I've had my BMW K1300GT for nearly 1000 miles now. A couple of weeks ago I went for a ride with two of my closest friends on this site. I let each take a spin, not to get feed back but just to get it over with
Each summarized his impressions and emailed them to me. Here is one of the spontaneous, unsolicited emails.
Hi, guys.
Thanks again, John, for letting us have a go at your GT yesterday. Even though Carl was clearly bored by the experience, I had fun. ;-) As I so often do, I banged around my thoughts on the day’s experience while I made my way home and then, as my day was winding down, I put my thoughts onto paper…er, into electrons.
So the K1300GT has 103 things the ST needs: power power power and 100 pounds less weight. It's an inline 4 so you need to rev it to get to the torque but when you do holy freaking cow! And the drop in mass is apparent as soon as you pull it off the sidestand, then moving at parking lot speed, and then every time you lean into a curve. It holds a line like a rock. There’s something about the front end that feels strangely vague to me. The duolever suspension doesn't give feedback like forks. It's kind of like a car with electric power steering...it does the job but doesn't tell you what's going on. Maybe it just takes getting used to. (John, what are you doing later?) It’s not that it doesn’t handle beautifully – it does – it just isolates me from what’s happening. Interesting that BMW’s S1000RR sport bike uses forks.
The seating position is upright and the bar height is adjustable to several stops. Nice! What does that involve? A couple castings and two bolts. Hello, every other motorcycle manufacturer in the world?! The pegs were very high, I thought. That's OK when you hug the tank with your legs leaning into a turn because you feel locked into the machine, much more than I do on the ST. No contest. I think my knees would be dying before too long, however.
The LCD electronic info display in the center of the dash was useless since all I could see in the screen was my white helmet. Might be because my ride was south and then back north and the mid-day sun was bright and low in the November sky. Maybe my particular torso height and posture created the perfect reflection coefficient. Maybe if I grew another 10 inches? I couldn't see the screen unless I was in the shade and shifted my head to one side. John, I’ll have to ride your bike again across a range of compass points and sky conditions to know for sure. (What are you doing later?)
I played with the ESA suspension. It was hard to tell what setting I was in because the road was smooth and the difference between settings seems subtle, at least in the conditions of yesterday’s ride. I could hardly see the LCD screen to read the setting icon and it took a couple tries to get the logic of the push button. (Push once to enter ESA mode, then push again to cycle through settings...COMFORT, NORMAL, SPORT.) NORMAL felt best to me. I'd likely leave it there, but I’d need more saddle time on a different range of road surfaces to know. (What are you doing later?) In all settings the GT handles beautifully.
The throttle has instant response and it doesn’t have that instant on/off “light switch” feel that some fuel injected bikes (the ST1300 comes to mind) are plagued with. There's zero driveline slop, very chain-like in that respect.
After 20 minutes at a spirited pace on a beautiful river road, I got off the bike and my hands, forearms and feet were all tingly from a near constant buzz in the chassis. John, you said something about this while we were still kicking tires and I wasn't sure what you meant but after a ride I understand. The inline 4’s I’ve ridden have all been smaller and less sophisticated bikes than the GT, but maybe that buzz they share is just an inline 4 characteristic. It's a powerful free-revving motor (Weeeee!) but it doesn't have the smoothness of a V4. Nature of the beast. I think it would be fatiguing to ride this bike a long way, but I’d need to ride it for a long distance to know for sure. (What are you doing later?) I bet the new BMW K1600GT’s 6 cylinder motor will address the smoothness issue in spades, although that bike is supposed to weigh about as much as an ST1300. I’m definitely interested in dropping the weight of any ST replacement.
It's definitely nice having most of the electronic farkles I’d want plus heated grips and seat standard. There's even a "regular" turn signal switch now (I never understood why BMW needed 3 switches for the turn signals). John, you said that tapping into BMW’s CANBUS wiring to add a fuse block is dicey at best and I have read that it voids your warranty. Is that the case? You also said the sales guy told you not to use the OEM power outlet for heated gear. Is that because of the design load of the wiring isn’t up to the draw from a heated jacket? Yes, you can go straight to the battery but how would you add a relay in such a scenario? If you can’t, anything electrical you add comes hot off the battery. Does BMW offer a factory approved fuse block or accessory harness (I’m thinking Honda Quartet Harness here).
John you said a couple time that the GT takes 2nd place to your ST for all day comfort and after 20 minutes in the saddle I expect you are right. Of course I may have to ride an ST all day to catch up! I was working hard to keep up with you, especially those roads right after Carl’s gas stop, and you were breezing through the curves. I give the GT high marks for carving. It rocks in that role and you took us on a great route to prove it.
As I rode home I asked myself, “Bones, would you buy one of these?” Eventually I concluded, “Doubtful.” I loved the power and weight advantages over the ST, but I’m too in love with a V4’s smoothness and torque characteristics and that makes me want a VFR1200 “GT” which (hopefully!) would have similar overall performance and accoutrements but with a sweet Honda V4. I just loved the mill in the new VFRs I rode last summer and in September but I couldn’t take their riding position for long.
So, John, if you find yourself needing someone to keep an eye on your GT while you’re in Portugal for the weekend or whatever, I’ll be glad to help you. Don’t bother asking Carl, he’ll be busy working on his anvil…LOL!
Best,
Bones
Each summarized his impressions and emailed them to me. Here is one of the spontaneous, unsolicited emails. Hi, guys.
Thanks again, John, for letting us have a go at your GT yesterday. Even though Carl was clearly bored by the experience, I had fun. ;-) As I so often do, I banged around my thoughts on the day’s experience while I made my way home and then, as my day was winding down, I put my thoughts onto paper…er, into electrons.
So the K1300GT has 103 things the ST needs: power power power and 100 pounds less weight. It's an inline 4 so you need to rev it to get to the torque but when you do holy freaking cow! And the drop in mass is apparent as soon as you pull it off the sidestand, then moving at parking lot speed, and then every time you lean into a curve. It holds a line like a rock. There’s something about the front end that feels strangely vague to me. The duolever suspension doesn't give feedback like forks. It's kind of like a car with electric power steering...it does the job but doesn't tell you what's going on. Maybe it just takes getting used to. (John, what are you doing later?) It’s not that it doesn’t handle beautifully – it does – it just isolates me from what’s happening. Interesting that BMW’s S1000RR sport bike uses forks.
The seating position is upright and the bar height is adjustable to several stops. Nice! What does that involve? A couple castings and two bolts. Hello, every other motorcycle manufacturer in the world?! The pegs were very high, I thought. That's OK when you hug the tank with your legs leaning into a turn because you feel locked into the machine, much more than I do on the ST. No contest. I think my knees would be dying before too long, however.
The LCD electronic info display in the center of the dash was useless since all I could see in the screen was my white helmet. Might be because my ride was south and then back north and the mid-day sun was bright and low in the November sky. Maybe my particular torso height and posture created the perfect reflection coefficient. Maybe if I grew another 10 inches? I couldn't see the screen unless I was in the shade and shifted my head to one side. John, I’ll have to ride your bike again across a range of compass points and sky conditions to know for sure. (What are you doing later?)
I played with the ESA suspension. It was hard to tell what setting I was in because the road was smooth and the difference between settings seems subtle, at least in the conditions of yesterday’s ride. I could hardly see the LCD screen to read the setting icon and it took a couple tries to get the logic of the push button. (Push once to enter ESA mode, then push again to cycle through settings...COMFORT, NORMAL, SPORT.) NORMAL felt best to me. I'd likely leave it there, but I’d need more saddle time on a different range of road surfaces to know. (What are you doing later?) In all settings the GT handles beautifully.
The throttle has instant response and it doesn’t have that instant on/off “light switch” feel that some fuel injected bikes (the ST1300 comes to mind) are plagued with. There's zero driveline slop, very chain-like in that respect.
After 20 minutes at a spirited pace on a beautiful river road, I got off the bike and my hands, forearms and feet were all tingly from a near constant buzz in the chassis. John, you said something about this while we were still kicking tires and I wasn't sure what you meant but after a ride I understand. The inline 4’s I’ve ridden have all been smaller and less sophisticated bikes than the GT, but maybe that buzz they share is just an inline 4 characteristic. It's a powerful free-revving motor (Weeeee!) but it doesn't have the smoothness of a V4. Nature of the beast. I think it would be fatiguing to ride this bike a long way, but I’d need to ride it for a long distance to know for sure. (What are you doing later?) I bet the new BMW K1600GT’s 6 cylinder motor will address the smoothness issue in spades, although that bike is supposed to weigh about as much as an ST1300. I’m definitely interested in dropping the weight of any ST replacement.
It's definitely nice having most of the electronic farkles I’d want plus heated grips and seat standard. There's even a "regular" turn signal switch now (I never understood why BMW needed 3 switches for the turn signals). John, you said that tapping into BMW’s CANBUS wiring to add a fuse block is dicey at best and I have read that it voids your warranty. Is that the case? You also said the sales guy told you not to use the OEM power outlet for heated gear. Is that because of the design load of the wiring isn’t up to the draw from a heated jacket? Yes, you can go straight to the battery but how would you add a relay in such a scenario? If you can’t, anything electrical you add comes hot off the battery. Does BMW offer a factory approved fuse block or accessory harness (I’m thinking Honda Quartet Harness here).
John you said a couple time that the GT takes 2nd place to your ST for all day comfort and after 20 minutes in the saddle I expect you are right. Of course I may have to ride an ST all day to catch up! I was working hard to keep up with you, especially those roads right after Carl’s gas stop, and you were breezing through the curves. I give the GT high marks for carving. It rocks in that role and you took us on a great route to prove it.
As I rode home I asked myself, “Bones, would you buy one of these?” Eventually I concluded, “Doubtful.” I loved the power and weight advantages over the ST, but I’m too in love with a V4’s smoothness and torque characteristics and that makes me want a VFR1200 “GT” which (hopefully!) would have similar overall performance and accoutrements but with a sweet Honda V4. I just loved the mill in the new VFRs I rode last summer and in September but I couldn’t take their riding position for long.
So, John, if you find yourself needing someone to keep an eye on your GT while you’re in Portugal for the weekend or whatever, I’ll be glad to help you. Don’t bother asking Carl, he’ll be busy working on his anvil…LOL!
Best,
Bones
