Tale of Two Bikes - BMW

Round One; BMW K1600GTL

Some bikes you are offered to test and simply don’t have the time or opportunity to get them into their element and do them justice; just pootling around town is a waste of effort and you learn nothing of their abilities in the environment they were designed for.

The very accomplished BMW K1600GTL

So it was with the BMW K1600GTL, BMW’s new super-tourer. I was really keen to sample it, even though a glowing report would inevitably lead to an even longer waiting list than the 18 months quoted by dealers at the moment. But the specification was enough to make a test essential for any self-respecting motorcycle journalist.

The situation looked hopeless and I resigned myself to the prospect of circling Johannesburg on the highways for a few hours to see what it could do. Then Cora Forssman of BMW Motorrad came to the rescue and issued an invite that couldn’t be refused; she invited me and the brunette to sample the bike on a trip to Grahamstown to attend the BMW Bikefest; an annual event that draws BMW owners from all corners of the country. I’ll touch on the event on other pages, but suffice to say that we accepted this amazing invitation and thus found ourselves at BMW HQ in Midrand early one morning looking over the K.

Love them or hate them, there is no denying that BMW do this sort of bike extremely well. The K wasn’t designed to necessarily beat any other on the market or replace any current model in the BMW line-up but, having conceived it, they realised they had to build it and, consequently, it raises the bar higher than it has ever been for a sports tourer.

Hang on…..did I just call it a ‘sports’ tourer? Well, yes, because, despite the bike’s size, it has all the sporting dynamics you could ask for in a very sophisticated and super-refined package.

Let’s start with the looks. There’s no getting away from the fact that it is a big bike, but it has such great lines that the size doesn’t threaten or intimidate. The overall sense of bulk isn’t helped by the front wheel looking a little over-dominated by the front bodywork on first glance, but this is only from certain angles. The prospect of riding it is a little daunting at first, mainly because I haven’t ridden anything so big for so long, but overall you can’t help but think how good looking it is, especially in the dark blue of the test bike.

Even the chrome trim, which could have been totally misplaced, blends in inoffensively. It just has a look of sophistication and integration that a Gold Wing could never hope to emulate in a million years of design adjustment.

Those six little holes let out one of the best sounds in
motorcycling

The view for the pilot is impressive across a dash that wouldn’t be out of place in a car; analogue speedo and tacho with a super-comprehensive digital panel in between. This latter can be programmed to give such diverse information as what radio station you are listening to (either through the on board sound system or Bluetooth connectivity directly into your lugholes), to tyre pressure or oil level or which of the seat heaters is turned on, to the suspension settings (comfort, normal or sport, single rider or two-up) or showing dynamic, road or wet condition traction control settings. The list goes on.

The hands have no less to do than the eyes. Rather, the left hand has plenty to do, in addition to the normal chores it carries out on lesser bikes.

The controllability and adjustment that can be effected on the fly is simply mind boggling. A menu button by the thumb scrolls through the whole menu – and it is a long one – and at each stop a knurled ring that sits between the hand grip and the switchgear cluster takes over and scrolls through the sub menu. A sideways push on the ring sets the selected item. In addition, the left thumb controls the hazard warning lights, screen height, fog lights and the cruise control.

All the right hand has to do is set the speed, unlock the panniers through the central locking button and set the traction control mode. Simple, really!

The seat is roomy and.…oh, sod it; I can’t not mention the engine for a second longer. You see, this is one of the most remarkable engines I have ever ridden. The smoothness is uncanny, the power is deceptive and the sound? Oh, the sound! It may be all sweetness and light at lower revs, albeit with a growl from the exhaust and gear whine from the motor itself, but rev the thing and it emits the most intoxicating howl. I couldn’t resist dropping down a gear or two at any opportunity just to rev it and listen.

The power delivery is almost linear and it feels like a turbine; it is never neck-snappingly explosive, but acceleration is relentless. It is so effortless that our cruising speed of 160km/h felt like 100km/h and slowing down to 120km/h gave the impression of walking speed.

If there is a downside to this, it is that, on a twisty road you find yourself entering a corner much faster than you thought and all your instincts tell you that a bike this big just won’t get round and out the other side in one piece.

But, this is where the amazing chassis and suspension of the K comes into its own. On straight roads, no matter what the surface condition, the bike simply floats along, feeling like a feather bed (with apologies to Norton). Then when the going gets twisty, as long as you allow for the fact that this is a big bike and set yourself up for the corner a second or so before you would normally do on another bike, you find yourself tracking safely around the corner. Even mid-corner bumps did not unsettle the composure, as long as you remember to set the suspension for two-up riding (if you are, indeed, two-up). Failure to do that can result in a few graunches from the side stand if the road is less than perfectly smooth.

So, what are the downsides? Well, none really. The brunette complained of a lot of wind buffeting on the pillion, regardless of where the screen was positioned which did get tiring at the speeds we were cruising at and there is no way a bike of this size and design is ever going to be completely unaffected by side winds. But as a technical and engineering tour de force, it is amazing.

It would be easy to see all the gizmos as excessive, but, overall, there is nothing on this bike that wasn’t a welcome addition; from the central locking for all three luggage boxes, to the tyre-pressure monitor; from the audio and communications system complete with Bluetooth and all bells and whistles to the adjustable screen; all not absolutely essential, but brilliantly executed and, once lived with, hard to do without!

So, this is the super-tourer to end all super-tourers. But, therein might lie its downfall to the majority of motorcyclists. You see, it is this very competency as a touring machine that makes it almost unsuitable for any other kind of riding; not that I’m saying for a moment that any other bike in this category – let’s mention the dreaded Gold Wing word again, shall we? – is any better in this respect. But this is a lot of machine to be enjoyed to the full on maybe only one occasion a year. As a town bike it falls completely flat, if only for the reason that it is so focussed on something else other than stop-start riding and the lights-to-lights drag racing.
This is the sort of bike you own to supplement a garage, not define it. But as the last word in engineering excellence and open-road riding ability, it is near-impossible to beat.

Round 2; 1200GS Adventure

It may seem superfluous to write about a bike that is already so familiar and for which South Africa is BMW’s largest market worldwide. Yep, that’s right; BMW sell more GS’s here than any other country. Quite surprising, isn’t it?

The BMW 1200GS Adventure

Until, that is, you get on one and ride it for any distance. Swinging your leg over it after being on the low-slung K1600GTL, you immediately know that this bike is as focussed in its own way as the K, but that you will just be able to do so much more on it than you would on the K. Could this really be the ideal bike for all occasions?

After the sewing-machine smoothness of the K, any engine is going to feel rough and the 1200 boxer twin is no exception. However, within that vibration is the sense that this bike will go on forever; it feels hard and unbreakable compared to the almost effete feeling of the K.

You sit high on the bike and the placing of the handlebars and foot pegs gives a feeling of complete control; standing or sitting, the bike feels completely planted, despite a top-heaviness that comes with long-range tank and full pannier sets. There is no getting away from the fact that this is a big and tall bike, but it doesn’t feel it when on the move, so well balanced is it.

In Adventure guise, the GS has a great screen which caused far less buffeting for the pillion than the K, which isn’t really as it should be, but it makes the GS great for two-up touring. All its handling and performance attributes have been well documented so I don’t propose to go into them here in too much detail; suffice to say that at no point did it feel as if it was struggling against road-only oriented bikes, even at the 150-160km/h cruising speed we were sitting at.

And the twisty bits were a joy as well, thanks to BMW’s ESA (Electronic Suspension Adjustment) system, which tunes the suspension to match the riding conditions and the weight being carried. It handles brilliantly and inspires confidence so you find yourself throwing it around with almost gay abandon. It’s no wonder that track day organisers have a special day for GS owners; this could be a cracking track bike.

And therein lies the secret to the GS; It really could be all things to all men. I know I have said that about other bikes that have been through my hands – most notably the Honda NC800X – but I have yet to see anyone attempt a round the world or cross continent odyssey on one of those. The GS has almost become the default machine of the serious adventurer and it is easy to see why; it is just so damned capable and feels absolutely bulletproof.

I am loathe to try and draw comparisons between the GS and the K1600 – they are such different bikes with such different goals in mind - but having ridden both for considerable mileages over the course of six days to Grahamstown and back, it is inevitable that I should be tempted to. However, it is impossible to simply because of their divergent natures. It’s like trying to compare a Rolls Royce to a rallying Mini Cooper; they both do what they do unbelievably well and the real joy is that they do it in areas in which the other will never think of competing so you could own both without doubling up.

It would be easy to consider the K1600GTL as a one trick pony and the 1200GS Adventure as the bike you could throw anything at and it would get on with it, without fuss. And to a certain extent, that might be true, but to dismiss the K in such a fashion is to do a great disservice to its enormous touring capabilities. The engine and chassis are just stupendous pieces of engineering and it deserves its place as one of the world’s ultimate motorcycles. The GS also deserves that accolade for being so versatile where the K1600GTL is so single-minded.

 At the end of the day, what you envisage your riding to be on any given day will dictate which bike you go for, provided you have both in the garage

Now there’s consumer advice for you; buy both and be done with it.