Sorry guys this is a long one. Don't read it if that's a problem for you!
Today the driver from Motorcycles of Charlotte rolled up into my front yard, opened the trailer and out came my 2018 BMW K1600 GT Sport – finally she was mine!
When I was clearing a place for her in the garage last night I got the dimensions from the BMW site. 92 inches long and 40 inches wide, holly molly that’s nearly 10” longer than a Hayabusa, can that be right? It was right, this is an epically huge vehicle. Side by side this BMW makes the Hayabusa look petite.
Surprisingly, the BMW is reasonably easy to handle when moving it around manually. Not sure if it’s the shaft drive or not, but the Hayabusa is quite a bit harder to roll. Bottom line is weight is not the main thing that comes to mind with the BMW whether you are moving under power or pushing it in the driveway – a welcome discovery.
The quality of the BMW is extraordinary. Fit and finish of parts and panels is amazing and well above anything on two wheels I have ever inspected. The paint is automobile quality, but to be honest most bikes today have pretty good paint jobs. We’ll see how the black engine stands up to the road. Even the plastic seems heavy on this bike. Clearly BMW approaches the K1600 series of bikes like high end cars in many ways, and they don’t share other manufacturers compulsive fanaticism with Barbie figures.
The bike has everything you can imagine on it: Audio system (including radio and Sirrus XM), Navigation, ABS, cornering TC, electronic suspension adjustment, cruise, adaptive headlights (can’t wait to test that out), incline start assist, reverse (yes reverse), shift assist pro, central locking on the storage, TPMS, integrated Navigation, heated seats/grips (which work well, my ride to day was 28 degrees but comfortable), and more. The real amazing thing about all these options is I was working them comfortably (while moving) in 35 minutes of riding the new bike. The dash is genius, switching is complicated but somehow everything’s in the right place when you need it. You control everything with a wheel on the left bar and a menu button. Clearly BMW brings some auto mastery to this setup and it is fantastic. There is nothing here to compare with the Hayabusa and that is a profound weakness for the Suzuki.
Seating position is comfortable. I did get some tightening up in the small of my back when my legs were extended down (like at stoplights). The bars seem way to close, the seat is soft, and you almost feel like you’re sinking into the bike. I think a Corbin will be on order very soon. Wind protection was good, compared to having nothing, which I’m used to on the Hayabusa Lol! The K1600 GT Sport has a shortened shield to accent the sporty look. I think I may have to fit the larger windshield from the GTL model, at least in the winter. Overall the bike rides very high and you feel like you are looking down on the traffic around you. This took some getting used to but after a few hours if felt fine. Despite my nit-picking, the cockpit of the Beemer is a fine place to be. Ergonomics are first rate and the complicated controls are intuitive. While the Hayabusa is not as plush, it’s every bit as comfortable for my frame in all honesty. Especially for short rides.
As far as options, I added crash protection for the panniers and the engine. I opted for the highway pegs mounted on the crash bars. This is heavy steel stuff and again is function over mass. I had plugs (pilot & passenger) for heated gear added because the 12v plug on the console is only 10 amps., a rare WTF in a bike that has millions of miles of R&D behind every screw. Of course, I added the Garmin Navigator 6 (a BMW specific version of the 660M). For me the Nav 6 looks small in it’s console and while there is good sun protection on the screen it’s just too small. The 590LM I use on the Hayabusa is better but does not link into the bike control functions.
On the other hand, the center of mass for the bike feels sort of odd. The bike is quite top heavy, even under power the bike seems to want to fall into a lean quite heavily.
Something else only a Hayabusa owner can appreciate is that the bike comes with both a kickstand and center stand. Push down on the kick stand and it pops firmly into place and locks. Now how hard was that?
The engine is the star of this bike. It’s louder than you might expect, and it has a sport’s car sort of muffled snarl to it. I was thinking about adding the Akrapovic slip-ons (hey get all you can while the Boss is in “Yes Dear” mode, right?) but the dealer talked me out of it. Appears that was a great call as the engine sound is acceptable stock. The 2018 seems louder than the 2017 I rode that sounded like a sewing machine. I kept the rpm under 5K for the new-bike run in, but the character is there. Power and pull are good too. However, once you yank the throttle of an unrestricted Hayabusa engine not much else impresses you.
The throttle on the BMW takes some getting used to. There is a delay in the take up that is positively annoying. Maybe BMW thinks the engine is too powerful to give the rider immediate access to all of it. Whatever they were thinking, it may well be a more dangerous scenario having such a delay between when you ask for power and when you get it. I sincerely hope someone can hack the throttle by wire system and fix this mistake. Delay aside, fueling of the big six is perfect. The engine deceptively provided some impressive thrust.
The clutch is a bit quirky too. It has a very short throw that is at the end of the clutch pull. You feel nothing in the lever and must go by the engine RPMs dropping or the bike moving forward. Fortunately, the engine is simply unstallable. I’m thinking some of the clutch’s eccentric behavior may be due to the shift assist pro. On the positive side, effort is very low and should not be a problem in backed up traffic.
The transmission is tight. Shifting is light with solid engagement. I was unable to find neutral while moving, like say down shifting coming up to a light. Once stopped neutral reappears in the shift pattern but only when going in the up direction from first. This transmission is frankly a bit sloppy when shifting by clutch. However, use the shift assist pro for clutchless up and down shifts and the system becomes amazingly smooth. The bike is new though, and it’s not unusual for transmissions to take a few miles to wear in.
Braking is amazing. Between the big BMW calipers, ABS, and the Duo-lever front suspension, braking is smooth and uneventful no matter how hard you drop anchor. I believe the brakes are linked. My only gripe is the lever pull is very hard. I have become used to two finger full stops with the Brembo setup on my Hayabusa, so I was surprised to find myself full handing the BMW’s brake lever.
Ride & handling are interesting. I am convinced that the BMW design team’s goal was to make the bike handle like an expensive sports car. The slow throttle, the indirect feel of the duo-lever front end, and weight distribution of the bike make for a somewhat isolated feeling that takes some getting used to. The duo-lever communicates little of the typical forces you get used to from a motorcycle’s front end. There is no dive during breaking. There is no rise with acceleration. There is just composure, sort of like the bike does what you tell it without telling you how it’s doing it.
I have spent a ton of cash and time making my Hayabusa an exceptional handling motorcycle. It has risers in the rear, the best tires, weight loss all around and factory tech setup Ohlins suspension. You feel everything that rolls on under the bike. The suspension is tuned to tell the rider what’s there while not letting anything disrupt the process. I can even feel things as subtle as different pavement formulations. Going from this level of information to the K16’s near “feeling blackout” is startling. It’s sort of like most high-performance suspensions are judged by how much they tell you and the BMW just says “Hey, I got this”. This more than anything is why I affectionately call the K1600 a “Car without a cage”.
Like most modern big bikes, the K16 doesn’t feel like a hippo once it’s moving. But like most big bikes, there are hints, lol! The Hayabusa is reasonably comfortable on a track. It won’t win a race with a true sport bike, but it will surprise the posers – even in the turns. The K16 would be totally out of place on a track, period. Still, turning is effortless even in tighter twisties. I have discussed the lack of feel from the front end, but there are also absolutely no objections to what you are telling the bike to do. In fact, the top heavy K16 is startlingly willing to lay over. This appears to be a feeling mainly, as I had no trouble keeping this under control. But it is a specific character of the bike that takes a bit of “socialization”.
Rider modes and suspension setting are straight forward. If you are coming from a sport or sporty bike, I’ll make this simple for you: Dynamic, hard as possible.
More trivial things abound. The windshield is cool and works. I never understood why you need a motorized shield, but you can tune out noise and where the wind hits you, if at all. When I look into the mirrors all I see is what’s behind me. Mirrors that work, now there’s something really innovative! The headlights have “halos” that sort of flicker, very cool looking and difficult for a car to miss, though undoubtedly somehow, they will. I wonder if BMW could somehow make their cellphones flicker? The storage abounds on the bike all over the place and it has central locking. I hope the central locking system is robust because you must push the button 3-4 time before you’re confident all is locked!
I found it amazing that all the gizmos on this bike are so evolved that using them seems natural in just an hour of riding. Switches are where you think they should be and they work completely intuitively. If you are an anti-gadget purist, you need to experience how this bike it implements rider aids. It will change your paradigm. Ironically, it’s the handling of this bike that will feel the most alien.
After an hour on the bike however, I had an epiphany: This bike handles like a car and you only get the feedback necessary to make good riding decisions. Once I got it the Bike became amazing and very fun to push into a turn. It is a great mile munching tool for doing great distances in a spirited way. BMW understands these goals as well as any bike and it is clear the K1600 GT is a bike with an exceptional pedigree and relentless engineer’s hell bent on perfection. The big question is “Am I happy I plopped down the better part of $30K on this bike”. The answer to that is yes. I don’t think there is a better bike for what I plan to do with the K16. Still, the smartest move I made in this deal was keeping the Hayabusa.
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