K1600 GT reverse gear

Wapping

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I had a very brief go, sitting on a new bike, with the reverse gear. It's initially quite an unerving experience.

Lift the bike to upright, if it's not there already.

Raise the side stand, if it's not already up

Start the engine, if it's not already running

With the bike in neutral, push the button R on the left hand bar. R will appear in the gear position indicator screen

Push the starter button....

Nothing will happen for a moment.... Then the rev's will rise.... that is a bit unnerving at first as it sounds as if the bike is about to speed off.... and the bike will then drive - under engine power, not just on the starter motor- backards at a reasonable pace. Lift your thumb off the starter switch and the bike will stop, the engine still running. Push it again and the rev's rise again and back it goes. Repeat until happy.

Once you get used to the noises and how it drives backwards it's quite easy.... a useful addition to a heavy bike, particularly if you are on gravel or having to pull it up a slope.

Next... feet up reversing!
 
All it needs now is an auto box.
 
Ah - I had assumed it was a battery powered function.

Don't press R going around a corner - there will be 50 pages of investigation.
 
Ah - I had assumed it was a battery powered function.

I had assumed the same. It does though make very good sense to have the engine driving the heavy bike backwards, saving the battery and starter motor possibly straining away. I guess you could, if you felt the pressing need, drive backwards for several hundreds of yards, just as you can in a car.
 
Excitement..... and the arguably unnecessary foreshortening of revolutions, the word revs itself having entered common usuage.
 
Sounds no different from the reverse function I had on a K1200LT a few years ago, very straightforward when you get used to it.
 
The bike would indeed lend itself well to a good, dual clutch, auto engine.

Absolutely - personally I would prefer to see the K16 with a Honda style DC auto option in preference to this fangled reverse thingy, particularly as the original gearboxes have been problematic for some. Still, I guess when the bike is fully loaded there is a case for reverse, as with the Wing, but doesn't everything just start to get too heavy & over-complicated. The K16 already needs to go on a serious diet.
 
Absolutely - personally I would prefer to see the K16 with a Honda style DC auto option in preference to this fangled reverse thingy, particularly as the original gearboxes have been problematic for some. Still, I guess when the bike is fully loaded there is a case for reverse, as with the Wing, but doesn't everything just start to get too heavy & over-complicated. The K16 already needs to go on a serious diet.

It is a brilliant bike for uber two up touring whilst at the same time being able to get some real performance.
 
I've seen one being reversed... It's quite a noisy commotion!

I think you'll find that the revs rise so that the alternator is generating sufficient juice to provide/replace the power being used as the starter motor is used to reverse you.
 
I've seen one being reversed... It's quite a noisy commotion!

I think you'll find that the revs rise so that the alternator is generating sufficient juice to provide/replace the power being used as the starter motor is used to reverse you.

Aha, that makes perfect sense.
 
With the seat high enough to get properly comfortable, retracting undercarriage would make the bike usable and comfortable for anyone regardless of leg length.
 
Have not been on the K1600 forum for a while.

Sounds like there is a problem with the reverse gear. If you turn off in reverse gear the gear box will only allow upwards changes.

BMW have acknowledged the problem and a fix was on the way.
 
Quite why it needs a thread of its own to describe the blindingly obvious baffles me !

Seriously if you are curious, just borrow one from your dealer for a morning/afternoon.
A seriously good bike. Just a shame the choice of colours is a smidge weird ... and there are a couple of things that irk .. like the stupid “aerial” and the number 6 plastered everywhere (is it just to impress teenage boys FFS)
 


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