I think there is something wrong with me as tomorrow i have a day off and have booked to test ride the BMW K1200R and K1200S from Park Lane. For some reason i really like them and it’ll be interesting to see how they ride. Will i be thinking of hard luggage and BMW clothing? Will i want to take up pipe smoking and grow a beard? I am only 26! Should i seek help?
I am fairly certain they are going to be good but not a patch on the Gix. Anyone ridden them or got medical advice or the name of a specialist?
I reckon they would be a good laugh I mean after all its not as if BMW build rubbish stuff. I am guessing it will feel very different from anything you have ever had a go on before.
If the BMW’s can get Ewan McGregor and Charley Boorman around the world and back, then I think that speaks volumes. They’re great bikes. Dude at work has one and I’ve sat on it, far too tall for me but it sounds good and I’m told it’s comfy, reliable and ‘different’.
I went touring to Spain with my uncle and he had one of the 850 models, cant remeber which one but it had monster torque. I had a serious job trying to keep up with him out of corners.
The first pic certainly doesn’t look like a beemer; worst case is get it and take off the badging!
Rode pillion on my dads K75 for a while - and now I am getting it back on the road for the winter - he reckons I’ll switch over to the dark side…have my doubts.
Can definately say if my experience of Sawbrigeworth BMW is anything to go by they are a chatty/ helpful bunch that use/ supply and ride BMW’s - fit in well with LB. Go for it.
How jealous am I, been thinking about taking a test ride of the GS, I currently ride the entry level single, but pine for the bigger twin, not sure if I’d be big enough for it tho.
BMW’s modern bikes (excluding the tourers possibly) are as innovative and well built as any jap sports bike, IMO the K1200R has the looks. One thing to watch is their longer wheele base, I’ve seen them parked in bays and they’re a very long bike, equivelant to a 'busa.
Out of interest did you have to jump through many hoops to secure the test ride?
Odd bikes for sure I too was thinking the GS at first, doh! I would like to try out a GS. The K model will be very similar to the GSXR mate, I bet! Not in terms of performance, but style.
Take pictures, make notes and share them with us after mate!
BMW had a demo day up at the Ace a while back and I took the K1200R out (twice). A very comfy bike with very good handling and plenty of power. When I got back on the gixxer it felt tiny though, and much more lively - the beemer felt quick in a lazy way, but quick nevertheless.
To be fair though I reckon had they taken the KTMs they would have fallen apart half way through. The beamers took a battering that I dont think the KTMs could have dealth with IMO.
Which is why BMW win the Dakar almost every year not
I reckon KTM were scared off by that blep who told em that they wouldn’t make it. Gotta remember that KTM is still a small manufacturer and so more wary of bad publicity esp on a bike that was very new at the time.
Also remember that every bike mag recently has rated the KTM better than the Beemer in every aspect except comfort and it murders the Beemer off road. I reckon it would have been far better on the rough stuff. Also I seem to recall the BMW’s suffered a fair amount of issues eg ABS went and meant they had to buy a russian bike, broken subframes etc its easy to forget that Plus remember that the pleb that put KTM off had done a round the world trip on an a single cylinder LC4 based adventurer, so the V twin should have had no problems.
This was a different type of thing to the Dakar in terms of what they carried in weight.
No doubt the KTM would have handled the rough stuff better but the there is no way they would have been able to survive the weight they carried for that length of time. The reasons the sub frames snapped are because fully loaded the bikes weighed best part of half a ton!!! No biek is designed to carry that weight and its a big surprise the bikes lasted that long without snapping sub frames. The beamer is a much bigger sturdier bike.
Had they taken the KTM they would have had to of carred half a ton of oil to keep em topped up
Plus dont forget Ewans bike got rear ended at 30mph as well!
Not doubting the KTMs arent good but I still dont think they would have made it in the same circumstances with the weight, flodded engines, crashes etc.
The KTM and BMW head to head no lugage over rough stuff sure KTM would win but in these circumstances I am really not sure it would have survived!
If KTM thought there bikes would have made it they would have taken on the challenge. Why did they let someone scare em off? If they had no doubts the bike was good enough to make it then they would have supplied the goods.
Fairy muff, I still think they would have done but we’ll never know. Also remember MCN threw a KTM down the road and into a set of trees with no more than some scuffed plastics, don’t sound flimsy to me.
As for oil from what I’ve heard Beemer Boxers burn shed loads
If KTM thought there bike would have made it and was up to the job they would have supplied the bikes no matter who said they wouldnt be able to make it. The fact that they ran scared shows they knew the bikes werent up to the job IMO.
No biek is designed to carry that weight and its a big surprise the bikes lasted that long without snapping sub frames. The beamer is a much bigger sturdier bike.