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BMW K1200 GT review

And now for something completely different...

I also had the pleasure of riding a BMW K 1200 GT, on evaluation from Rolfe Classic in Canberra.

(As an aside: why would you have a motorcycle salesperson who doesn't ride, and therefore doesn't really have any vocabulary in common with their potential customers? I suppose if people walk in knowing exactly what they want, anyone can negotiate price, but sometimes they want some information or advice too... All the answers about how it compares to other models, or what it's like to live with for more than an hour can only come from experience.)

Back to the bike. The executive summary would have to be beautiful bike; shame about the motor.

To get the worst out of the way: the 4 cylinder 1171cc motor isn't really bad; it's just a bit bland. It produces usable torque from a touch above idle all the way up. It's very very smooth; since a sticker obscured part of the tacho on the bike I rode I once wondered if it had stopped. Let the clutch out in first or second or third, smoothly take off, pop up a gear or two. I wonder if the self-effacing engine is one reason why the GT has an LCD gear indicator on the console, something I haven't seen on anything else in years.

In a bike in this class you're not wanting wheelies or burnouts. You don't want your pillion falling off. But corporal engagement with the motor is part of the experience of riding. If you pay AUD 28,000 for a bike it ought to have a motor that's interesting to ride. I think my disappointment is twofold: it accelerates adequately, but unremarkably. It's very noticeably slower than your average 600cc bike, though much of this is likely due to the substantial >300kg mass. Secondly, the power's delivered in such a quiet and smooth way that opening the throttle doesn't bring the thrill we normally enjoy. The torque curve seems pretty flat; there is no top end surge as such.

Perhaps I'm just too young.

Leaving the lack of power aside, it is a wonderful bike in many other respects. It's hard to describe how the mass disappears once it gets moving, but it really does. It's amazing: parked it looks like a lot of frontal area and a lot of weight, but once you're rolling it feels light and well composed. I rode it on a windy day and was worried that all the plastic would catch the sidewinds, but in fact it does very well compared to the smaller ZX12-R. It must be something about the shape, or perhaps the bike's inertia keeping it steady.

Front wind protection is also very good. The screen is electrically adjustable over a small range. The air behind it is extraordinarily calm even at 130+. I felt distinctly warm on a spring day which might have been nippy on less protected bikes. The wind protection plus a very neutral seating position makes it very comfortable.

The switchgear is pretty loaded with controls for heating, the windscreen, cruise control, headlights, hazard lights, and the BMW-style indicators. It takes a bit of getting used to, but your thumbs will be busy at first. I can imagine the BMW indicator setup being easier with winter gloves, which is perhaps why they stick with it.

Heated grips and seats are standard, which I'm sure would be luxury in winter. Panniers are also standard.

The Telelever suspension is strangely disturbing compared to conventional bikes when you first corner or brake. I think the big difference is that it doesn't dive or lift in the same way that conventional forks do; at first you miss the feedback but it soon starts to feel really good and very stable.

The linked/ABS brakes are a tower of strength. They're as good as any OEM sportsbike brake I've seen, even though they need to disipate perhaps twice as much kinetic energy. Press the lever and it stops very rapidly but controllably, and without perceptibly diving. The sharpness and tight control immediately reminded me of braided steel lines I had on a CBR600 a few years ago. It feels enormously safe and probably contributes to feeling easily in control of the heavy unit.

The burning question for observers of BMW motorcycles has to be: why can't the company that makes the M3 and M5 coupes produce a bike to match? We don't need another liter superbike, but something that is luxurious but powerful would be worth seeing.

Lovely bike, but not for me for a few years at least. If you had the money and wanted to do a long highway trip at roughly legal speeds the K 1200 GT would have to be a top contender.

posted Sat 27 Sep 2003 in /motorbikes/review | link

Kawasaki ER-5 review

I had a Kawasaki ER-5 loaner from the good blokes at Canberra Motorcycle Centre for the last couple of days.

What we have here is a nice, competent 500cc twin street bike. For me at roughly 182cm the size was pretty good; it felt small and light but not tiny. The seat is not high; for somebody shorter but with reasonable lower body strength it would probably also be cosy.

The engine note is lovely and burbling; it starts easily from cold. Acceleration from the lights is good, and it has a broader torque band (~2500-9000rpm) than comparable smaller bikes. The relatively large displacement for a learner bike and a heavy flywheel(?) should make it patient with on riders who are still getting the hang of the clutch.

Cornering and braking are pretty nice for what is not really a performance bike. You can scoot around inner city corners with confidence in the slightly narrow tyres (110/70-17R front, 130/70-17R rear) and handling. It's not quite “on rails”, but it is wearing good grippy sneakers.

Steering is of course very direct and tight compared to a sports bike, and the relatively low gearing means that putt-putting around carparks or the inner city or parking on sloping footpath is a piece of cake. It feels rather less than its dry 179kg.

The obvious weak point is the brakes. The single disc front and drum rear both produce nowhere near the force they ought to — and brakes are one thing that's not really optional. A very tight squeeze on the front produces rather asthmatic deceleration, and the rear brake seems to have less effect than engine braking.

I suppose the nicest thing I can say about the brakes is that they might be comfortable for a novice who's afraid of sliding the front wheel under heavy braking. However hard I squeezed, it didn't seem to get anywhere near the friction limit of the modest front tyre. The price of unthreatening braking might well be sliding right into a crash that you could have avoided on a small sports bike.

So the ER-5 is roughly AUD $8900 brand spanking new, friendly to ride, and very practical around town. Under the current laws in the ACT and most of Australia, it's learner-legal because of the conservative power-to-weight ratio. Not only is the ratio legal, but I think the absolute values are sane: it's not so heavy as to get away from you, and it's unlikely to lead the new rider into too much temptation.

I would almost like to say it'd be a good learner bike, but the brakes worry me. I hate the idea of a learner drifting into a collision with the calipers squeezed shut. Perhaps I'm being unfair here — I haven't sampled the competition recently. But from memory even something like a Balius feels far safer. Before buying an ER-5 I'd definitely make sure to pay attention to the brakes. Aside from that, go ahead and enjoy.

posted Sat 27 Sep 2003 in /motorbikes/review | link

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