put claim to riding a crashed bike here. I wouldn't worry too much about the title as long as the bike turns out solid, some insurance companies are quick to total out a bike for really minor damage.

just wait until ralf chimes in.

he buys stuff and puts it in the garage a shovelful at a time.

a couple of months later, a bike rolls out.
don't jump off the roof yet.
the curb maybe, but not the roof. not yet.

yea as others have eluded to the rear frame mounts break, even under normal use.
if it had insurance the insurance would have paid for a new frame.
the center stand mounts are also suspect, I would lube the pivots for the center stand.
check both swing arm pivots, they are always warn if not checked every 10k or so.
also check the torque on the frame mounting bolts as you don't know who did the work.
then do a complete tune up. and ride the ****e out of it. oh yea tires you will use more tires
than you used to.

What about Roger in Austin?

Well I slept on this issue and pondered on it mightily at work today. I'm very angry with myself for loosing focus. I should have gone into this looking for a reason not to buy. That way, after performing a thorough inspection and finding no reasons, I would have bought it satisfied with the situation. Instead, I lost sight of the ball and got a little dazzled by how cool the bike looked. I'm pissed for allowing myself to get taken. It's not the money as much as it is the principal. Caveat emptor.

I went into this looking for a project. My last motorized project took me 19 months to complete. It was also a BMW, a car though. I like takin' stuff apart and puttin' it back together. Judging by the prices I've seen on that Max BMW site, this bike could get more expensive than that old car did. $1200 for the ignition control? Damn.

The Remus exhaust is cleanly broken at the pipe from the left cylinder. It's not the BMW pipe, it's the pipe at the bottom with the O2 sensor in it. Broke at the flange. We have an amazing fabricator/welder at work. He can weld ANYTHING. Ti, inconel, margarine, you name it. I'm going to have him come over and see what he can do. Worst case scenario, I get on eBay and buy someone's OEM system.

The quickest way to tell if it's Ti is to take my die grinder to it. White sparks mean Ti. For ****s and giggles I'm going to email Remus tomorrow. See if they have some old stock in a warehouse back in the fatherland. Maybe they'd sell me that bottom pipe. :rolleyes:

I need a center stand too. Cant understand why someone would remove it. Are they that easy to drag?

I've been on the edges & never dragged the center or side stand even when hitting dips in corners. I do have Ohlins which lifted the bike about an inch & also the 5.5 inch rear rim w/180 tire (not sure if it's any taller or not). Maybe they thought they were saving weight, broke a bolt or it got tangled up in the crash?

Most cener stands were removed for weight concerns. You can pick on up from someone setting up a track bike. (Hint Hint to a pelican I know.) You not the first person who's had his focus distracted by a good looking bike.

I did the spark test on the pipes. Stainless. I'm glad. It will be a lot easier to source material for the repair.

The side fairings were relatively easy to remove. I cant believe how close those inner bolts are to the oil cooler lines. What a PITA. That is one funky looking gas tank.

I was going to ask about manuals. Should I buy one of these...

BMW Service Workshop Shop Manual 2000 R 1100 S | eBay

...or a Clymer? Should I try to find an Owner's Manual.

Bike has Ohlins on it. Is that OEM?

I feel a lot better just getting out in the garage and wrenching on it. I'll give the frame a good look-over tomorrow after work. Thanks.

Öhlins are not OEM. Roger our moderator is a good source if you need them fresnened up. A cross country to Austin would be worth your while to get the bike into top shape suspension wise. Stop off in New Braunfels for some good German food on the way.:)

Wurstfest starts next week!!!

I think you got a good winter project. Parts are pretty ez to get. The price is alright and if you don't want to get into a whole bunch of repairs part it out and make a grand. Like the guys said its just getting broken in. It took me a couple of months to get to the point where felt good riding mine but man you cant peel me off it now. That's one of my favorite colors

RIDE ON Blue sky Green lights Tits and Wheels BMW's

if you got ohlins front and rear you got a real bargain, they alone used will bring 1400 to 2k on fleabay. Should be several stock headers about here. I might have one, I don't know how
the remus fits up though vs the oem. removed center stand is very common I might have a spare.
you will want to see what the final ride height with the ohlins rear is before looking for shorter
trailing arms.
but really not much to sort out it sounds like.

kenny~

you didn't get a brand new 6 to 9 week old dog with puppy breath, sharp teeth and no name.

you got a full grown dog, with a background and a history.

some have had a happy life, some have been abused, most fall in between the two.

doesn't much matter if part of an ear was clipped off, or a leg was broken and fixed.
heal it up, take it out and i think you'll find that it's pretty happy to play.
(they're fairly good snugglers too).

so maybe it's not a purebred. dogs have been around for tens of thousands of years. "purebreds" for less than 200. those purebreds had to come from somewhere.

spend your no-ride-um season bringing your adopted one up to snuff.

if you hit a thumb-twiddling spot, ask us about riding gear.
it's been so long since you've ridden, that we're just itching to spend your thousands of dollars to get you kitted out properly.

ahhhhh puppy breath!

You guys talk about "winter projects" and "no-ride-um" season? What's that?

Is sunny and 83 here today. Winter in south Texas lasts about 2 weeks.

I have no intention of changing any suspension bits on this thing. I was pleased to learn that the Ohlins units are rebuildable. What's the turn-around time on that?

I read that note in the Max BMW ETK about the code 547A Sport Suspension and that bikes so equipped will not have a center stand. So I did a search and found this thread...

http://forums.pelicanparts.com/bmw-r1100s-r1200s-tech-forum/288513-sport-suspension-paralever-lengths.html

That doesn't describe my bike does it? It sounds like it. Silver and orange. My bike has ABS too. Given my bike's lack of a verifiable pedigree is sounds like the only way to verify is to measure this paralever doo-hickey. It does have big rear wheel, it's on a 180-55/17 tire.

I had mine done in Ohlins shop in N.C., turn around was about a week total at a little over $100 ea.

Might want to have the spring checked for your weight then. Add ~$200 each end if you need or want to change the spring. A rebuilt shock with the wrong spring isn't the best way to go and could be very uncomfortable if not dangerous.

I just received an email from my insurance company. According to my VIN, the bike is called an R1100SA ABS. They really only made 200 of them?

edit to add.: I find that hard to believe