I made the mistake of riding down to Cal-BMW in Mt. View this morning to "look" at the new K1200S..........sh_t!Why don't you take it out for a ride? It was like Michael Douglas telling you to take his wife Catherine Zeta-Jones (Brittiany Spears for you youngin's) to lunch. No kidding? Yeah, I'll go through it with you.....etc etc. You're really going to be surprised (no sh_t).
If God were going to build a motorcycle, it would be the K1200S.
I've never ridden anything like it, or taken Catherine Zeta-Jones to lunch either.
Anyhow he said just a slight twist will give you all the power you will need, you don't have to finesse the clutch like on the R, you can idle this bike away from a stop (he wasn't kidding).For those of you who have not ridden this machine, you can read on.
1. It was like BMW had taken a mold of my ass and built the bike seat around it.
2. I didn't hang over the front and my back did not feel like it was being bent in half. The riding position is perfect in my opinion.
3. My legs tucked in just right and the brake and gear shift are perfectly positioned.
4. The first hint that the engine may have a little "cam" thing going on appears when you fire it up and it sounds like it's loping and just waiting to get going.
5. The clutch is glass smooth and when you slightly twist the throttle it gives this sort of animal rumble that peaks into some awesome snarl when you hit 4-5 thousand on the tach (not even half way to the red line)
6. The shifting is smooth but here and there the famous BMW clunk can be heard. Shifting all that power requires some getting used to same with down-shifting. I was doing 80 and still in 5th thinking why do you need another gear? I'm passing cars and not even "on" it?
7 Cornering is out of this world. I always chalked it up to the years that I hadn't ridden and a poor memory that the corners were intimidating at times. On this bike I just shifted my weight used the throttle (sparingly) and the bike just sucked me through the corners, amazing! made me feel like I wanted to head over to Santa Cruz.
8. Braking is smooth and I did not feel any of the "grab" that my R with ABS brakes has even though the K had ABS.
Oh, by the way. There was no "buffetting" or turbulence on this bike and I didn't realize that until I rode my R back out on to the freeway and felt the wind buffeting me.
Don't know what the hell to say... I can't afford $17,500 for the thing. My R is barely broken in.
It was great to ride this machine. Now if I can only figure some way to afford one (in my dreams).
If you get a chance, go down and take the "free" test ride knowing that it''s not really "free". I felt like I was riding a Ferguson tractor when I left (well maybe not that bad)
Beemer Bud
