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On the Level — Intel & Intrigue 2003
New GS due at dealerships & Daytona
OTL has all the specs and visuals on the all-new
R1200GS. Analysis will follow in the Feb-March OTL but here
is a preview of the highlights.
Upcoming
Issues (12/18/03)
BMW has alerted us to the fact that OTL intel has routinely
been poached from this site, so we shall tread lightly.
What then will upcoming OTLs be covering?
MOTORRAD Magazine says its a transverse four
K successor bike with the Hossack fork. Pounds lighter,
worlds faster. Matrix of magnesium, power train on the other
side. Lower cg and much shorter than the current K bike.
Intermot in fall 2004?
MOTORRAD AKTUEL says the new Boxer GS will
have a reworked chassis. Lighter, more powerful with low
cg. OTL says vibrations will be finessed. Intro in South
Africa early in 2004.
The F650 restyled, with dual plugs. Soon.
The new K1200LT with c. 115 horsepower, a
hydraulic centerstand and centrally locked topcase and bags.
Augmented light up front. Soon.
The accurate project codes we supplied earlier
have been removed from this site as a courtesy to BMW Motorrad.
As always, however, the real skinny will be in OTL.
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Another Spy Shot (10/30/03)
The German magazine MOTORRAD #23 has run another
spy shot of the new Boxer GS. The copy reads:
"On the new GS everything is different:
design, motor and chassis. The Boxer with new cylinder heads
should sport 1200cc and more than 90 hp. Then too, a weight
30 kg [66lb] less than the R1150GS. The steel tube framing
integrates the motor as a stressed member. The exhaust is
dispersed through a short canister."
An upcoming OTL will parse this and other
copy, but suffice it to say MOTORRAD may be low-balling
the "new from the ground up" Boxer we have predicted.
They really aren't saying much‹‹ a real departure
from past spy reports that porfessed to see all sorts of
things in vague image photographs.
That said, the lost weight is a poser, and
another real riddle is where the smoothness (predicted by
we alone) will come from.
Thereto related, MOTORRAD did a track session
with the R1l00S in the latest issue and loved the chassis
but said the motor was (obviously) too weak and way too
buzzy. Yet we were told that somehow the new Boxer will
be smoothed out. Counter balancers? Oak has written an upcoming
piece saying this is a silly idea. Dave Searle told the
Editor that finite element method and squish work (via Buell)
have done wonders for the Sportster's far worse vibration.
Obviously, lighter internals make for less vibration, but
surely they haven't haven't shaved 66+ pounds in the engine
alone.
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More K Spy Photos (10/14/03)
The most recent MOTORRAD contains stunning
detailed spy photos of the K successor, obviously taken
from within BMW Motorrad R&D. Nothing is the shots contradicts
anything OTL has been saying for many months, but there
are new details. See an upcoming OTL for discussion of new
revelations.
These photos are the most serious leak of future Beemer
tech in our memory. Suffice it to say, the new K is all-new
from the ground up, with everything reoriented and in new
places. The first model is much as we predicted--much lighter
and worlds faster.
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Chefredakteur Respectfully Dissents
(10/07/03)
The Chefredakteur respectfully dissents
from colleague Manfred's Horn's assessment of the (nearby)
K spy photo. Robert sees the shot as "mostly photoshop
trickery." He thinks many elements in the picture do
not "add up or fit exactly right." His friends
in the imagery business say it "does
not look like a studio shot" but rather a montage "made
to look like a studio shot."
Since it is a fuzzy shot anyway, it "confirms
little of what we have said in the past other than the newness
of the new K." Motorrad magazine, by contrast, professes
to "see" most of things we have predicted in the
past.
Look for more analysis in an upcoming OTL,
but not here on the Web--where it has a way of finding its
way into other magazines' copy.
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New K Spy Shot (9/27/03)
Germany's MOTORRAD magazine has published
a cover spy shot of the new K bike. The picture does not
reveal anything that would cause us to reconsider anything
we have predicted to-date. What the photo does reveal is
interesting new headlight treatment and Z4-style rear view
mirrors. The photo seems to have been doctored a bit, but
it does seem to reveal the outline of the new K bike. (M.
Horn in Landshut)
Click image for larger view.
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OTL at the Milan Show 2003
(9/24/03)
We were on the record long ago saying
that nothing big would emerge from BMW at the Milan motorcycle
show. That judgment is now fact. Despite lots of spy photos
of the new, lighter and more powerful R1200GS shown in OTL
in the past, that bike was nowhere to be seen, even if everyone
was talking about it. There was nothing in the Beemer exhibit
other that the fat-tired R1200 Montauk and an 850 version
of the plain R1150R in traditional BMW black. No K bike
news at all. It looks more and more like INTERMOT 2004 is
going to be a very big deal for BMW Motorrad.
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What is in the stable (9/8/03)
Speculation about new bikes (the GS for
example) should not be construed
as a recommendation that current buyers wait on them. We
do not know for sure whether a new GS will be better than
the R1150GS--the best selling bike in Germany. Similarly,
when as OTL writer rips a current model, that is his or
her opinion, not the word of God.
With regard to the new bikes, after all, we
have not ridden a mile or even seen a definitive crisp photo
of the new Boxer bike. And with the K, we haven't even SEEN
a fuzzy photo. Accordingly, what we offer you is no more
than our best guesses, even if we are more often right than
wrong.
When have we been wrong? Well, major bungles
include saying there would be no K75RT (we were told so
by a BMW exec), and the styling of the current R1150 RS
(we "reasoned" that it would be re-styled). And
that is what we rely on: sources for bits of info gathered
here and there, plus deductions based on our sense of what
make sense for the market.
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New "Overhead" Paralever
(9/3/03)
More on the K25 Boxer GS:
More recent spy photos of the new GS have
surfaced in MOTORRAD (#19). Among the obvious technical
changes are a new "overhead" Paralever in back--indeed
a very different-looking rear end altogether. The magazine
claims that a totally new tranny reduces engagement rpms
for smoother
shifting. They also profess to see various structural elements
changed from steel tubing to alloy. The bike is said to
weigh 230 kilos.
OTL's moles quickly took note of what was
NOT said, and that it
implies an unstated retreat from MOTORRAD'S prior claims
that the Boxer motor had been moved to allow for changed
valve actuation.
The look is familiar but sleeker. The bike
is obviously nearly ready,
as the indentations for the Roundel are visible (further
up front, as on the R1100S). One GS version had wire wheels,
the other alloy cast. The lights remain asymmetric and unmistakable.
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Supercharger Rumor (8/7/03)
OTL moles have tracked down the origin
of the persistent K bike supercharger rumor. The prime source
is MO magazine (Germany), either cited or plagiarized by
other reports. Another source, this time in the US, may
be Z Technik supercharger work for the underpowered R1200
CL. The work has been on and off, say moles, but the fact
that Z Technik has a working relationship with BMW NA may
have added credence to the parallel K rumors--which OTL
insists are false.
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BMW now within range of Ferrari!
(8/7/03)
MONTOYA AND THE BMW Williams F1 TEAM CELEBRATE ANOTHER WIN
AT HOCKENHEIM
Hockenheim (GER) ... Juan Pablo Montoya
achieved his second victory of the year in Sunday's German
Grand Prix at Hockenheim and in doing so has moved up to
second place in the Drivers Championship. He now has 65
points, six less than leader Michael Schumacher. The BMW
WilliamsF1 Team remains in second position for the Constructors'
title, having reduced the gap to Ferrari to just two points.
It was the ninth win since the foundation of the BMW WilliamsF1
Team in 2000. However, Ralf Schumacher was unable to
complete the race when his FW25 was involved in an accident
with
Barrichello's Ferrari and Raikkonen's McLaren Mercedes at
the start, which caused him to retire on the first lap of
the race.
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