I was seduced by this little tart this arvo when she was rolled into the workshop for a photo session. I had a 2005 K1200S from '05 to '07 and it's one of those bikes I wish I'd never sold. I've been scanning eBay and the bikes for sale ads for a few months now.

This one's a 2006 K1200R with 117.5 Kw/161 hp, 127 Nm/98 ft lbs, 237 Kg/522 pounds. A non-ABS, non-ESA, heated grip model (less complication) tinted sport 'screen, that was just serviced, with all recalls performed, and with well under 10,000 miles on the odometre!

I'm riding her home Tuesday. Will there be a fight in the garage?!

Bar Steward!

That's what happens when you work in that BMW fleshpot!
You need to think more about her waiting patiently in Oz....
Or change your signature photo.

You might have to sit with her awhile incase of snobbery, They'll know she's different.

A least you can git at the injun!


You've got it bad Bro' but there are worse diseases. I must admit I can never pass an ad for a k1200s with out a detailed read and an Mmmm!

Good luck with it.

Can't resist temptation can you?

You are indeed in a fortunate position to see the bikes come in to be sold before Joe public!

Happy riding.

Mike

dee why wrote:That's what happens when you work in that BMW fleshpot!
You need to think more about her waiting patiently in Oz....
Or change your signature photo.

But I could never forget my sweet red K waiting patiently in the shed in Queensland for my eventual arrival! She's gunna stay as my forum avatar as the image keeps me grounded to home. I'm not back 'til February of '16 this time. That'll be 16 months away this go round! I feel out of touch. Is Taxi Door Ears still attempting to ru(i)n the country?!

Yep and every time he lies his ears flap and get bigger.

Well, I reckon the competition won't shorten his tenure any, but he could always go play hockey, unless, of course, he fancies himself a bishop.

In the driveway! As I rode it I did a doubletake on the odo as it reads just 6,943 original miles. That's only 11,117 kilometres of riding joy for the PO. The dual air filter kit has been installed, à la K1200S, a common mod we did a fair few of when these bikes were new. Of all of the mods one can do to the K1200R/GT/S series, when we chucked them up on the dyno the dual air filter was the one to produce the most real world power; a less restrictive exhaust helped a bit, but the power modules of the day didn't realise much. That 20lb muffler can has to go! The Bridgie BT023 tyres are as new.

Sweet, vibe-free riding pleasure. Instant front end loft. A none-too aggressive riding posture is required, though I might spring for the Spiegler superbike handlebar kit.

It's a sunny day. I like it.

You will need 2 containers to get all these "spare parts" back here.

The list will be pared sufficiently before departure. Only the best of the lot will make the journey with me. From here now I can see the BBK, the GT and possibly the K12R coming along, plus the spares to keep 'em going.

er wrote:

dee why wrote:That's what happens when you work in that BMW fleshpot!
You need to think more about her waiting patiently in Oz....
Or change your signature photo.

Is Taxi Door Ears still attempting to ru(i)n the country?!

I don't want to discuss it. Oh the shame.
I've always thought the K...R would be a good basis for the foot control alterations that I need. But they put the muffler onthe wrong side!
Do they have much room?

The rider's footpegs are in a position just back of neutral, perhaps a smidgen rearward. There's room for alteration, especially if you've a mate with a machine shop full of lathes and CNC equipment. The HP footrests place yer booties up and back higher, more than I wish to go. I'll retain the stock location but might lash out on this set up for more leverage and upright stance.



But first, a Dominator Tri-Owal canister (from Poland), a centrestand and OEM LED blinkers.

I've located a secondhand sport rear wheel of 6x17 dimensions which will allow a 190/55ZR17 tyre to be used - for purely aesthetic reasons. And, I'm going to fit new-to-market Metzeler M7RR rubber. The front sport wheel (a swirl pattern rather than the star pattern) is proving more difficult to locate, but I've two solid, albeit expensive, leads.

RicK G wrote:Yep and every time he lies his ears flap and get bigger.

Oh, how the mighty fall.

And the icing on the cake is that he served a touch less than 2 years so he wont get a PMs pension and that really cracks me up

Spot the changes...





This machine might be my new favourite.

Is that a fuller belly pan and a tinted screen or is there a tinted screen in the first shot?

More aggressively profiled K1300R radiator shrouds for looks and a centre stand for function.


The shrouds 'hide' the cobbly-looking bits under the engine and close the gap 'tween radiator and exhaust.

I found some extra dosh tucked away and since it wasn't earmarked for anything important I sprang for the cool exo-skeleton presto expando chango panniers. These I had on my K1200S some years ago and at first I didn't understand them. When you twig to the idea that instead of keeping them closed up all streamlined, and therefore not able to fit much inside, you simply load 'em up with as much as they'll take and clamshell them onto the load inside, assymetry be damned!

I got that that is what one needed to do, but clung to my oldschool thinking about panniers. Also, the very subtle tubular mounts are stealthy under the rear seat rail when the bags are off the bike. Nowadays I think they rock.

In a 100 mile blast up the highway into and beyond Seattle yesterday it became quite clear that this is not a bahn-storming tourer of any sort. The wind gusts buffet your helmet around and your upper body receives hammer blows from the turbulence. Your only option is to power out of it 'til you're at warp speed and no longer care. 160+ horsies will do that for you. I don't care to add a taller windscreen so I'll live with it.

My body was still moving when I arrived home later in the day.

At last, a package has arrived from Poland with a tri-oval canister inside with the unfortunate name of DominatoR. The build quality is first world.

Bonus, I shaved 4.8 kilos (10.5 lbs) off the arse end as compared to the 7.5 kilo (16.5 lb) stock unit with catalyst, and it sounds quite loverly. The DominatoR weighs under 2.7 kilos (6 lbs) all up. I can remove the DB killer core with one 5mm screw and bark it up a notch if I like.

With all that weight savings I reckon I'm now able to belly up to the buffet table for an extra helping come a Sunday morning brekky run!



She shined up real perty like.

After easily locating a rear swirl 6x17 Sport wheel for the use of a 190mm tyre, I've been chasing after this almost unobtanium front Sport wheel in the swirl pattern too. It's slightly lighter and (subjectively) better looking and (in fact) easier to clean. I got it from a customer who owns three of the new K series....a hunnerd dollars for a seven hunnerd dollar wheel ain't too, as they say round here, shabby. Best I could find was one in Europe on eBay for nearly five hundy.

Pardon the crap image...it's a cheap HTC Android.

Then there was the pair of darker coloured side covers to replace the silver versions when I feel like it. Free is good.


Last up is a Wunderlich blacked-out windscreen with a sleeker profile than the Lexan 'tall' version from Bay Em Vay.


Kid at Xmas.

Beautiful.

A shiny 6x17 rear wheel arrived from eBay yesterday. On it, and the requisite size on the front wheel, I spooned a 190mm Metzeler M7RR tyre. The profile is sharp. Sunday looks like more rain so some quality time in the garage will be well-spent fitting them to the bike. I don't see a dry weather window until the end of the week. I s'pose I'll just have to run 'em in in the wet!

very nice !!

Now both of the 'swirly' wheels are on and with excellent Metz M7RR at both ends. I rode up to Seattle for a meeting on Sunday (a rare dry patch in a very wet fortnight of rain) and the bike carved effortlessly through the bends. For a lengthy whale she tracks better with these tyres, feels lighter in the front and corners with ease. Previous rubber was Bridgestone BT023 Battlax, a touring tyre, not confidence inspiring on any surface when pushed.

On Friday arvo I'm off on the highway up to Vancouver BC and am riding the bike. From there it's off to London, then Germany for eleven days, exploring eastern regions, Berlin, Dresden, Leipzig, Grimma, plus an autobahn roadtrip to Munich. There are available bikes in the equation if it's not below freezing. The riding gear's coming with me...

That should be an interesting ride for you, what with Europe being pretty much in turmoil at the present time. I hope you'll be able to post a report on how you get on there.

I cant imagine you finding any lonely back roads over there, the way things are, you may be the only tourist? Is it a group ride/tour you've bought into?

Strictly business with some time for riding as weather allows. The waiting bikes are Triumph Bonnevilles with heated gear plug-ins and GPS onboard. I am going over there with a group of potential workmates on a reconnaissance mission.

I've noticed whilst travelling to many different places over the years, that once a region is seen more closely with one's own eyes, a realisation often comes over that the media (and the vote-seeking pollies) make it seem harder, more difficult, and more dangerous than it is on the ground for the average folk. I remain open, careful and watchful, and I will, of course, not be attending a game at Stade de France.

Strictly business sounds like a venture into planned tours, a great way to see the place and enjoy a ride.

Monday, 2nd of May. A beaut morning has dawned bright and clear. I don't work on Mondays. A ride is in order. I consult Google maps and then grab a real map for details. I can cover 300 sweet, back road and two-lane state highway miles without having to touch the 'Interstate' highway known as I-5.

In less than an hour from home I'm looking at this, the south side of Mt Rainier from Skate Creek Road, which has just opened for the season and is pot-holey as hell!




I manage the ruts then head West on State Route 12 through Packwood and onto Randle, gateway to Mt St Helens, where I stop for brekkie at the Mt Adams Café. I've got the roads to myself except for a few commuters and log trucks. It's still early.



In another hour or so I'm wending my way up State Route 505 and then 504 into the site of the blast which occurred thirty six years ago, Mt St Helens' from Loowit lookout. I check out the state's rest stop and interpretive centre. From there I have a most awesome view of what's to come.




In the end the lookout is closed for the season still - it was a helluva Winter round here - but I manage a close-up from a viewpoint called Hoffstadt Bluff. My tank was running low and I headed towards Toutle or Castle Rock for petrol.





I follow the West Side highway North towards Vader and Boistfort, then through the deep, dark rainforest (getting clearcut like a bad hair day!) to Oakville and back on Highway 12 to 507, onto Yelm and into Puyallup. Home is around the corner. I've covered just under 300 miles and enjoyed the roads immensely. The R is aggressive & unforgiving compared to my other Ks, it begs to be driven hard into corners, tho' easily accelerating out of them with urge, and my wrists are sore from the 'bars angle, but it's my face that hurts the most, from smiling.

I managed 41 mpg (US) overall and cracked 135mph on a 2 mile straightaway in the forest until I reminded myself of deer playing nearby - I'd seen a few earlier in the day. The temp got up to 29 by mid-arvo. For the most part it was sedate cruise on country roads. In August I'm heading to Sturgis and this ride was a sorting out, a measure of whether I want to ride the R there instead of some of my more sedate bikes. I need another go at it to decide.

Two Wheels Better wrote:
In the end the lookout is closed for the season still - it was a helluva Winter round here - but I manage a close-up from a viewpoint called Hoffstadt Bluff. My tank was running low and I headed towards Toutle or Castle Rock for petrol.

Looks like a great ride with scenery to match. Envious.

Good to see you haven't gone native. You didn't stop for gas.  

Bill

indian036 wrote:

Two Wheels Better wrote:
Good to see you haven't gone native. You didn't stop for gas.  
Bill

'Gas' is what you get when unsuspecting you stops at those roadside eateries. It propels you, but not in the way you'd imagined.


One thing I didn't mention is that a coupla months back I bought a few cool products from www.Schwabenmax.de in Germany. The most effective device is a 25mm rear shockie linkage to raise the rear end and quicken the steering. They offer them in 25, 37 and 41mm versions and were fitted to the Power Cup bikes of ten years ago and less. The 'smaller' lift 25mm is all a rider needs. The back tyre is skimming the ground on the centrestand and I can no longer flat-foot it astride the bike at stops, though at highway speeds she tracks 'almost' as good a stock bike but with much better turn in in the twisty bitz.




The other cool mechanismo is the quarter turn throttle....like the bike needed that! It's more of a handful (pardon the pun) in tight turns because it was already twitchy...still, me like-um. It goes, right now.








The third item was a short, MRA brand tinted windscreen which attaches to the original 'screen with rubber well-nuts and effectively blocks the blast off the rider's chest. On this bike I'm all in the breeze anyway but this 'screen helps alleviate the direct hit over the road, and today was very windy out there. I'm bloody knackered and had to have a quick kip when I landed. Getting soft or getting old, I can't decide.

Lovely bike TWB. One of many that grace yours shed/s im sure.

Id love a !2/1300R. They are just so other worldly and so aggressive yet so full of class too...

Although I just known 160hp would get me in trouble. On one hand I have every riders lust for more power, more torque. but on the other, even my K100 has to much power. Well, to much 'speed'. But I love it. But it just makes me want to go fast. I end up flying past sights I would have liked to stop at, and occasionally find my self being a 'tool on a motorbike' - going to fast just for the fun of it....

I think I need a track bike....

Agreed, Floyd, the R is a seductive temptress! I bought it because I'd owned a K1200S ten years ago and missed it. That bike I could tour on and did. I once rode it down the length of Baja California to Los Cabos and back up and over through the Mexican state of Chihuahua and the American SW desert for a month. This version is less relaxed, more aggresive, and has you hanging on. As for missing the scenery, it is imperative that you get off the thing every once in a while to rest and take in the sights, but I wouldn't describe it as too fast! Also, they were 163 bhp stock, but mine has the dual air filter mod, a Dominator pie, de-catted and a Power Commander. My seat-o-the-pants-ometre says closer to 170 at the crank. Like I need that.

It's like that advert in the '60s showing the driver banking his Mercedes at speed on a track and the voice-over saying "the gentleman doesn't need to drive his car near its upper limits on the road, but he likes to know that he can".

Like the new wheels this is the first couple of pics with em on.
I took a Funduro for a run when they came out, having spent too much time gawking around the bike I was well late getting away so to catch them I upped the ante and had a go, turns out the Funduro is quite sufficient to keep a smile on my dial, so anything bigger or more powerful is just kandy I guess.

After more than a year and a half of owning, modding and riding the 2006 K1200R I have decided to buy another. This one's a silver model with blacked out engine, wheels, etc. A former workmate's owned it but doesn't have enough room in the shed with his other bikes. This one's an '07 and has just 20,000 miles on the clock. All recalls are completed and the ABS module has just been replaced. It's got the expando panniers (newly added), tail rack, new Conti Sport Attack tyres, and the windscreen pictured below. I love the feel of these motors and the Duolever front suspension. I don't need it but....I'm riding it home on Friday.


A rendition.

Saaweet!!

Here she be. I rode it home under typical grey and heavy cloudcover from Seattle this arvo. I bought it from a former workmate at a BMW dealership up there. He's owned it for yonks and did all the requisite stuff, recalls and such. Last week he put in a Module Master-rebuilt ABS pump.

It's got 22K miles on the clock, maintenance records, a tankbag, panniers, new Conti Sport Attacks, sport wheels, heated grips, and is non-ESA. He had had enough of trundling it round the city, would rather his more nimble SV650 and an 883 Sporty -can't say I blame him there, they are a bit of a 'Bahn burner, the Mighty K.

It had a dented bazooka so I bolted up my '06 original which was as clean as, then put the K1300R radiator shrouds on to clean up the fiddly bits under the motor.

Well, it's mine now, and I'm crawling back up to 7, and when people quiz me on why I'd "own so many motorcycles, you can't ride them all at once", I ask them if they read all of the books in their library at once.

A K-pox of the newer kind.

Last week he put in a Module Master-rebuilt ABS pump. 

Was that an iABS pump or the later electric motor version?

Mike

mike d wrote:

Last week he put in a Module Master-rebuilt ABS pump.

Was that an iABS pump or the later electric motor version?
Mike

This is the non-servo, partially integrated ABS (front to rear, but no rear to front). My '05 K1200S had integrated, servo type, and if the rear wheel got off the ground in spirited riding the servo would stop and the brakes would go limp, the warning light flashing. It required a full stop and engine re-start to get the light re-set. The brakes worked very well, wheels firmly attached to tarmac, but I'd had my 'frust-ration' of that one.

Thanks for the response. For a minute I thought Module Master had finally got round to being able to repair the iABS modules 

Mike

Not yet, still, but I have a Seattle area mate who's got the tools (a strange, Isle of Man flag-looking screwdriver) and knowledge and has successfully repaired five iABS R1150/K1200 Brick pumps (mechanical, not electrical) so far.

Two Wheels Better wrote:

mike d wrote:

Last week he put in a Module Master-rebuilt ABS pump.

Was that an iABS pump or the later electric motor version?
Mike

This is the non-servo, partially integrated ABS (front to rear, but no rear to front). My '05 K1200S had integrated, servo type, and if the rear wheel got off the ground in spirited riding the servo would stop and the brakes would go limp, the warning light flashing. It required a full stop and engine re-start to get the light re-set. The brakes worked very well, wheels firmly attached to tarmac, but I'd had my 'frust-ration' of that one.

My 94 K1100RS does something similar. In Seattle leaving my house there was an uphill stop sign with a somewhat sharp leveling of the pavement right before the stop sign. If I was riding at all briskly and the rear end got light when stopping then the ABS II would get a false positive,  disengage the both brakes momentarily and I'd end up with the bike stopped about ten-fifteen feet beyond where I'd originally planned on stopping. It did this very consistently but it never faulted the ABS brain. My 93 LT with ABS I never did it at all though.

I have stripped three iABS modules. two had the Tri-Wing bolts, while the other had security Torx fittings. No internal mechanical damage was found in the units, and the small filters were perfectly clean. I did find one ceramic pressure sensor that was cracked. 

There was a UK firm advertising iABS repair, but when I contacted them they said they didn't have a test program for them.

My R1150RT is now standard hydraulic braking, pity the ABS operation is lost in the conversion.

Mike

Tosi Tabuki in Japan has done lots of work on the ABSII so he may be able to help just in the electronics dept
http://bmwk10075abs1fix.web.fc2.com/ABS2-repair1.html

Rick,

Thanks for the reminder. Tosi has done some sterling work on the earlier ABS systems, didn't think he touched the later stuff. Mine is now out and is very unlikely to be re-installed. Plus I have just had the gearbox input shaft spline strip (again). That clutch plate is another less than genius BMW design, without even going into the reports of mis aligned gearboxes   I'm getting my K1100 back on the road.

Mike

Mucking about in the garage and decided one K1200R would look good in the other one's clothing. Now one's a bit of a pimp and one's murdered (as the kids call it). There might even be enough silver for Charlie! 

Pimp

Murdered.