BMW K1600GLT - brief review if you have ever though of one?

Jesim1

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Ok, so I've now had the K1600 GTL for the past month and put about a thousand miles on her. I got her from Rybrook Wolverhampton Motorrad - which has been a painful experience to say the least, so they will not be on my Christmas card list.

That aside the bike has been a great introduction to BMW touring bikes, even if it is one of the heaviest in the world! I've done a few local runs as well as trips round Matlock, The Yorkshire Dales, The Lakes, and North Wales - all two up with my wife and some with luggage also, although I leave all the luggage in place anyway, it just goes with the bike unless I'm planning a solo trip for a good distance and don't need the carrying capacity.

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The bike has performed very well with no issues other than the dealer related ones on delivery, so it's a thumbs up in that respect. It is a big bike, and in car parks and at low speeds it's a handful, but with time you do get a bit more used to it, but you also have to be careful and respect it - don't park it nose down even a slight incline unless you have the new model with the reverse gear - you’re not going to shift a 370KG bike backwards easily!

Performance wise you have to deliberately try to get it to go fast - this isn't a bad thing, it's just that the engine has so much torque that unless you have ridden one you probably have no idea why I'm saying this. The torque is in such abundance and so low down that you can get into top gear at 30mph and then stay there until you have to drop below that speed. The 6 cylinder engine sounds racy - even though you are changing up at 1500rpm and seldom need to go above 4k - which would also be illegal in most of its higher gears. As it revs on till around 8500rpm you just don't need the extra pace unless you want to go really quick and have an understanding pillion, because when you unleash it's 160 ponies it lifts it's skirt and belts down the road like a proper performance bike. It's waaaayyyyy faster than my R1200GS LC was, and reminds me a lot more of my Kawasaki ZZR11, which if you remember was the fastest production bike in the world at one point, that is the kind of acceleration you get when you drop it into the middle of the rev counter and let it rip, trees fly past at an alarming rate, and to be honest, I don't think my mind can keep up with that now I'm getting older, so as I said before - low revs, lots of torque and a very flexible motor make this bike a really nice and relaxing bike to ride – but only over 10mph!

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Comfort wise it's supposed to be really good, but I've struggled a bit on my last bike and also this one seat wise - I think this may be more me than the bike, but I'm losing some weight and having the seat re done by Tony Archer to get a bit more comfort built into it, so hopefully between the two I'll be comfortable for hundreds of miles instead of wanting to get off after an hour in the saddle.

From a handling point of view the bike is really planted, it feels solid and secure on its Michelin RP4 tyres, more than it should really have any right to carrying its bulk plus my 18 stone frame along with my wife and luggage - physics don't seem to apply to it? I've only had one slight two wheel skid as I hit a patch of gravel in the centre of the road on a corner, just a quick few inch slip and then it dug in and gripped like nothing had happened, it makes me wonder what would have happened on a lighter bike? You just seem to point it into corners and it turns in, it will try to turn in too tight when going into slower, tighter corners, but a bit of practise and this feeling gets less, and you don't have to steer it so much now, but it is definitely better going faster rather than slower, and doing a steady 50mph or twisty roads is hard to imagine how quickly it can change direction. The brakes are good, I've not had to stand it on its nose, but they feel fine, strong, and all the electronics do what they are supposed to - not that I notice them apart from hill start control which is a great help on such a heavy bike.

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So without listing all its features, I won't go into more detail other than the adaptive headlamp is good, as is the electronic suspension, and I've hopefully got the Nav 5 on the same maps as Basecamp as it was giving me some weird turn directions before on some of my runs - like trying to get me on the M6 from a flyover. The central locking and alarm seem to work well, and you can get a small child in the top box - or you could if you tried!

At an average of 50mpg I'm impressed with the fuel consumption, you can drop it a bit on motorways travelling a bit faster than I will admit to on a public forum, but realistically I am getting 250 miles to a tank, and if I don't go on the motorways I could stretch this out to 300 if I was frugal with the aforementioned ponies.

If you have never tried one of these you should do, even if it's just for the hell of it, they are big bikes with big power, but they are also very relaxing and easy to ride if you approach it properly.

James
 
James, did you take that picture in matlock on this past Sunday?

Nope, I was North wales last weekend, I think Matlock would have been the Sunday before 1st of July possibly? The sun was shining and the place was heaving, but surprisingly I didn't see too many bikes actually on the road:rolleyes:

James
 
Ah okay. Yeah noticed that too didnt see too many riders but plenty of parked bikes. The parking wardens were out giving tickets to over stayers
 
50 mpg? Unknown territory!

Before you muck about with the seat, invest a couple of quid in a simply ‘foot’ for the sidestand. You do not want 320 kg of bike forcing its way through the tarmac or grassy field.

Keep the radiator clean or it WILL overheat. You don’t want to damage the head on a six cylinder engine.
 
50 mpg? Unknown territory!

Before you muck about with the seat, invest a couple of quid in a simply ‘foot’ for the sidestand. You do not want 320 kg of bike forcing its way through the tarmac or grassy field.

Keep the radiator clean or it WILL overheat. You don’t want to damage the head on a six cylinder engine.

Thanks for the heads up - I'm out again tomorrow for a few miles, if I remember I'll take a pic of the MPG on my return, two up with empty luggage through North wales/Liverpool and back, so mixed town, rural and finally motorways to finish off, should be around 160 to 180 miles.

James :beerjug:
 
Thanks for the heads up - I'm out again tomorrow for a few miles, if I remember I'll take a pic of the MPG on my return, two up with empty luggage through North wales/Liverpool and back, so mixed town, rural and finally motorways to finish off, should be around 160 to 180 miles.

James :beerjug:

Great review :thumb

I'd love to have a go of that cylinder 6 engine. I thought the 6 in my Valkyrie was great and that wouldn't be a patch on the Beemer motor.

Forget taking a picture of the readout , brim to brim trip meter reading is the only way to be confident of a fairly accurate figure.

13 try's ago by brother used to try to tell me his 2Litre petrol Vectra SRi was getting 50 mpg in mixed driving.
 
Great review :thumb

I'd love to have a go of that cylinder 6 engine. I thought the 6 in my Valkyrie was great and that wouldn't be a patch on the Beemer motor.

Forget taking a picture of the readout , brim to brim trip meter reading is the only way to be confident of a fairly accurate figure.

Cheers - I've brimmed it before and got 53mpg, but I was out with my mate on his Harley, so not as quick on the way home down the Motorways, but it was over 200 miles, so a reasonable distance. A picture is the only way to "see" the mpg - whether you believe it or not is another issue, but having done over 250 miles on the same tank and only just got the fill light on it's got to be in the ball park with a 26L tank.

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James
 


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