world's shortest test ride, review of a BMW K1600GT

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Roadcraft Nottingham - Motorcycle Training

11 жыл бұрын

Another instructor asked if I'd like a play on his K1600, I'd be stupid to say no so this was my first impression...Can't believe I missed out on a "screen goes up, screen goes down" moment.
Roadcraft Nottingham is a UK motorcycle school which was established in March 1989.
I am a fully qualified professional motorcycle instructor of 35 years and offer motorcycle riding tips and tips on riding a motorcycle for the first time.
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Пікірлер: 129

@ChrisDalvikBxl 11 жыл бұрын

Love your videos, very correct and has improved my skills for road riding. Thanks a lot for uploading such helpful material to the world

@SpayNeut.Always 9 жыл бұрын

better than most 20 minute reviews. good job

@Pocahonkers 7 жыл бұрын

The Inline 6-Cylinder engine *theoretically* has no first and second moments since they all cancel eachother out. So by pure theory the I6-Engine is the smoothest design possible, which is the reason BMW just keeps on using it in their cars and luckily motorcycles aswell now. Still waiting for the K1600R BMW, I know you want it too!

@monsieurcesar258 7 жыл бұрын

all right man!

@mjb3962 11 жыл бұрын

Nice upload again Russ! There must be some solid metal in the gearbox.

@jblifeasitis895 11 жыл бұрын

Even a short ride can give a "premium" opinion, good job Russ!!!

@eddiefara 11 жыл бұрын

beautiful bikes with an amazing sound!! i love them!

@mistermattman1159 8 жыл бұрын

I had my headphones in with my volume up way to high and damn did I jump at the beginning when you went "boo" lol

@RoadcraftNottingham 11 жыл бұрын

That's very interesting, the CBX1000 in the 70s felt similar. Good point, thanks.

@NBMedia8928 4 жыл бұрын

It's got that distinctive K bike whistle

@TheMissendenFlyer 11 жыл бұрын

Wow what a fabulous piece of kit! Shame about the gearbox of course - there's something about the big comfortable tourers that appeals, did you not find it felt super weighty though Russ? I struggle moving my panniered up Tiger 1050 around and that's a lightweight in comparison (like me it seems!!)....

@stlee74 11 жыл бұрын

I test rode the 1600 for two days (and I've owned loads of Pan 1100's, a few 1300's (just got a new 1300 last week). The BMW.. And this is coming from a massive Pan Fan..... was amazing!! I loved it. But a bit pricey. I'll stick with the Pan! Thanks for the upload.

@Johny40Se7en 9 жыл бұрын

Aww nice Bandit at the end =)

@boxofmoles4057 5 жыл бұрын

Thing is a two-wheeler land yacht. I ride an agile 1200cc naked supersport. Can't even imagine going to that class of unadulterated luxury.

@Viper6-MotoVlogger 11 жыл бұрын

Can't be worse than the gearbox on my cruiser. It sounds like a hammer hitting an anvil. I agree though, for such a refined bike, it does indeed have a primitive gearbox. I rode my friend's, and was impressed with the transfer of power to the rear wheel, and just all of the little touches that make it a BMW..

@santo.8177 3 жыл бұрын

I LOVE YOU BMW K 1600GT.💪🏼👍❤️

@fiuturizm 11 жыл бұрын

i like the way you test bikes, you should do it more often ;). It gives great info, feedback and you point out the things that will bother you, after you've owned the bike for a while ;). Please do more tests, maybe a Yamaha TDM 850? :]

@SJCB27 10 жыл бұрын

Hello Again Russ. I had a K16 for a morning last Autumn, thinking to replace my K12GT. You are absolutely right about that throttle; stalled the bl**dy thing at the first set of lights! However, that engine... And it's got no right to handle so well for something so big. I can't really fault the 16 but it's just not for me; bars in the wrong place, pegs in the wrong place and just too, well, BIG. I ended up swapping for a K1300GTEE... Best Sports Tourer ever made! Stay safe, Mate. Regards, Si.

@r0b3r70nl 11 жыл бұрын

Honestly Russ, when you said it will be the shortes review, I was looking for the moment you'd drop the bike :) Fortunately you didn't :) at 1:58 I thought: why is he driving like that, and then I remembered you drive on the other side in the UK :) 4:43 the pupil seems like a highly-visible super hero, be cause of his "cape". As for the gearbox, I took the BWM S1000RR for a spin last week - smoothest gearbox ever IMHO, but it's a different kind of bike... Cheers!

@RoadcraftNottingham 11 жыл бұрын

I agree, it's a fantastic engine. I feel let down a little by it's gearbox in the lower gears at least.

@johnwoodhead4059 Жыл бұрын

after owning a K100 for many yrs iv found the best way to change gear without the CLUNK is DONTfully close the throttle on changes Works a treat

@delirium4327 11 жыл бұрын

What a dash!!

@RoadcraftNottingham 11 жыл бұрын

The fly by wire on my Tuono is instant and you'd never tell so as someone on here mentioned, it may have something to do with the lag of a big, long 6 cylinder crank? Open to speculation here.

@jmroscoe3143 11 жыл бұрын

You might find the throttle response is due to the inertia of an inline 6's crankshaft, lot of weight to accelerate there. Just a thought - Thanks for the vid!

@ibrarsiddiqi8948 11 жыл бұрын

I tried the F800R - sporty with a brilliant chassis.

@rickbangkok 10 жыл бұрын

I took a test ride 45 mins in town and on highway, but I did not think the gearbox was clunky at all. But I just rode a 1989 K100RS for 22 years, so its all relative. So the GTL is like the Starship Enterprise of motorcycles. Smooth, fast and I thought handled as well as a R1100 RT given the weight of the GTL.

@VToldsMotoShow 11 жыл бұрын

Are you using some kind of external mic with the Drift Ghost HD? I assume that its internal mic wouldn't do so well catching you voice, right?

@RoadcraftNottingham 11 жыл бұрын

Agreed, we all have our personal opinions and I personally feel the gearbox should be more like the K1200s for an inline engined bike. Thanks for your opinions on my uploads buddy, you're very knowledgeable and your input is always valued. :-)

@TheFriskyBiker 11 жыл бұрын

Looking forward to that (:

@123JumpingJacks 6 жыл бұрын

Love it. Still have yet to do a review of a bmw. Kinda jealous =)

@MrTemjin 11 жыл бұрын

Well they are pretty famous here in Portugal, i've ridden an S1000RR and it's a crazy crazy bike! Nothing wrong with it, power, handling, brakes everything was perfect.

@zrx12gs650g 9 жыл бұрын

The engine on this bike reminds me of my old 79' Honda CBX. Does anyone remember those?

@BibTheBoulderTheOriginalOne 5 жыл бұрын

Yep, I do. I had a 6 cylinder Kawasaki Z1300. Looking to buy another one and decent ones are fetching way over £10k

@pnorski 8 жыл бұрын

I just purchased a 2014 K1600 GTL with 2200 miles on it. They have the gearbox figured out after the 2012 model. As for the breaks, they are AWESOME and linked! I drove a Kawasaki concours C14 ABS, and the K1600 will stand toe to toe with the Connie. Great performance and super comfortable. I am assuming you were driving an earlier model? Great vid though. I too was expecting a crash. Good thing I was wrong! Be safe! Cheers!

@AndySanderson 7 жыл бұрын

pnorski The "vague" throttle response could possibly be because it was in rain mode not dynamic mode.

@SadSaffer 11 жыл бұрын

How very dare you say anything negative about BMW's gearbox engineering ;) Good honest review, can't wait for the Honda Goldwing review....or not? Keep those vids coming you have a great channel.

@RoadcraftNottingham 11 жыл бұрын

Damn! I missed that too! Come on Russ, get with it. :-)

@hsmith3844 6 жыл бұрын

Is that concave looking mirror thing on windscreen a rear view mirror??

@Crana 11 жыл бұрын

I don't like ride by wire throttles at all, my old ktm had one and it was vague as you said plus that bike had jerky fuel injection too so it wasn't great at times. Advantage is of course different power modes and I believe my ktm had a feature where if you were in say 6th at 20mph and 100% throttled it it wouldn't stall as the ecu would cut the revs (654cc single).

@RoadcraftNottingham 11 жыл бұрын

The cc I would imagine would be for less effort whilst touring. My 1000cc Tuono has more HP than the BMW but has a buzzier engine. You could put the BMW in top gear from 30mph and it would glide up to any speed.

@soulless82 11 жыл бұрын

When would you or would you do a BMW 1200 GS Adventure review?!

@MohammadMani 11 жыл бұрын

Oh man, that was the test centre I did my exams on! Good memories :p This thing looks very comfortable to ride, but isn't it a bit big for filtering through traffic? I wanna buy a GS and this is the only concern I have, but then GS is slightly smaller than this one

@SadaEKE 6 жыл бұрын

What's that shiny cylindrical bit on your windscreen?

@RoadcraftNottingham 11 жыл бұрын

I suppose if I had to push it, it would have felt weighty but riding and slow speed balance was lovely.

@RoadcraftNottingham 11 жыл бұрын

I've already done a 1200gs review. I won't be riding any more boxer twins if I can help it.

@RoadcraftNottingham 11 жыл бұрын

Passed his Mod 2 with zero faults! His name's Ben.

@madrox4132 11 жыл бұрын

Definitely a BMW trait. The gearbox is definitely my biggest complaint on my F800ST.

@thompson48989 11 жыл бұрын

Hello mate. I was wondering about you're trackday lessons, I've heard you take people on their first track days is this true because I would love to try one

@majabubloem 11 жыл бұрын

please Advice! for a day to day, no offroad trip but mostly in town, would you recommand it? I love the gadget but i am not sure if it is the better choice to r1200gs adventure( bigger tank my concern)

@britishbikermatt2338 11 жыл бұрын

I do like your commentary Russ. What about a Kawasaki 1400 zzr?

@TristanDesnos 11 жыл бұрын

Hi Russ, I was wondering if I could pick your brain... I've settled on this bike to do the Route 66 tour in the US for honeymoon next year. I will be riding for nearly two weeks solid. Usually ride sports bikes so, so figured with this engine would be a good mix of tourer/ performance. Just wondered if this would be a good choice and what bike would you go for, for such a trip? Thanks in advance!

@cowtipper84 11 жыл бұрын

Did you ever do a test ride of the v strom?

@72jenki 11 жыл бұрын

Any idea how this stacks up against the Triumph Trophy 1200?

@RoadcraftNottingham 11 жыл бұрын

I personally don't but if you Google "MSV track days" you'll find some good information.

@6Twisted 8 жыл бұрын

I thought you were going to drop it during the first turn and he'd take it off you xP

@Blahde 11 жыл бұрын

Boy oh Boy. That is a beast indeed ;-) 1600cc just seems so..so lots!! I presume the lowdown Torque is just off the scale. Million other bikes I would choose over it Russ, to be honest. Would you have one for the day job?

@Gr8humanilation9TV 11 жыл бұрын

Gotta be very nice to cruise

@Sirmelmo 11 жыл бұрын

It's a brilliant bike, you should check sport mode you will change your mind about the fuel injection

@alpinab14 11 жыл бұрын

new ducati multistrada 1200 i recon that could be the bike for you, what do you recon ?

@kevanmillar2499 11 жыл бұрын

If you can try a GTR1400 top piece of kit,

@123JumpingJacks 6 жыл бұрын

Liked and subbed

@MrMacGames 11 жыл бұрын

Im still looking for an answer on the internet, I know it will be a bit off topic, but how do you restrict a 125cc Bike? For example the Sinnis Apache, I would want to get one of them soon and im 17, and isn't there a restriction for it? If I buy an unrestricted model, where do I go or what do I do to restrict it? Thanks in Advance.

@Dendynugrohoo 11 жыл бұрын

hey mate what kind of bike do you use now?

@RoadcraftNottingham 11 жыл бұрын

I think it'd be a bit overkill for the day job, although Paul seems to do ok out of it. Two reasons I'd buy one 1/ It's cheap and I stand to make a buck or 2/ If I was going touring (which probably won't happen again in my lifetime)

@RoadcraftNottingham 11 жыл бұрын

Funnily enough, I have an upload coming soon on a similar subject

@TheMissendenFlyer 11 жыл бұрын

Hmmm, maybe one for the short list......

@WKruit-oh3ce 7 жыл бұрын

BMW gearboxes always were clunky. But they always were bombproof. Those gearboxes last for a very long time!

@FluxRider0 11 жыл бұрын

This sounds amazing! Would be great for the middle age guys having their crisis, thinking they need the most powerful hyperbike on the market :)

@2hislopa 11 жыл бұрын

did the guy u was with pass his mod1 or mod2 ?

@MrCorbett26 11 жыл бұрын

Where was your Belstaff?

@diff22000 11 жыл бұрын

Hi Russ............so, come on, where was it? where was "Screen goes up, screen goes down" I have only sat on one but that seat is sooooo comfy.

@RoadcraftNottingham 11 жыл бұрын

Can't believe I missed the screen bit, gutted!

@GaryMCurran 8 жыл бұрын

Between the K1600 GT/GTL and the K1200S, you can see why I want a K1200GT. :)

@C_R_O_M________ 10 жыл бұрын

Hello, thanks for the nice vids. Having had two Gs's in the past I can tell you that you're right about the gearbox, they're clunky as hell. However, if that was the only problem I would have stayed with the bikes, but it wasn't. BMW, nowadays, is more concerned about sales than reliability and quality control. I know they use third party companies to build some of their major parts (like their notoriously unreliable final drives), I he had two FD related problems in my bikes and a beautiful hole on a piston all before 15k miles...Consumers seem oblivious to this repeated pattern of failures and keep buying BMW products...I'm truly sorry for them for they're about to learn the hard way...Once again thanks for your nice vids...

@mikebreen2890 9 жыл бұрын

I have always defended BMW as I believe a lot of "haters" are around and they hate people who can spend more on a bike than they can. It's sort of reverse snobbery. Any fault with a BMW get's more than it's fair share of publicity where as it might well amount to nothing on a Suzuki. My K1300GT has never given me the slightest bother and is a rocket ship tourer, though it seems some people don't like the fact my BMW has never given me any trouble. I have noticed the same phenomenon with my E class Mercedes, my third. That's another one that has had more than there fair share of adverse publicity and it really seems to surprise some people hugely when I say that none of them has given the slightest bother. I think for the price people expect perfection and there is an awful lot of noise when they don't get it, a lot of the noise being from the people who think the BMW riders are a stuck up bunch of eejits. BUT......I know personally know three owners, GS and RT who have had no end of problems, very expensive problems on relatively low millage bikes. Final drives, fuel tank sensors....there is quite a list actually. Two were particularly staunch BMW riders but not any more, they gave up. They now ride Triumph and Honda. A friend of mine works for BMW Brussels and says he would never own a new model GS. To make the point perfectly, I bumped in to him sunning himself outside our local café with a 2014 GS parked up, borrowed from work. He gave me the keys and told me to go start it up, which I did. It sounded like somebody had left some loose nuts in the rocker covers, absolutely awful. 2014 bike with 16,000 kilometres or about 10,000 Miles. Shocking.

@C_R_O_M________ 9 жыл бұрын

They "dig their own grave" with such mentality,as for the "first year models" they are generally a "big no no" for any brand...

@Mark_B544 3 жыл бұрын

Throttle lagging as it was set for road or rain. You should have tested it on dynamic

@stevemaggers4900 11 жыл бұрын

There is nothing else out there that has yet to replace the original 1100 Pan. Fact.

@The_Touring_Jedi 5 жыл бұрын

So true...

@overlander82 11 жыл бұрын

Imagine the looks on the German engineers faces when you called their gearbox "primitive" :)

@r0b3r70nl 11 жыл бұрын

It probably is. You need a LOT of self control not to lose you license. That machine accelerates so effortlessly, before you know it you're doing double the speed limit. On the other hand, the enige is amazingly smooth, 50kmh in 6th gear - not a problem. Either way, I would take it for a spin if you'd get a chance. You won't be done in 2 min :)

@TheFriskyBiker 11 жыл бұрын

Do you not think 1600cc is a bit overkill Russ?

@RealTylerBell 11 жыл бұрын

are bwm bikes any good ?

@RoadcraftNottingham 11 жыл бұрын

I SO would!...but an 1100 pan, I've tried and owned three 1300s and they're, in my opinion (and a lot of other 1100 owners) not as good as the 1100. If someone found a brand new 1100 in a crate, I would pay a lot of money for it.

@RoadcraftNottingham 11 жыл бұрын

lol, no worries :-)

@WKruit-oh3ce 7 жыл бұрын

That's going to be my next bike. When I win the National Lottery...

@Eastsussexbiker 7 жыл бұрын

What is that on your throttle looks like a kind of clip on thing ?

@FlexibleToast 7 жыл бұрын

It's a cramp buster. Looks like the wide one.

@CaptHollister 7 жыл бұрын

Having owned an R100GS from new, I will never again own a Beemer. What these videos never tell you is the design flaws in many new Beemers. Early K1600s, for example, would regularly fry their switchgear if the bike was left parked in the sun.

@RoadcraftNottingham 11 жыл бұрын

I'm in with a local Suzuki/Kawasaki dealer who agreed to let me play on their bikes for a mention. Watch this space.

@RoadcraftNottingham 11 жыл бұрын

Not yet, need to get that baby out :-)

@RoadcraftNottingham 11 жыл бұрын

I wouldn't say no to a go on one! :-)

@101andytoll101 11 жыл бұрын

Man, that thing sounds like an M3!

@handsfree1000 3 жыл бұрын

Can you trust a bike manufacturer that puts the battery under the petrol tank?

@FluxRider0 11 жыл бұрын

I think you should test ride a Kawasaki ZZR1400 if you get the chance Russ. Want to know what a real riders review of it would be :) cheers

@RoadcraftNottingham 11 жыл бұрын

It's definitely a great bike, as you say though, a bit pricey for us mortals ;-)

@salmonarmskatingclub6684 8 жыл бұрын

Lets open er up a little!!!!LMAO

@SigmaSheepdog 8 жыл бұрын

I test rode one a few years ago and I wasn't totally impressed with it. As indicated in this video, the transmission was extremely disappointing and I wasn't going to buy a $26,000 bike with a clunky tranny. Come on BMW, get with the program!

@RoadcraftNottingham 11 жыл бұрын

Compared to my Pan Gearbox, this one really feels agricultural. Remember though, this is only my personal opinion.

@SubaruWRC1996 11 жыл бұрын

not when you consider the size and weight of that bike

@RoadcraftNottingham 11 жыл бұрын

Oh, and Google "bmw k1600 clunky transmission" I only found this after my personal findings. Take those rose coloured BMW glasses off and smell the real roses-lol. ;-)

@RoadcraftNottingham 11 жыл бұрын

You lucky son of a....... That would be my choice for Route 66 :-)

@user-ko5bk7ym1w 5 жыл бұрын

굿

@The_Touring_Jedi 5 жыл бұрын

At 1600 ccm you should expect smoothnes. Otherwise it would be garbage. Still BMW lacks of build quality. GT1600 maintainance expenses eats your bank acount at 100.000km. If you have a money to throw away just buy GT1600 .

@unnmaed 11 жыл бұрын

Lovely bike. Something I will buy after I rob a bank :)

@RoadcraftNottingham 11 жыл бұрын

I said he looked like a bowl of fruit lol. I'd also like to try the S1000 but feel it may be too much for public roads.

@senifil 11 жыл бұрын

I would not say the gear box is sub-standard or bad quality only because it clunks. BMW always clunks. My R100R clunks now for 48k kilometers with the first gearbox. My fathers 1150RT has 61k kilometers with it's 1st gearbox clunks like it clunked on it's first day. Just let them clunk. Never had any "sub-standard quality" issues.