汽车之家|【 K1600 Grand America 】|宝马摩托车|论坛

热门

【 K1600 Grand America 】

1 17 发布于 2019-05-20 21:39:45 只看楼主修改帖子

K1600 Grand America

【所有图片均亲自拍摄，如做商用请告知】
【所有图片均亲自拍摄，如做商用请告知】
【所有图片均亲自拍摄，如做商用请告知】

When I was four, my mother went to McDonald’s and brought me back some grub.
She insisted I take my french fries and dip them into my chocolate shake. I refused, and as parents often do, she forced me to try ‘em. I did. It was thrillingly delicious. Sweet and salty, two tastes I had never had at once, but each flavor enhanced by the other. Different, but good-different. Riding the new K 1600 B was a lot like dipping that pawful of fries into my frosty shake. An unlikely blend of parts live cheek by jowl, but the package makes more sense after a ride.

Mentally, if you will, split this bike into two pieces, drawing your dividing line right at the front of the saddle. To me, this bike looks like the front half of a sport-tourer (Yamaha FJR1300? Kawasaki Connie?) mated to the back end of a neobagger. The back half looks very close to a Honda F6B to me, which would have been a compe*** for this bike if it was still in production.

And really, that’s about what it is. Its huge, honey-smooth, inline-six-cylinder motor has more snort than grandpa’s V-twin, but it’s happy to be be a big, dopey puppy, too. The bike wears 17-inch wheels wrapped in sensible rubber (Bridgestone BT-021s) that also happens to be dual-compound, so the handling is exceptionally reminiscent of a sport-tourer. You don’t have to slice and dice every corner on a B, but you can.

And really, those juxtapositions are almost the hallmarks of the whole bike. Because it’s neither fish nor fowl (and because it’s a BMW, created by bizarrely logical and practical Germans), the K 1600 B sort of marries the concept of a sport-tourer with a straight touring machine, with enough differences to piss off and titillate fans of either — at the same time. Here, let me illustrate what I mean.

Look at those foot controls. The floorboards are optional, but I believe this is the first time I’ve seen floorboards used in the highway position from an OEM, with pegs as the main control point. The angle on them looks nutty, but they’re quite comfortable, and actually support the bottoms of your footsies, unlike most highway pegs. It’s weird, but it works.

“Motor” is the only part of a motorcycle listed in the name, so I'll state the obvious: That’s an important part of the bike. The latest iteration of the K-series makes numbers that I actually find a little funny: 160 horsepower. OK, that’s not hilarious. A 12.2:1 compression raises my eyebrow. But 129 foot-pounds of torque? B-A-N-A-N-A-S. (And 70 percent of its peak torque is achieved at just 1,500 rpm!) You may remember that I knocked the Moto Guzzi MGX-21 for being too small in it’s motorvatin’ parts. The reason engine size matters is for bragging rights, and bragging rights only. If you have a BMW, you have six pistons, 24 valves, and more torque at a sleepy 1,500 rpm than the peak torque of most literbikes. These are numbers to brag about.

BMW ain’t asleep at the wheel on how to build a bike, so they packed my test unit up with features that most B buyers are likely to opt for like LED driving lights, Keyless Ride, and a self-leveling headlight. Electronic suspension, cornering ABS, traction control, power locking bags, cruise, a power windshield, and adjustable levers, however, all come with even a base-model K 1600 B.

Other specs are very respectable for a bike in its category. A seven-gallon fuel tank is pretty boss. (Interestingly, I tracked fuel mileage, and even with some asshattery included, the big B turned a gallon of fuel into 39.67 miles of mixed riding, and 42.59 on the highway. Very impressive, considering all the slugs pounding away in there.) Front and rear suspension travel of 4.5 and 4.9 inches, respectively, means most every corner is free to be assaulted at will. The Big B offers a few zero-cost options, too. Forged handlebars from the K1600 GT (not the new welded tubular units for the B) are available fo’ free and so is a low seat (29.5 inches).

Honest-to-goodness tires and brakes are not just reassuring, but they are also very necessary on a machine such as the K 1600 B that gathers velocity with such alacrity. It’s fries dipped in milkshake: This bike looks like an updated take on a touring bike, but has considerable chops on the backroads. It’s pretty nice to have a bike hustle underneath you as you maintain the Barcalounger position.

And putting the antenna on the front of the bike makes packing a damn sight easier.

Only four of the buttons on the left fairing are backlit. On a bike with this many things to play with, this is a necessity. And I am personally confused with what menus are controlled by what buttons, but some time with the bike may ease that. (Why are some of the audio controls hard buttons on the fairing, but others things are soft-controlled by the multi controller?)

The reality is that this is a great bike. Brian Carey, BMW Motorrad’s U.S. Product Manager, told us that the intent with this bike was not to dethrone Harley and Indian. “The intention was never to say ‘Hey, it’s the Three Amigos!’” And that’s good, because the last thing motorcycling needs is another “me, too!” motorcycle. It’s different and unapologetic, and it’s also very competent. It’s perfect for the rider who does not fit squarely into the “dresser without a top box” mold.

It’s not like an Indian, nor is it like a Harley-D. It’s similar in some ways to a Guzzi Flying Fortress, but it’s sure as hell different in a lot of ways, too. It’s not a sport-tourer, and it’s not really a traditional tourer, either.