Funny Comparison Between The GTR and BMW K16

[pistole]

http://www.behindbarsmotorcycle.com/

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  I've owned a Connie (2009 Kawasaki Concours 14) for a while now. If you're feeling technical, or pedantic, it's been one year and four months.

It's a good machine though one with a with a few flaws. As a first generation machine it carries bugs and oversights – which I've enumerated on several occasions. My personal peeve is the heat. If the mercury crests 90 the Connie's saddle resembles a Dante-themed roller coaster spiraling into the 8th level of hell. Of course, I'm from Minnesota and don't necessarily handle the heat all too well, but there are other problems, too.

The stock riding position is too sporty for any real touring. That is unless you're a long-armed, knuckle-dragging great ape with an extra set of knees. The stock windshield which has electric height control only raised high enough to path the wind - and bugs - into the gap between your helmet and jacket. This functioned as a kind of insect-shell-powered exfoliation system – for your neck -- until the addition of a Cee Bailey aftermarket screen which completely changes the experience.

          Kawasaki has since taken care of most of those first gen issues, but it's still cramped, still just not quiet perfect, not for a bike with touring right there in its title.

          Of course, there is a reason you tolerate the gaps in the pavement so to speak, and it's a damned fine reason. The bike is hot, it's quick, in fact it screams, screams like a freshman with a bottle of Five O'clock vodka. Screams like that Billy Mays guy used to scream. It screams like an all-caps email from your mother. I LOVE YOU, HOW ARE YOU WE ARE IN CANAANDA TODAY AND ITIS MUCH NICER THEN WHERE YOU ARE! You know exactly what I'm saying. It screams. Like a tornado in your home town.

          So all that first gen stuff is worth the trouble, because I can lean on one number, 2.9.

2.9 seconds is the time it takes the Connie to jump from 0-60, which feels a hell of a lot like Star Trek when Scotty finally finds more power. (Also, he's dead Jim.) Of course, I've never done 0-60 in 2.9 seconds.

I tried a couple of times, but my balls withered like grapes in the sun and, so I gave up and ordered some testosterone from one of those online retailers. It hasn't been enough.

          It can be done, though, because there are 155 horses grinding on the flywheel. And if you don't know that's a lot. More than my car. It means you can treat other vehicles on the road like stationary objects with a flick of the wrist, and if you hit a big enough ramp you can land on the moon.

What's more, you can get even more out of the machine if you dump the Potato Cannon (otherwise known as a muffler) for something better and install a Power Commander III. Under those circumstances it's purported to pull wheelies at 60mph with a "whack of the throttle." The moral here is with the Connie you get all the sport in sport-touring you can handle and it's all summed up in 2.9, and that's a number you have to lean on.

          Why? Because shortly after I got my Connie, BMW came out with the K1600.

It was supposed to be an awesome machine, but one I never approached because it was haloed with protective dollar signs. Plus, technical as it was, the  0-60 time was a mere 3.4 seconds.

What was this, a machine for 1955? So after my father-in-law bought one, I could say "Suck on that!" as we sat in his garage with Budweisers. And I would say that, because with all the technology he had, I still had 2.9 and he only had 3.4 and he paid about a billion dollars more. (Minimum average upgrade charge from Kaw to BMW is about 10 grand.)

With 2.9 I could live without gizmos. No GPS, gyro stabilization system or trunk with LED brake lights built in... without six cylinders, zero vibration, duolever/paralever suspension, three driving modes or a headlight that pivots with the lean of the bike. Without, even, the Akrapovič exhaust, which really does sound really like an F1 car.

          I didn't need any of that until he said, "Why don't you take that thing up and down the road a few times, I've never actually heard what it sounds like. You know, you're always on it and you can't get a good listen, so go out, really give it the beans – all she's got cause I need to hear what it sounds like." And then he complimented me, told me that at least I had a machine that had enough power... so I'd know what to expect. Aw.

          Well, I thought, his machine is basically worth my machine three times over. This was followed by a slight wave of panic and the concern that my pants would soon look like Frosty (the snowman's) come springtime. Yeah. Wet. I wasn't concerned for my safety, not immediately, but more for his machine and what damage would do to the continuation of my relationship with his daughter. That and I was pretty sure he was a member of the NRA.

         I looked over at him and said, "Alright!"

           So, there we are, uh, on a track. You know, cause we rented the track for this. Because a track would be a lot saner than just doing it in front of someone's house in the country, even when the roads run like those parallel lines you learn about in math class. The kind that never intersect. There we were on asphalt and he says "Alright, off you go!" I guess like a dad letting go of the bicycle seat. Off you go, and off I went.

          Fortunately, I had found myself in a similar position many times. I knew at least how to turn and stop. I knew how to do those things. I knew the basics, I knew what to expect.

          What I didn't expect was everything else. The way the gravitational pull of the world changed from vertical to horizontal by way of inline six. The way the front end went light but never wobbled because of those fancy gyroscopes and the traction control and all of the other crap I "didn't need." I didn't expect the machine – the one that doesn't have 2.9 to lean on – to chew up MPH in bites of twenty. To asymtotally approach the speed of light. And what I really didn't expect was on what I saw on the first return pass, when I was moving so fast I thought my body transmuted into light, with the machine taching so hard I thought it would stroke out, I didn't expect to see him standing in the middle of the road smiling like an old, toothless woman who's just heard it's ice cream for dinner. I imagine my smile was about the same, if I had any brain power left to control my face.

          The Connie – the 2.9 Connie – has always felt a bit, well, like it's spent the night rolling around in powdered methamphetamine and  waits like a caged dog. It's kind of angry, hungry. Looking for meat. That inline four gets good and pissed. It's the sport-touring machine that brings a knife to a gunfight but that still manages to come out alive, at least most of the time. It goes faster than the K1600, but you always feel like after it kills the Beemer it'll kill you. Just turn the knife on itself. Seppuku, why the hell not, just cause it can. The BMW, though, was nothing like that. Nothing at all. When you're on the Connie you're pretty sure it'll lift the front tire if you work at it. It's a terrifying thing, too, when your testosterone pills aren't full potency, because it'll lift the front tire, seppuku (because why not?), and boom you're done. The BMW you trust, though. When you gas it good and hard it soothes you. I'll never wheelie on you.  And it never will, and that gives you all the confidence in the world. Why not try a little faster? The police wouldn't be patrolling here... The kind of confidence to use your first 3.4 seconds to hit 60, and then to continue skyward.

          So I buzzed him and he grinned like the prom queen, and I buzzed him again. And again and again. "I mean," he said, "I knew that it sounded good, but I never knew it sounded that good!" He's the kind of guy who rarely uses exclamation points.

          So he grinned, and I grinned, and it was like a couple of morons kicking each other in the junk until he said, "Why don't you take it over there?" he asked as he pointed to a curvier portion of the... track. Just around the corner lay a few nice curvies to try out the rest of the package.

          That's when the brute really came into it's own, I entered the a big sweeper, tenuous, then with the confidence of a beer-fueled freshman -- because the machine under me felt nothing like a motorcycle, it felt like a huge smooth wedge that cut its way through the asphalt and straight into the earth itself, the thing was planted and as sharp as a veteran sniper. The word Flickable gets thrown around, but I've never used it before. This machine was flickable. Flickable in a way unrepeatable on the Connie. Flickable as hell for a 700+ pound machine.

          I may have that magic 2.9 to lean on in my Connie, so I've got something the Beemer doesn't have... but I'm missing something else, the thing that made me smile like someone smeared shit on my gums. That accumulation of parts and tweaking and magic and raw sex appeal that brings together a machine that's, as the rhetoric goes, more than the sum of what it should be.

           So, is it worth it? That's damned tricky. I'll tell you that even though the Kaw gets angry and crazy I firmly believe it's is worth the money. Worth what I paid and then some. By the same token, I think the Beemer is worth what they're asking. When you really start to add up the features, all the small things and understand how you landed in the 25-30K range, you can nod slowly and agree that, yes... it's worth it. And it's really worth it if you walk around with burlap bags with dollar signs stenciled on the sides.

The real question is, is the BMW worth the difference in price? For him, I know it was, he's put on 10,000 miles since October. October – in the North, and he says the thrill is there, something that lacked in his Goldwing. (Odd, I know.) But there's also real proof reflected in the service record. Sure, he's doing the service on time (what self respecting Beemer owner wouldn't?) but he's also - at 10,000 miles - on his third set of tires. That is a man having fun. It's worth it for him.

But for me? I don't have burlap bags full of cash. I'd have to give up my BMW (2006 F650GS), my Honda (CB550K), my Connie, and probably my Mazda, too. Is it worth that to me? No.

But is it worth the sticker price? Hell yes.

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[Mogster]

 

[Winston Smith]

If I was a wordsmith those words are the ones I would have used.

Humour aside - this sums up exactly what I felt and why I changed to the Bee Em.

[pistole]

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- ha !

- had a good laugh when i read that and thought that it was worth sharing.

- was also after a K16GT originally. But after reading up (and what is it about BMW motorcycle forums ? Plenty of attitude ... ) , decided to wait for the V.2 version of the K16.

- got a new GTR and can appreciate the "dog rolling in meth" point !!

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[Winston Smith]

LOL - it is a brilliant and accurate write up.

I know exactly how the author felt as that was like me after 2 years of living/loving the 1400GTR then testing them back to back over 2000 miles.

I initially didn't get what the 16 was all about, but once on real roads it all made absolute sense.

he GTR is an awesome machine though and I would never knock it

[Bondu]

Brilliant/funny write up, though some of the criticisms have been addressed with the 2011 upgrade.

The only thing that would stop me changing would be the price, having said that I'm enjoying my GTR enough that I don't feel the need to change . . . . . . yet!

[zedmeister]

My GTR is awesome i dare say MR K has taken note over the past year or so with regards to the K6 and at the same time listened to the GTR Critisisms, if the price were right i still would not be tempted by the BMW, but then everyone to their taste.

We will see what a new model GTR will bring possibly the 1440 or maybe a 6 pot, i have heard they are looking at a heads up display ( not my choice though), whatever it be, it will be as good if not better than the BMW.

i Wonder why the GTR has not gone up against the K6 in a head to head yet ??????, mmmmmmmmmm intriguing.

[O.C.]

great write up, produced with accuracy and humour.

I love my Kwakers and having already made a trip to the 'darkside' (not with a 16 admittedly) I'm happy to stay with my GTR

[Kwikasfuki]

 

well written

Has anyone tried the 0-60? I've tried the 0-100

Seriously, I wouldn't advise it. First time I wasn't prepared for the force and had to hang on for dear life.

I can't wait to try the 1600 though

[Winston Smith]

i Wonder why the GTR has not gone up against the K6 in a head to head yet ??????, mmmmmmmmmm intriguing.

In what respect?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wpTPihOYMn4

[Mogster]

well written

Has anyone tried the 0-60? I've tried the 0-100

Seriously, I wouldn't advise it. First time I wasn't prepared for the force and had to hang on for dear life.

I can't wait to try the 1600 though

Of course..... everytime a traffic light went from Red to Green.. 

[O.C.]

Interesting video clip, 

its surprising how much 'taller' the BMW is conpared to the GTR

[Winston Smith]

You sit more 'in' the K16 which makes it feel bigger than it feela when moving.

Funnily enough when we tested them last year the term 'flickable' was used by me to describe the K16 when chasing the GTR up to Col du Tourmalat.  Felt like a small bike (I said a 250 but maybe that's pushing it in retrospect!) as it was so nimble.

[O.C.]

You sit more 'in' the K16 which makes it feel bigger than it feela when moving.

Funnily enough when we tested them last year the term 'flickable' was used by me to describe the K16 when chasing the GTR up to Col du Tourmalat.  Felt like a small bike (I said a 250 but maybe that's pushing it in retrospect!) as it was so nimble.

Maybe that's part of why it feels so flickable Chris. I know that comparitive seat heights are about the same, (I checked a while ago  )

Its just that the head on shot in the video shows the BMW as  a taller bike, when you compare the frontal aspect...maybe its just my imagination

[Ros]

Hmmm.  that bloke said that when he was just applying a little back brake, the linked braking system on the (IMO far superior  ) Kwaki, the bike "just dived" at the front and.. what was it? "kinda weirded" him out.

I have to say, that my bike doesn't dive down when I use the back brake.  What the hell was he doing with it to get it to just dive down, like that?

He did have the fastest colour though didn't he?