BMW and the K1600GT

The road stretches out ahead; sometimes straight as an arrow, sometimes twisting, rising and falling with the landscape. Every sense is assaulted in a vivid palette of colours, scents and sounds; you are acutely aware of everything around you and there is a feeling of unreality about your progress as the kilometres swiftly and effortlessly pass beneath your wheels. The journey is a long one, but both bike and rider are as relaxed as when they first set out, three hours ago.

The ‘bike is a BMW. For decades they have made the quintessential touring motorcycle and for many of those decades they have been powered by an engine that is as distinctive now as it was then; a masterpiece of design that has its origins in the early 1920’s.

More recently – in the last 3 decades, to be exact - BMW have designed new engines of ever-increasing originality and innovation, but the original design remains a significant weapon in BMW’s armoury. Whilst the engine architecture might have stayed the same for so long (even if the details kept up with the times), there was never any lack of imagination around the conceptualisation of the bike as a whole. At all times have large BMW tourers represented the pinnacle of touring motorcycle design.

Now, however, BMW have taken touring motorcycle design to even greater heights and have endowed it with one of the greatest motorcycle engines ever to have been produced. And no, it doesn’t have two cylinders.

This history of BMW is a fascinating one, shaped as much by human conflict as by striving for engineering excellence. Initially an aero-engine concern, Rapp Motorenwerke, they were forced by the Versailles Armistice Treaty after the First World War to abandon this branch of engineering and diverted materials to the manufacture of motorcycles in order to survive. The very first machines laid the foundations of BMW motorcycle engine design that were adhered to exclusively until the 1980’s and are still in evidence today; a transversely mounted flat-twin ‘boxer’ engine and shaft drive.

In 1928, they moved into car manufacture, albeit by building a car based on the Austin 7 from England, calling it the Dixi. It wasn’t until the 1960’s that the car side of BMW really came into its own, having staved off bankruptcy in the late 1950’s by manufacturing diminutive bubble cars. By 1966, BMW had introduced the 1602 and 2002Tii models, thus establishing their reputation for brilliant sports sedans that are a mainstay of the brand to this day.

However, it is with the motorcycle side of the firm with which we are concerned here. By 1923, the company had introduced their definitive design, the R23, which featured a 500cc boxer engine coupled to the shaft drive mentioned earlier. The engine was ahead of its time in that it featured recirculating oil lubrication as opposed to the total-loss systems used by rival manufacturers. The cylinders sticking out into the airstream on either side aided cooling.

Prosperity followed through the 1920’s and 1930’s but war was yet again to intervene and leave the company torn apart and unable to manufacture anything. When everything settled down, Germany was divided and with it BMW; a factory on one side and all blueprints and schematic drawings on the other, Soviet controlled, side of the Berlin Wall.

But this did not deter the BMW engineers when they were allowed to recommence manufacturing by the Allies. They simply took pre-war examples of motorcycles and copied them in order to get back into production. It is testament to the soundness of the original design concept that, upon its reintroduction in 1948 as a 250cc model, it was still way ahead technically of its European rivals.

And so it was that BMW motorcycles entered the new era with renewed vigour, steadfastly refusing to follow trends in motorcycle design that emerged from the leading motorcycling nations in Europe and, later, Japan. It was this dogged determination and belief in their product that found favour with many enthusiasts and BMW refused to be drawn into competing in the sports-bike class that had become so popular with the arrival of the in-line four-cylinder Japanese bikes; bikes that had effectively ended the supremacy of the British motorcycle industry and ultimately led to its demise.
 
BMW found their niche in fully-faired sports/touring machines of immense capability and durability. The quality in terms of both the design and construction of the bikes was never in question. When fitted with panniers and top boxes, the fully faired models were, quite simply, the best touring machines available. Everything on a BMW was based around rider comfort and, therefore, safety through reducing rider fatigue, coupled with maximum efficiency of the motorcycle as a whole.

The 1980’s saw BMW break out of the cocoon of preferring steady evolution over revolution and embark on a path of innovation that has not ceased to the present day. When, in the early 1980’s, BMW introduced the GS range of tall, go anywhere ‘Adventure’ bikes, based on machines that had been so successful in the Paris-Dakar rally raids, they initiated a trend in motorcycle design that was soon copied by all other manufacturers, none of whom have been able to oust the GS as the motorcycle of choice for serious adventure riders.

BMW eventually bowed to the inevitable and went down the four-cylinder route with the K100 of 1983 but, BMW being who they are, they did it in their own inimitable style and not only mounted the engine longitudinally (i.e. running front to back and not across the frame as in every other multi-cylinder bike) but laid it flat on its side so that the crank lay on the right and the cylinder head on the left of the bike. It was affectionately referred to as the ‘flying brick.’

As always, safety was paramount to BMW engineers and this led to them being the first manufacturer to fit ABS to a motorcycle in 1988. Ground-breaking work on suspension systems led them to introduce their Paralever, Telelever and latest Duolever suspensions for front and back wheels. As usual, BMW completely ignored contemporary thinking and their approach was justified in that all three systems work perfectly and add considerably to the safety of the rider.

And so we come to the modern day and BMW have once again moved the goalposts in motorcycle design. Long known for their touring motorcycles, it seemed that they had nothing left to prove in that arena, but how wrong we were. With the introduction of the K1600GT and GTL motorcycles, BMW has shown that it has lost none of its appetite for brilliant design and engineering, placing rider comfort and safety foremost whilst sacrificing none of the excitement that should be felt when riding a motorcycle.

The heart of this state-of-the-art bike is an astonishing six-cylinder engine that sets new standards of refinement and performance. It is at the same time docile and vice free whilst also having a sting in its tail when the throttle is cracked open. The power delivery is so progressive that the feeling is rather one of a turbine as opposed to an internal combustion engine yet it never stoops to the brash showboating of sports bikes, preferring to maintain its dignity whilst travelling at enormous velocities.

This bike is not all mouth and no trousers, however. The engine rides in a chassis that is as impeccable in its behaviour as the engine. With a full complement of electronics governing the suspension’s movement and stop-and-go functions, all of which have several settings for those who wish to fine-tune a bike to the road or riding conditions, the whole machine is a technical tour-de-force that few, if any, motorcycles can come close to matching.

As befits a touring motorcycle, which by its very nature doesn’t have to contend with the space restrictions imposed on city-dwelling bikes, the K1600 – in either guise – is a large and extremely comfortable bike. But at no point does the size feel unwieldy or overwhelming; the weight is carried low and, once on the move, not only is the bike supremely stable, but the size shrinks around you, whilst the protection afforded by the bodywork never does.

The rider has a fine array of essential information literally at his fingertips. Tyre pressure, oil level, air temperature, fuel consumption and range to empty, average speeds, twin trip counters, not to mention turning the heated handlebar grips and seat on and off are all monitored and adjusted from the comfort of your throne whilst cruising down the road. Talking of cruising, cruise control takes the ache out of the throttle hand and the screen can be lowered or raised electrically, virtually eliminating any wind on the rider.

There is no aspect of this motorcycle that has not been looked at with a view to making it the very best it can be. And this is a design philosophy that is carried through the entire BMW range, making even the lowliest model (if such a motorcycle exists in the BMW canon) supremely competent and an investment to own. No BMW could ever be called a mere motorcycle for, as with the company, they are more a way of life than solely a means of providing transport.

Shot on location in the Drakensberg Mountains, South Africa.

This article first appeared in SA Deluxe Magazine