+ Click to Enlarge IT DOESN'T GET BETTER: Sunshine, twisty roads and a BMW K1200S.

April 19, 2005
By Dave Abrahams

The South African launch of BMW's K1200S superbike was one of the most eagerly awaited in recent history.

The hype around this, the Blue Propeller's first serious performance machine, was if anything heightened by delays caused by well-publicised problems with soft camshafts and fuel-injection glitches.

As BMW SA marketing manager Rob Barnes put it, for the company's first venture into the most demanding category in motorcycling, the bike would have to be right first time.

BMW wisely took the time afforded it by the camshaft debacle to address all the concerns raised by the media at the world launch in Germany. The result, almost a year after the bike was first shown at the Intermot expo in September 2004, is a more complete all-rounder, a surprisingly mature model given that it is BMW's first transverse four.

Determined to show us the K1200S bike at its best, BMW kicked off the SA launch at Kyalami racetrack, where we could feel out the response of the 123kW, 1157cc motor away from taxis and traffic cops.

The weather gods thought otherwise, however, with increasingly heavy rain throughout the track time. What we found was that the bike is sure-footed in the wet.

The only time the immensely long 1571mm wheelbase could be felt was at WesBank (which I was taking at about 40km/h!) where the front wheel showed a slight tendency to dart from side to side – not enough to unsettle the bike, you understand, but enough to unsettle this rider.

Everywhere else the bike stayed on the chosen line with admirable precision.

In the exact opposite of BMW's intentions, I never got the revs above 4000; the result was to dispel any lingering doubts about the big K's fuelling. There was no sign of the surging at small throttle openings that reportedly bedevilled the bikes at the world launch in Germany.

I was able to hold the bike absolutely steady at about 70km/h between Clubhouse and the Esses, at about 3200rpm in fourth gear, and pitch it gently down the hill into the Esses without using the brakes.

You have no idea how reassuring that is, on a streaming wet track, on someone else's brand new 226kg musclebike.

The throttle becomes a little choppy at very low revs - the familiar "slamming door" spritzer effect common to most fuel-injection systems – but the butter-smooth, four-cylinder engine smoothes it out to the point where it never affects the chassis.

Could you ride this thing to work in heavy traffic on a wet winter's morning? Absolutely.

On the road

We rode out to Mpumalanga for the road segment of the launch in unrelenting rain, heavy enough that visibility occasionally became a problem. The bikes, however, weren't fazed; none of the 18 launch machines missed a beat.

The sports fairing and abbreviated screen, with its carefully sculpted, slightly turned-up rear edge, keep the weather off the rider and the long, heavy K1200S is a steady as a rock, even with the electronic suspension adjustment (a R5500 optional extra but well worth it) set at its softest for comfort.

The rain held off for the last 150km, though the roads remained very wet, and average speeds crept up – for the first time, with ice-cold hands in sodden gloves, I was thankful for BMW's heated grips.

As a demonstration of the bike's capabilities in the real (very real!) world it was remarkable, if rather unpleasant.

Back-road blitzkrieg

The second day was clear and sunny as we launched a blitzkrieg on the back roads of the Lowveld, the big motor coming into its own. It's surprisingly rev-happy, howling up to its 11 000 redline without hesitation, accompanied by a spine-tingling intake roar.

The power comes on strong from about 5500rpm; it's at its best between 8000 and 10 000rpm but signs off quite quickly above the power peak at 10 250rpm so there's nothing to be gained by revving to the limiter. You'll get better results short-shifting at just under 10 000 and staying in the strongest part of the torque curve.

There's a fair amount of vibration above 6000rpm - most of it, surprisingly, on overrun. You soon get used to it, though, and learn to keep just a little positive throttle on most of the time – which does wonders for your average speed.

Slick shifts

The gearbox, notchy and vocal in typically BMW fashion at low revs, is slick and quick-shifting at higher revs – clutchless upshifts are the norm and disturb the chassis less than using the clutch.

You can see the knuckle joint on the Hossack front suspension working over the bumps and ripples but the front remains planted – even accelerating hard out of a bumpy corner the bike rarely shakes its head, and then only in mild protest at such heavy-handed treatment.

The bike is stable, the steering accurate and quick; the K1200S can be hustled through fast S-bends a lot quicker than its weight and extended wheelbase would lead you to believe.

The results are awesome if you're prepared to rev the big mill - 123kW is serious stuff. The big K gets up to 220km/h faster than you can say it and some of the scribes at the SA launch saw 260km/h on the clock with a bit more to come.

ABS problem

The brakes, as on all big Beems, are Brembo's electrically assisted EVO units, with their typical tiny delay on take-up followed by immense bite. This is one bike that seriously needs the standard ABS, although some of the really fast riders would have preferred to be able to switch it off under some circumstances.

If you go barrelling into a bumpy downhill corner on the brakes, the ABS will read the action of the front suspension as an incipient slide and release the brakes, causing the bike to run wide.

The faster you go, of course, the worse the effect; the slowest rider in our group wasn't even aware of it, I felt it but held my line.

Only the quickest riders (read hooligans) had a problem with it; they soon learned to brake a little earlier on bumpy down-slopes and make allowances for this quirk.

Suspension adjustment

On most surfaces the roadholding is exemplary; a little fiddling with the electronic suspension adjustment, via a single button on the left switchgear and a dedicated page on the liquid crystal display, soon had the bike set up just right for my weight.

You just scroll through the options like a cellphone; it takes a little while but it's easy to do on the move, which means you can soften the suspension for bumpy back roads or firm it up for your favourite fast bends without stopping.

BMW's hype notwithstanding, this is not a superbike; it has the same power as a Yamaha R1 but with 60kg more mass on a 180mm longer wheelbase.

It is, however, far more comfortable than any of the litre-class rocketships for both rider and pillion with slightly more relaxed ergonomics and, for all but the most dedicated of sports riders, just as quick around corners.

Sheer fun

We rode 900km over the two days of the launch in widely varying conditions over mostly very twisty roads, throwing the big fours around and riding hard for the sheer fun of it – and it was fun – even in the rain. This is a sports bike for the real world.

The K1200S is available now from your local BMW dealer and costs R132 000 (plus R5500 for the electronic suspension adjustment).

BMW K1200S specifications