11-30-2023, 09:44 PM
(11-30-2023, 05:52 PM)WALRUS Wrote: I'm new, but I'll say hi, not welcome. Saw you had a ton of 1600 K bikes. Why did you opt for the RS? Love to hear your experience on the 1600s. Despite having a Street Glide, I think they are very heavy and ruled the 1600 out just trying to raise off kickstand. But I suspect I'm missing something.
Looong story about the K16GTL's.
You are correct about the weight, but I found it quite manageable, despite being short and having a 29" inseam. It's all about using the bike's controls to do the work, not muscling it around. If you drop it, yeah, it's heavy, but I never had any more of a problem picking it up using the face-away-and-use-your-legs technique than I did with any other tourer.
In sum, the 6-cylinder motor is a *dream* -- loved it. I had problems with a constant pull to the left (i.e., constant, fatiguing countersteering application required to go straight; it was not road crown). I had the first one replaced by BMW, found the second to also pulled, moved to an R12RT, loved the K16 enough to try it again, left pull=another R12RT, tried one more time with the fourth K16, same result and swore off them for good. At one point, I modified the duo-lever by shifting one of the A-arms a few mm to one side to get the bike's center of mass over the line between the wheels to cure the pull. This worked; it resulted in the bike driving straight. But the handlebars were now rotated ~5-10 degrees off while going straight. A great shame, because I otherwise loved the GTLs.
The move to the RS after a few decades on touring bikes is not the result of a fundamental change in my preferences away from tourers. In 2021 I purchased my first new non-BMW in 25 years -- a Honda GL1800 GoldWing. The redesign in 2018 took away ~100 lbs. and made the bike handle much more like a BMW. It's still 800+ lbs., but it doesn't feel like it. The dual clutch transmission has also turned out to be a big plus.
So I still have a full-dress touring bike.
The RS is the result of my retirement and move from the Wash. DC suburbs farther south in Virginia, closer to the Shenandoah Parkway and the north end of the Blue Ridge Parkway. I wanted a second bike that was a bit smaller and lighter for casual/fun rides in the area and small errand trips into town, without the bulk of a full dresser. A bit more exposed and enjoying the environment.
The RS was a logical choice for me due to my familiarity with BMWs, the electronics (cornering ABS, TFT display, etc.) and quality of the product. I also used to do U.S. patent work for BMW, so I had a bit of insight into their approach to advancing technology. The thing that put me over the edge was finding a 2023 with 3.1k miles for a hair less than 2/3 of the price of a new 2023 RS. If I had not come across this deal, I might have ended up with something else, probably even lighter and smaller, to fit my second-bike objectives.
TLDR: The K16 is a great bike. If it trips your trigger and you are satisfied with the way it handles, I see no reason for you to avoid it.
HTH!