BIKETEST BMW K1300 GT:I don'tknow what's happened to BMWs. I really don't. There was a time when you knew exactly what they were: stolid, unimaginative, reliable motorcycles for chaps who were exactly the same, writes GEOFF HILL
Every Sunday they would climb aboard their trusty R80 and set off for the 21.8-mile ride to the Rusty Ferret for a ploughman’s lunch and a half of mild and bitter shandy and every August, they would head off to the Lake District with Mrs Chap on the pillion for two weeks in Mrs Simpson’s B&B in Keswick.
Then, in 2004, BMW obviously hired some strange young men with a wild look in their eyes, and it all went haywire; first with the radical K1200 S and its in-line, four-cylinder, liquid-cooled engine, followed two years later by the brilliant R1200 ST sports tourer, a machine with such sharp edges you could get paper cuts off it. Then there was the F800 sports bike, the hugely successful GS1200 of Long Way Around, Downand Sidewaysfame, and the R1200 S, which looks like a postmodern Manx Norton.
Now they’ve gone and done it again with the K1300 GT, the latest addition to their four-cylinder sports touring range.
Even at first glance this is an imposing machine, futuristic yet solid, with neat yet capacious luggage, and the only throwback to BMW’s venerable past is the strangely antiquated white-on-black analogue speedo and tacho.
Mind you, between them is a state-of-the-art digital screen which, in typical BMW fashion, tells you everything from your tyre pressures to the time of high tide in Hong Kong.
The bells and whistles don’t end there, of course, with buttons on the right for two-stage heated grips and matching independent heating for the rider and pillion seats. On the left, you have cruise control, Info toggle and the Electronic Suspension Adjustment system, which you can set for any load, from Anorexic Jockey to Two Sumo Wrestlers with Luggage.
Within each category, you can also switch between Comfort, Normal and Sport suspension settings.
There’s also an optional Automatic Stability Control which stops the back wheel spinning on slippery surfaces.
Sadly for traditionalists,BMW has replaced the old-style twin paddle indicator switches, which I quite liked simply because they were a bit different, with the ubiquitous Japanese single slide and push version.
Start up, and a muted hum reminds you that BMWs are the Hondas of Europe, quiet and understated. Ride off, and you get that typical K-series whiny snatchiness from the engine and gears that’s surprising for such a big engine, and which takes a bit of getting used to.
After half an hour I was so much enjoying how light and flingable this was for such a big bike that I thought it was time to switch the ESA from Normal to Sport.
Well, tie me down and beat me with a wet lettuce, as my granny was so fond of saying, but what a difference.
I mean, all it does is adjust the suspension, but it feels like you’ve pressed a fast forward button, as the bike hunkers down, tucks in and goes like a whole family of bats out of hell.
Incredible. You’d never want to bother with the Normal setting again, although the Comfort allied with cruise control would be grand for a relaxing ride to, say, Berlin and back.
So there you have it: three bikes for the price of one – a cruiser, a tourer and an absolute flying machine.
Oh, and if you think this will all be a bit much for the chaps down at the Rusty Ferret come Sunday, and you like to keep your wolves firmly in sheeps’ clothing, it is available in beige.
Factfile BMW K1300 GT
Engine:1293cc liquid-cooled, twin-cam, four-valves per cylinder, four-stroke in-line
Top speed:155mph
Power and torque:160bhp (118kW) @ 9,000rpm, 99ftlb (135Nm) @ 8,000rpm
Suspension:front and rear electronically adjustable with ESA
Front brakes:two x 320 discs with four-piston calipers
Rear brake:294mm disc with two-piston caliper
Weight:255kg
Fuel capacity:24l
Price:€20,225 for GT, €22,082 for GTSE. Joe Duffy, tel: 01-864 7777; Maddocks, 01-286 8418; and Kearys, 021-483 6900. Price in the UK – GT £12,375, GTSE £13,625.
(Test bike supplied by Charles Hurst BMW Motorrad of Newtownabbey, 028-9084 8466)