Hitcher
21st May 2007, 16:38
This weekend I had the opportunity to take a friend's BMW K1200S on a strop from Waiau (North Canterbury) over the Lewis Pass to Springs Junction. The weather conditions were at worst, arduous -- driving rain and extremely gusty north-westers for large parts of the journey.
My ride impressions are as follows:
1. For a BMW they look rather attractive, compared with some of the Bavarian marque's other recent offerings, some of which look as though they have been beaten into submission with an ugly stick and painted with colours normally only found on 1950s Chevys in Cuba.
2. It's wee, but fits a taller-than-average, fuller-figured gent quite well. Sprotsbike riding position, but not excessively/aggressively. The seat is nice and one's arse could spend several hours a day astride a K1200S. I think I'd be after a sheepskin before attempting a Grand Challenge though.
3. The dashboard is well set out and legible. Controls are, well, idiosynchratic. Finding the starter button was my first test. The indicators required considerable powers of concentration and would require some riding before their use became instinctive. Heated grips, noice, but just as well they were on as I wouldn't have figured these out without some instruction.
4. Shaft drive, six-speed box, fucking turbine. Bugger me, these things can party. Hit 8,000rpm and, M U M M Y! Talk about acceleration. The only other bike I've ridden that has acceleration this cataclysmic is a Kawasaki ZX10. I now know why one has a sphincter. Throttle response is immediate, predictable (apart from that "surpriiiise" at 8,000rpm) and smooth. The gearbox is nice but, like most bikes that have six-speed transmissions, one needs a gear position indicator to know where one is. Fortunately the Beemer has one of these.
5. Brakes are linked ABS. Murray warned me that they could be sudden and aggressive. I found them unnervingly vague and unresponsive. I guess it's a matter of what you're used to.
6. Handling is pretty darned good. Murray's K1200S is shod with Michelin Pilot Sports and these seemed to acquit themselves nicely in both wet and dry. One would have to have the bike canted over at track cornering angles to trouble any jutty-out bits.
6. Wind/weather protection? 5 out of 10. A shorter rider may be a bit more protected by the standard double-bubble, but not I. The weather during my ride was trying at best, but I may as well have been astride some naked thing for all the use the nose-cone/screen provided.
7. Pillion comfort? Untested, but looks OK. Murray had a Ventura pack rack and Ventura tailbag on and I couldn't detect anything untoward handling-wise from this. Ventura's products, while well intentioned and functional, are crap. I guess they think they have to be price-driven. A good product development engineer could make them vastly better.
Overall assessment? The K1200S is not a "sprotsbike" but can more than adequately be one if required, providing more creature comforts for the rider than say a Ducati or hard-core Japanese crotch rocket. I would describe it more as a "super-sports tourer". I really enjoyed the experience of having a decent stretch on one in a variety of weather conditions and on a variety of road conditions. I really enjoyed it. Would I buy one (money no object)? No.
My ride impressions are as follows:
1. For a BMW they look rather attractive, compared with some of the Bavarian marque's other recent offerings, some of which look as though they have been beaten into submission with an ugly stick and painted with colours normally only found on 1950s Chevys in Cuba.
2. It's wee, but fits a taller-than-average, fuller-figured gent quite well. Sprotsbike riding position, but not excessively/aggressively. The seat is nice and one's arse could spend several hours a day astride a K1200S. I think I'd be after a sheepskin before attempting a Grand Challenge though.
3. The dashboard is well set out and legible. Controls are, well, idiosynchratic. Finding the starter button was my first test. The indicators required considerable powers of concentration and would require some riding before their use became instinctive. Heated grips, noice, but just as well they were on as I wouldn't have figured these out without some instruction.
4. Shaft drive, six-speed box, fucking turbine. Bugger me, these things can party. Hit 8,000rpm and, M U M M Y! Talk about acceleration. The only other bike I've ridden that has acceleration this cataclysmic is a Kawasaki ZX10. I now know why one has a sphincter. Throttle response is immediate, predictable (apart from that "surpriiiise" at 8,000rpm) and smooth. The gearbox is nice but, like most bikes that have six-speed transmissions, one needs a gear position indicator to know where one is. Fortunately the Beemer has one of these.
5. Brakes are linked ABS. Murray warned me that they could be sudden and aggressive. I found them unnervingly vague and unresponsive. I guess it's a matter of what you're used to.
6. Handling is pretty darned good. Murray's K1200S is shod with Michelin Pilot Sports and these seemed to acquit themselves nicely in both wet and dry. One would have to have the bike canted over at track cornering angles to trouble any jutty-out bits.
6. Wind/weather protection? 5 out of 10. A shorter rider may be a bit more protected by the standard double-bubble, but not I. The weather during my ride was trying at best, but I may as well have been astride some naked thing for all the use the nose-cone/screen provided.
7. Pillion comfort? Untested, but looks OK. Murray had a Ventura pack rack and Ventura tailbag on and I couldn't detect anything untoward handling-wise from this. Ventura's products, while well intentioned and functional, are crap. I guess they think they have to be price-driven. A good product development engineer could make them vastly better.
Overall assessment? The K1200S is not a "sprotsbike" but can more than adequately be one if required, providing more creature comforts for the rider than say a Ducati or hard-core Japanese crotch rocket. I would describe it more as a "super-sports tourer". I really enjoyed the experience of having a decent stretch on one in a variety of weather conditions and on a variety of road conditions. I really enjoyed it. Would I buy one (money no object)? No.