2007 Vancouver Motorcycle Show - BMW K1200R

Well, well.... Here's the beast. I really like the new K1200 series and this is my favourite variant that's available in Canada. The Roadster (K1200R) is a naked version of the K1200S with 163 hp in a four-cylinder 1200 cc engine.

This past spring I participated in the BMW test ride at John Valk BMW Ducati and this was one of the two bikes I chose to ride. It was quite the rush...

It's roughly double the power of my R1150GS and it was a visceral experience. There weren't many places to "open it up" on the test ride route, but one short stretch of divided highway let me toy with the throttle. Every time I twisted I instinctively leaned forward to keep the front wheel on the ground. Simply amazing. And the RPM range of the four-cylinder was almost double that of my twin. The effect was going from 40 km/h to 90 km/h in second gear without using the entire range.

Now, you might have noticed my qualifier above: "available in Canada." Since I've now seen the shots of the K1200R Sport model in magazines I've decided that's the one I would get (as a second bike) if I took the plunge. It's the same as this bike but with a half-fairing / bikini-fairing that looks really practical for getting out for a day ride or even a trip over a couple of days. But, alas, not in Canada, at least not this year.