In order, the answers would be;
1) Yes. my bike at 50K had a very rusty heat affected zone from the heads to the crossover pipe.
2) Yes and yes.
3) yes, that is correct.
Other things you should consider;
This model/year is in the range of transmissions with the deleted circlip on the output shaft.
The motor on my bike had 2 cylinder studs fatigued/pulled in the motor case on the left side cylinder. No way to torque those to spec. When I opened the motor, one of the "good" studs already had a heli-coil installed.

So does EPCO make a stainless steel exhaust pipe set for the RS ? They list one for "R100R and Mystics" which seems to be correct. This set also seems to do away with the catalytic converter box under the gearbox.

http://www.epcostainless.com/

Other than stock, is there another exhaust pipe option (stainless or otherwise) on the pipes ?

Thanks

An R100R would be an RS without the body work. Maybe OK. Not sure about other suppliers.

Two new discoveries:

• The rear wheel has about 0.020 inch movement at the rim. Not enough to damage the ring and pinion final drive gears, but enough to make cornering uncomfortable. Definitely needs the bearings replaced. Do the single-sided Airheads have this issue ?

• The rear wheel (as seen from the rear of the bike) seems to be canted off at a slight angle. I got to take some more accurate readings, and I don't think this is related to the wheel bearing issue, but you can see it from 15 feet. Anybody ever hear of this ?

🙁

I would thiñk thàt.020 as lash in the final drive would be negliģible, if that is what you àre talking about. Oak oñce toĺd me thàt removing the wheel beaŕings from the from the wheeĺ hub was a BAD idea. If you can see a 15 degree cant from verticàl, that is a seŕiuos pŕoblem.

I would think that .020 as lash in the final drive would be negligible, if that is what you are talking about. Oak once toĺd me that removing the wheel bearings from the from the wheeĺ hub was a BAD idea.

This is not gear lash, but rather a "clunk-clunk" when you grab the top and bottom of the tire from the side and do a push-pull. In the single-sided swing arms, there are no "wheel bearings". The bearings within the final drive that support the ring gear (aka "crown gear") also support the entire rear wheel.

If you can see a 15 degree cant from vertical, that is a serious problem.

Apologies for the false alarm. A more detailed look at this proved the lift to be horizontal, but due to center stand wear, the bike was at a slight cant. Once the center stand was shimmed to allow the frame to be horizontal, then the rear wheel also lost the weird angle.

Thank God! That's a situation I can live with.

I am glad that we are now clear minded on the issue. As you know, any slack in a wheel bearing (of any style and no matter where it is located) is not good. Now that I understand that you were estimating 0.020 deflection on the vertical plane, I'd call that un-acceptable. My mono-shock RS had zero slack in the final drive/wheel bearing assembly, apart from the typical gear lash in the rotational sense. Confirm that the clunk-clunk is not coming from the wheel/lug bolt/hub assembly and then open up the final drive for inspection.

The reference to Oak was to say that he was not a fan of the single sided swing arm and the horizontal load transferred to the final drive as a result of the change from dual shocks and wheel bearings in the hub.

The reference to Oak was to say that he was not a fan of the single sided swing arm and the horizontal load transferred to the final drive as a result of the change from dual shocks and wheel bearings in the hub.

The 3 things I really wanted were real tubeless rims, Brembo front brakes, and the front axle brought in-line with the stanchion tubes. You can only get that on the single-sided bikes.

One quirky thing I noticed at the Gathering of the Clans was that for every single-sided bike there were 25 dual-shock bikes. So I don't have full "buy in" just yet.

🙂

Well, my friend, those ARE desireable features. I loved everything about my mono RS except the riding position. I could have dealt with or modified that except that I was forced in to early retirement in November of 2015, and chose to reduce my fleet until such time as a get a new job that allows me to keep a few bikes in the garage. I also sold a side car rig that I had assembled as a "trainer" rig.

Jesus-God, that mono RS was a fun bike to ride. I liked to use it when ever I had to ride to and in Chicago just for the better brakes and acceleration compared to my R75/5. Chicago traffic is scary.

The reference to Oak was to say that he was not a fan of the single sided swing arm and the horizontal load transferred to the final drive as a result of the change from dual shocks and wheel bearings in the hub.

The 3 things I really wanted were real tubeless rims, Brembo front brakes, and the front axle brought in-line with the stanchion tubes. You can only get that on the single-sided bikes.

One quirky thing I noticed at the Gathering of the Clans was that for every single-sided bike there were 25 dual-shock bikes. So I don't have full "buy in" just yet.

🙂

As you probably know, the late production Airheads use the same front suspension as the K75. I wanted to mention that for the benefit of other members who might be following this thread.