As I am sure most of you know, my first love is K75s. Followed closely by K1100s with K100s a distant third.

The one K I had always viewed with disdain was the K1, known for weird body styling, poor ergos and the turning radius of a Mack truck.

Then, one night after a few  beers, I put the winning bid down on this one in Tuscon. I honestly couldn't help myself. I'd owned a few K100RS4Vs by then and the graphics cracked me up. IMO they put the McDonalds ketchup and mustard color scheme to shame.

I bought it, rode it to my dad's place in SoCal and gave it a good go-over from stem to stern.

Then I rode it home back up the California coast and had an ear to ear grin on my face the whole way.  Weird though it may look it is 100% K and an absolute blast to ride.

Wow they sure supersized the badges......

But nothing beats a good grin after a nice run. When you feel that grin you just know you did right.

Congrats and enjoy the K1!!!! Just stay out of Macdonalds.

Was that variant a US-only model? I've seen quite a few K1s in the UK but none of them ever had the Big Badge.

Dai wrote:Was that variant a US-only model? I've seen quite a few K1s in the UK but none of them ever had the Big Badge.

It's certainly not stock and does not show up in the parts catalog.  My best guess is that either BMW NA or a big dealer did it for promotional reasons.

Whoever did it spent some money as it is not just a big decal someone cut up and stuck on there but actually custom made to fit the K1 fairing/fender.

I still laugh every time I look at it.

Well done, Duck!

I like that later model paint work far better than the red/blue and yellow. Not sure if I would put the big logo on though.

RicK G wrote:I like that later model paint work far better than the red/blue and yellow. Not sure if I would put the big logo on though.

I find the big roundel to be a bit gaudy myself. But it does make my laugh whenever I look at the bike so it provides me with some entertainment value.

Styling aside, one of the knocks on that model is the ergos.  You apparently find the riding position agreeable.  This begs the question of your stature.  Lemme guess, 5'8" or so? 
No.  I won't attempt to put that is metric terms....

I'm in the US so feet/inches is how I think too.

I'm actually 6-2 with a 34" inseam.  Before buying it, I'd read about the ergos beforehand but honestly it worked fine for me, even with a stock seat.

I'd be pretty cramped in my winter pants with hard knee armor but had no problems riding it in my Motoport Kevlar jeans with soft armor.

The rearset pegs take a few miles to get used to but this is my 15th+ K so adapting to the K1's ergos wasn't a big deal.

I put in several long days riding it on the way back up the coast and the ergos didn't bother me in the least.

I'm somewhat torn between selling it and keeping it.  I enjoy riding it/laughing at it but do like to moto-camp and the stock storage is pretty limited.

I think it's gorgeous! I was after a K1 when I bought my K75s. I knew nothing about them other than I remembered liking the style when it was released. The one I wanted was sold when I got there, so I took the 75 for a ride instead. I love my 75, but still think about the K1 (and a Harley, and a Triumph scrambler, and a DR650 and an R1200c and a......)
I really like the in your face BMW roundel, though after repairing the fairing on the K75s after laying it down, I think less fairing is probably a good thing.