I want to "modernize" my tires, wheels, and brakes on my r100s

[mooch]

I have a 78 r100s. I love the basicness of it but want more modern tires and wheels. I was thinking of trying to make a sort of blend between an r1100s and a r100s. Has anyone put modern bmw wheels and tires on an airhead? How about better/bigger brakes (probably depends on the wheel used). I would think the final drive may be the biggest problem.
what do you guys think?
anyone done this already?

[widebmw]

If you have a stock 78 R100RS and want a more modern bike,
Sell it. If you start making changes to it then it is junk.
Buy a bike that has the stuff you want on it.

[donkey doctor]

Hello; I put modern (?) tires on my 77 R 100, and it transformed it The original Metzlers were harder, it was hard to not drift a little, the bike seemed to wiggle from time to time. The new Michelin Pilots stopped that wiggle cold, the bike was planted, it felt more secure in a curve. It also had better traction which made accelleration easier. I was going to go with Bridgestone Battlaxs, but I got a better deal on the pilots

[kioolt]

I would think that wheels from a more recent bike would be to wide for your bike. There is very little clearance between the swingarm and the tire as it is.

[R75_7]

Updating tires and changng from spoke to alloys is cool. But I think if you sold it you could buy a newer bike with all of the updated items for about the same price. Thereare a lot of great deals out there and more coming as the new line of bike is released.

[srb]

Mooch,
You could put an '81 and up front end on your bike that would be equipped with the brembo brakes which are better than your current ones. If you don't have a disc brake rear end your could get one pretty easily. There are more modern tires to be had that will fit up to your ride, but I wouldn't go to a larger size. Lester mag wheels are marginally lighter that snowflakes and can be fitted with tubeless tires. And a fork brace of some type (telefix) will also give you a benefit. I am all for taking a great classic machine and improving it where you can. Good Luck

sb
'79 R100S

[mooch]

thanks for the replies. I dont want to buy a newer bike. I have had many oilheads and the such and I like them, but I like the aircooled engine and such as well. I think I will look into more modern tires for the wheel sizes I have now. My bike has 2 disc brakes up front and one in the rear. I am guessing this was an option on the 78 r100s ( as opposed to rear drum brake).

[Braddog]

I just put new tires/tubes on my '77 R100RS. I went from Metzler ME77's to Metzeler 880's. I kept the original spoked wheels as instructed by some of my other Beemer-owning buddies.

My old tires were really shot, so this bike went from being shaky to like riding on a rail. There are some things you can do to brakes as well, I haven't done anything yet other than replace the rear drum, and change the fluid, which would be part of normal maintenance. My front pads still have many miles in them, and I was thinking of perhaps updating the pads as well as putting on SS braided lines. Maybe later this year.

[Cosmoline52]

Hello folks! Just discovered that the MOA has a forum, I belong to a few other forums and it's staggering how much info can be learned from likeminded others out there!

I bought my '78 R100S (early '78, spoked wheels, rear drum, red metallic. Smoke-red, cast wheeled, 3-disc version IIRC was a later mid-year model change that included newly-mandated EPA-friendly carbs) and although two of my brothers rode R90S's back then this motorcycle felt DIFFERENT in a way that I liked!

This thread caught my eye because my bike is basically in original configuration, since the last time I rode it (about 3 years ago) I decided to return some of the stock parts to the chassis in order to return it to the much more wide-spectrum machine it was when I bought it.

I believe that you don't have to be Ricky Racer to appreciate the benefits of newer tire designs, but although I tried a few different combos over the years the 1.85F/2.15R hoops on my bike can't cut it with the wider profiles of more modern tires... I have the good fortune to have three brothers with several BMW's among them and back then the Snowflake in 2.15F/2.75R on one '78 RS running the same tires as on my S would allow much greater lean without uneasiness at full tilt. 120/90 Marathons mounted to my rim would pinch at the bead and give back horrible mileage, same tire on an RS would go 12-15000 miles!

I'm considering lacing some new wheels to my 100S, 2.15F/2.50R. They'll look original and I'll be able to take advantage of newer rubber. I would really like to find a set of the snowflake wheels but they are brutally $$$ (especially the rear drum version) and heavy and sometimes porous and the early ones dented incredibly easily! If anyone seeks to pick up some of those wheels make sure ya get the post-recall versions!

Keep in mind what others have said here, you can build a dinosaur into a crisp-for-its-time dinosaur, but there are major hurdles to overcome (with lots of $$$) to get it to run with current sporting machines. Quick trip on my brother's new R1150RS yesterday woke ME up...!

[DARRYL CAINEY]

I have a 1977 R100RS that has just turned over 390,000 miles on it on the way home from the National Rally.
18 years ago I also wanted new wheels to dress up my ride!
I installed gold anodizes Sun rims that are a bit wider than stock
and Buccanon stainless steel spokes. A had the wheel hubs powder cowted black gloss and now have a new paint job Dodge Viper Red with gold pin striping.
You can run a bit wider tires but the rear can rub the swing arm unless you get a offset spacer.

Good luck, every improvement you make will make that bike vour own special ride!

Darryl

[dlearl476]

I've been pouring over my manuals lately getting my new R75/5 roadworthy and IIRC, it would be a pretty simple affair to put a dual disc fork on your bike. Combined with some new rims relaced to the hubs and some modern rubber, should improve matters a lot and remain relatively stock looking.
Buchannons is a good bet. Britech is another, Jay is selling San Remo shouldered rims for $99 (would look sweet on a R100), although he doesn't recomend them. I just bought a pair of Morads (parent of Akront, which as I understand from Buchannons are NLA for BMWs) for a Ducati I'm restoring and they were ~$600 including new SS spokes and nipples and freight from Spain. And believe me, these babies are THE BOMB. I'd post a pic, but my photo server is down right now.