2005 Bmw K1200s: Too Fast For the Autobahn?
2005 BMW K1200S: TOO FAST FOR THE AUTOBAHN?
ROUNDUP
IT WAS A TERRIFYING moment, fortunately more for him than for me. In Munich, Germany, attending the worldwide press introduction for the 2005 BMW K1200S, I was following a Swiss journalist through a sweeping righthander on the autobahn at an indicated 280 kilometers per hour (174 mph) when his brake light suddenly came on—and stayed on—his speed and trajectory bringing him perilously close to the center divider! Legally, there may not be a speed limit on the autobahn, but the laws of physics still apply, and clearly there are places where the throttle of a 167-horsepower superbike should not he held to the stops. Most places, actually. Not many stones were left unturned in our worldexclusive K1200S cover story (CW, July), except for the motherlode, the one big question: How does it work?
Is it, as our cover blurb suggested, a “Busa Beater?” The answer is yes and no. Yes in that the high-tech new K-bike is powerful, fast, versatile and superb-handling, certainly in the same league as the Honda CBR1100XX, Suzuki GSX1300R and Kawasaki ZX-12R with which it is meant to compete. And no in that the preproduction models we rode in late July weren’t quite ready for prime time.
First the good news: The K1200S is striking-looking, more so in the racy blue/white/black and yellow/silver/black of our German testbikes than the silver/black we’d seen previously, which looked too much like the aforementioned Honda. It’s also all-day comfortable, with a sporty riding position that works well for short and tall riders alike and decent wind protection from the fairing and flipped-up windscreen.
The new across-theframe four-cylinder engine sounds great, with audible gear whine accompanied by a raspy exhaust note through the super-sized muffler that makes it sound more like a race car than a motorcycle. Engine power is impressive from the midrange on up to the 10,250rpm power peak, though it doesn’t quite possess the top-end rush of a Hayabusa; in fact, the engine most often cited by testers as comparable was the Yamaha FJR 1300. Run it up to the 11,000-rpm redline and the rev-limiter cuts in abruptly; a softer limiter would be nice. There is some vibration from the solid-mounted, counterbalanced engine on decel, but it’s not bad, certainly not enough to numb your fingers as on a Boxer Twin.
The test K 12s we rode were fully outfitted with electric handgrips, partial Integral ABS (wherein the hand lever operates both the front and rear brakes) and ESA, the acronym for BMW’s new Electronic Suspension Adjustment. This novel system allows the rider to vary two parameters, spring preload and damping, via a button on the left handlebar cluster. The former can be changed only when the bike is at rest, the dashboard display showing settings for a single helmet, a single helmet with luggage, and two helmets (figure it out). The latter, however, can be changed at rest or in motion, the three settings labeled sport, normal and comfort. It’s an eminently usable and effective system.
Speaking of suspension, the Hossack-style Duolever “fork” works superbly, soaking up bumps better than any telescopic unit, Telelever or otherwise, ever dreamed of, particularly under braking. One happy side effect of eliminating the large, heavy stanchions and sliders is steering that feels quite light in spite of the bike’s considerable trail (4.4 inches), wheelbase (61.9 inches) and weight (a claimed 547 pounds wet as tested, 500 pounds without ABS and ESA). All of this adds up to a machine that is nimble as well as stable, even if it got blown around a bit while passing trucks on the autobahn at 100-plus.
Now for the bad: The shaftdriven machine displays a bothersome amount of driveline lash when iiii~ i~L~i1 wiicii you crack open or abruptly close the throttle, which combined with the EFI “hunting” below 3500 rpm hinders bottom-end performance. And the six-speed gearbox is notchy, emitting a worrying “bang” while shifting from first to second that sounds like serious mechanical damage is occurring to the straight-cut gears within. Told of these concerns, a factory engineer replied, “Please allow that we still have some work to do in these areas.” Indeed they do, which is why the U.S. release date has been pushed back from the original September/October until late November. Hopefully, this additional time will allow the engineers to address these issues, because when it works like it should, the K1200S will be a stellar motorcycle. We look forward to testing a production example.
-Brian Catterson
