Forums > Motorcycle Discussion > Celebrating 25th Anniversary of the BMW "K" Bike 1983-2008

My first........ and present........... K bike.

The bike that opened a brand new BMW world to me.  I just didn't know.  But, now I do!  

There was the Cruiser.  The Naked R.  The Montauk.  The GS.  The Boxer Cup Replica.  And, I absolutely loved everyone of them...... passionately!

But, then, out of nowhere, I just decided to sit on a K bike at Engles.  The next day, the test drive.  Little did I know.  My BMW world turned upside down....

Not much history except that November trailer trip to and from the Blue Grass state....and few hundred miles on a few of those 50' KC winter days ..... I'm just droolin' for spirng to get here.

Twisted Panty III - Leakey, TX - get ready for the this big, bad, yellow wasp's arrival....

K1200R......    

PS. Come TX time, I hope to have a smaller pipe and gut!  I've ordered the carbon LeoVince pipes and walking 45min. daily for a little theatre gig that opens first of March.....

 

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******Mike****** "We choose our joys and our sorrows long before we experience them."

Think Carbon Fiber Abs Mike !!! They'll look good with that matching exhaust system ?? Try the Dr. Bob "ice cream bar " diet!

 

I too am discovering new worlds by starting on the fantastic power and reliability of the "K" bikes, my first 150 MPH on a bike and now just discovering the pleasant though different Boxer engine, power, and sound !!

The "K" bike is so enginerred I have read, that they have way over built the engine for durability. Testing them turned up to lots more HP and running them for hours on end like that and having them survive!! Then detuning them to there present state and giving them to us.

Very few problems there be with the Flyin' Brick designs, the most major thing I've ever heard about is the rear seal developing a leak occassionally! They are still out there running strong with who know how much life span ??? They even use this engine in their race car trainers [F-3 ?].

And now a new design that is even closer to the technology used in their F-1 cars. But with all this high tech comes an end to the old air head fix it yourself mentality that they excelled at !! There is a lot of stuff in there on that new engined "K". Pressurized cooling system and all !!

But 25 years ago BMW started a tech revolution that few other companies have even come close to, with innovations that are exclusive to BMW still to this day. And now with ASC and ESA, and  even GS suspension adjustments for the dirt and /or road !!

Long Live the "Special K "

JC

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06 Ducati 620 Multistrada [Rabbit] ;

Speaking of those people attached to their "K" bikes!

Lets not forget the "King of K", Emiliano !!!

My favorite "Frenchman" platonicly speaking of course !!

 

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06 Ducati 620 Multistrada [Rabbit] ;

Talking about K bike history, which one of you remember this one:

 

 

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Shiva,

Was "Nandi" in attendence at that gathering ??

I didn't get my "K" bike untill '05 . 

JC

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06 Ducati 620 Multistrada [Rabbit] ;

that's me as a young lad right up front with the only black K (it's custom painted).  this was the first K12RS only rally that I organized and of course the story that I did made it on the cover of BMW ON that year... S

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Shiva,

     Just for info sake, when you were a kid in Iran, What brand of bikes did they have to offer.

You mentioned earlier about some kind of HP restriction in the thread about "The Wheelie King", and were there any BMW's ?

Did you guys have a bike back then ? Or were you not old enough to drive? What is the legal age for a liscense ?

And when did you first get to experience your first BMW ? I know you have had "Nandi" for quite some time, was it your first ?

JC
 

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06 Ducati 620 Multistrada [Rabbit] ;

Hi JC, it's all in my XPLOR profile actually:

I began riding bikes at 12, in 1974, with 2 of my buddies all the same age. We used to rent 80cc 2-stroke Yamahas from a bike repair shop with questionable credentials. His specialty was to rent bikes to kids my age and a little older. Obviously no credit cards back then, so we used to leave our gold chains as collateral. I had my fair share of crashes, I went down I think 2 times, once pretty serious, to the bike but with no injuries to the rider.

Since childhood I was a pretty active bicycle rider, and the motorized versions wheren’t too hard to figure. I bought my first motorcycle in 1987 in NY from Ghost Motorcycles on Long Island. I bought a Moto Guzzi V50III (500cc). I used it to primarily commute within NYC. I liked that bike, it was very light and bullet proof. Those Guzzi’s were made to take abuse.

My first experience with BMW bikes and cars was also in the early ‘70s. My brother who was much older than I bought a Cherry Red BMW 2002. What a beaut! Our next door neighbor had a Racing Green 2.8 CSI that he cleaned and polished religiously every weekend. I was best buddies with his brother in-law. Another neighbor a few doors down had a Daytona Orange BMW R90S. That was the first time that I had seen a BMW motorcycle. Compare to the ubiquitous Honda 750-4 the R90S looked like a UFO. It was so sophisticated.

I remember really liking the BMW “K” bikes when they were first introduced. They seemed smart, sharp, fast and modern. Very clean styling. I specially liked the K100RS in the Blue/White trim and subtle pin stripes in the late 80s. So, I got my first Beemer, a super clean, heated-garage kept with low miles, 1993, K1100RS, Graphite with ABS. I bought that K bike, in January of 1999, from Joel at BMWNY on Long Island (not there any more). Loved the styling of that bike. It was the last of the old school German designs: very linear, angular, stately and refined.

Well it was refined in styling, but not in performance, after 9 months and 9,000 miles I swapped it for a 1999 K1200RS. I had the bike painted BMW Night Black before I took delivery and called it “Nandi.” With “Nandi” my love affair with BMW bikes started again. I love this bike. I picked it up in Nov of 1999, basically “Nandi” should be a 2000 model, however this bike was so popular back then that I couldn’t find any in stuck, so Steve Sergi who used to work in Valley Stream, LI at Precision Motorcycles, managed to find a new Red one in California. I was so happy to find one, I didn’t care whether it was 99 or 00. So, “Nandi” started her life as a redhead and now she is a brunette.

After a short few months and only 1000 miles on the odo (remember I picked it up in November and it was a real brutal winter that year) in March 2000 I organized the first ever K1200RS only rally in CT. That idea became popular and I organized a few more after that, such as one in VT and another in a Vineyard in NY State.

My coverage of that first rally made it on the cover of BMW ON. A few years ago I launched K12RS.com, as means of documenting some travel videos, photography, accessory reports and so on.

And three years ago, in June 2004, I launched BMWK1200S.COM Internet Community which later became BMW-K.COM. BMW-K.COM is an online web site and discussion forum for BMW’s latest “K” bikes: K1200S, K1200R, K1200R-Sport and K1200GT. I also am a freelance motorcycle journalist, editor and photographer.

 

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PS: I haven't been back to Iran in 30 years, don't forget I am Jewish, with family in Israel, so, would really have no reason to visit a country that is so openly anti-semitic.  When i was there it was a different country than it is now.  Women were walking around in tanktops and mini skirts (no joke) and we were close allies with the US and our king and queen (Shah and Farrah) were in Western gossip mags regularly.  Back then there were no restrictions on type of vehicles you could ride.  So, in early 1970's the then new Honda 750s were all over the place.  It seemed anyone who wanted a bike then, bought a Honda.  As my profile suggests I saw my first BMW bike in 1974, which was a R90S in Daytona Orange.  Of course Bimmers (cars) were all over town at that time, we had one and there were a few more on our block but to be very frank, Mercedes was the car of choice back then, as BMW was just starting to make headways with the 2002 model, so you'd see more Merc than Bimmers... :) S

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Wow Shiva,

     You have a pretty diverse heritage, I bet it breaks your heart to see the great Persian Empire change so much that it would be almost impossible to go back and visit. And probly' having family in both Iran and Israel would make for difficult family reunions.

I have heard that it is a beautiful country, and read the stories of BMW tours thru it !

I don't want to stir up any thing political or any thing, but do you think the people will some day want and succeed at gaining their freedom that had existed during the Shah's rule of the country ? Or in your view have the people so totally gone against the old western ways the country was ?

O n the news it was announced that the president of Iran was scheduled to do a state visit of Iraq, so there is ,it sounds like, some hope of peace in the area for the future.

I would imagine that BMW probly' doesn't do business there under the circumstances now or not? What brands of bikes do the people have access to ?  And are there any access to sanctioned racing events as there are in some of the other Gulf countries? Do you know if BMW has a presence with bikes in any of the other gulf countries ?

Thanks for sharing the details of what life is like in your ancestral homeland.

JC

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06 Ducati 620 Multistrada [Rabbit] ;

You have to ride on for awhile to love'em. It just can't be explained. 

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There's only one like you, no way they could have made two - BW

hi JC, well, on one hand I like to keep this thread unique to the heritage of the K and on the other hand, this forum doesn't allow the admin any option to split threads into two.  so, what to do?  I rather continue this discussion in the General Chat section, if you don't mind. But it's a good discussion nonetheless.  

But as for general overview of BMW AG selling cars and bikes in the Middle East, which I think relates to the history of the K as well (sort of), they as you can imagine are popular in oil rich nations of Kuwait, Saudi Arabia, UAE (Qattar and Dubai and so on) and democratic or western-friendly places such as Israel and Lebanon.  I have a couple of members on my forum from these regions.  But I think as a whole, you can pretty much buy Bimmers any where, but it would be a lot more difficult with Beemers, that's for sure, since these bikes need authorized dealers for maintenance and so on.  :) S  

 

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Continuing with the K bike anniversary theme... Considering all the touring, sport and naked variations, there have been about 20 different unique K models in the past 25 years.

According to my research these are most if not all the models in the K bike history:

K100

K100RS

K100RT

K100LT

K100RS 4-Valve

K75

K75C

K75S

K75RT

K1

K1100RS

K1100LT

K1200LT

K1200LT -2

K1200GT

K1200GT -2

K1200RS

K1200S

K1200R

K1200R-S

Did I miss anything?

By the way, here's a good link for the overview of these models with images:

http://www.flyingbrick.de/GB/types.html

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I'm really impressed by the exposed engine look of the K75's !

And have gotten off the EBay another very reasonable set of fairings that I've cut in like style to show the engine detail, I've yet to install them yet as I just need to get them painted.

I found a guy who advised me on how to make this alteration , after I saw his bike on another forum.The only draw back is that the whole fairings work to protect the engine in the case of a crash or tip over.

These are a couple of shots of his project before having it finished and painted. Really gives the bike the beast look and retro style of the earlier K75's. It really looks sharp finished, he ceramic coated the header and it just shines with all that twisted exhaust plumping showing.

But hopefully I'll get around to having the guy that put the BCR color scheme on my GT do the same colors for what I call my "Mini-skirted" version. And change it around every so often just for a different look.

 

JC

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06 Ducati 620 Multistrada [Rabbit] ;