On the Level — Intel & Intrigue 2004

INTRIGUE (11/15/04)

OTL sources say an R1200ST (much like an RS concept) will make its debut at roughly the same time as the R1200RT. The latter, in turn, may have a variable fairing--not just a variable windscreen.

Meanwhile, K1200S delays continue, largely due to the rough low-end behavior cited by journalists. These problems did not keep the K1200S from winning a recent comparison test held on the Isle of Man. Motorrad magazine has rated the K1200S its top motorcycle in the world.

NAKED K1200R REVEALED (9/27/04)

Surprise at INTERMOT

In the last OTL, and many hints made before it, talk was of the Code K43 naked bike. Now, an outrageous-looking naked K bike, much as OTL¹s own Sam Hill has long predicted, was shown to a surprised press corps at INTERMOT and to slack-jawed subsidiaries.

Why slack-jawed? Because BMW Motorrad had firmly told everyone, including its own people, that nothing other than the K1200S would be on display. Hence BMW NA¹s decision not to fly the bike press over to the show. Hence the Chefredakteur¹s absence.

Everyone bought into it, but you guessed it Sam Hill. Sam went over there anyway. Sam¹s thinking should be well known to OTL readers. He noticed the naked muscle bike trend in Europe and predicted BMW would follow along. He envisioned the eventual K1200R as a German MV Agusta Brutale and said so in the magazine.

[The only reason we have taken so long to post this is that Gordan Boltz was off running the rally and the editor was at the annual meeting of the International Council of BMW Clubs.]

Whatever Munich may now say, we think the K1200R was a late decision sort of thing done for INTERMOT publicity purposes, and that the bike won¹t be around till May or June 2005. More than that, we think the R1200RT was supposed to come before this one, and that a wholly new R1200RS won¹t be that far behind.

What strikes us about this bike is its wholly radical look--something that struck MOTORRAD as well. The technicals are K1200S issue, though the Duolever is a little different (and MOTORRAD says it has a few fewer top-end ponies). It is a muscle bike par excellence.

More in OTLs to come. The bike was only shown for a half hour or so, leaving little time for detailed study by the press mob.

INTERMOT also featured some talk about big cuts in Boxer cruiser offerings.

BMW AND THE PRESS (8/2/04)

The Upcoming Battle Over the K1200S

Over time we developed a unifying theory about what transpires in the press when Munich introduces an all-new bike in an all-new niche. In a word, there is resistance, an uncommon degree of resistance. Why is that?
Austin Schuss, a reconstructed 1968 Herbert Marcuse Marxist, pictures overworked and unpaid journalists eager to stick it to a company that is often perceived as an icon of yuppie consumerism. Austin doesn¹t hate them for it either; he says they are just being human.
Our Chefredakteur prefers to see it in term of Nietzschean ressentiment as evidenced by Motorcycle Consumer News style guru Glynn Kerr. In a singularly self-revealing article on the new GS, Kerr deplores how "serious" BMW riders join the Munich company as it is seeking a "higher moral plane" to "distance itself further from the competition and its unsavory clientele."
The bike press, as always, ready to march on Versailles!
With this in mind who among us was surprised at the press reaction to the R1200C BMW cruiser? To the F650 CS Scarver? Who did these Germans think they are!
It follows that we are ready for the K1200S onslaught from the bike press. We can prefigure the direction it will take too.
Who do BMW engineers think they are in attempting to build a sportbike with sane ergonomics, emphasis on safety and environment, and the convenience of shaft drive? And this new Duolever front fork, we aren't used to it. The very cheek of building a bike that is meant for the real world rather than a bike-press streetfighter ride-in-the-barrel. "The Japanese builds bike for us", they say proudly, "BMW build bikes for them." As in us. Mere owners, not expert scribes.
BMW must make it very clear that this is a super sport-tourer like the Yamaha FJR, not just a new form of supersportbike viagra for the bike press. If this isn't done,the KS will be compared with the kind of extreme machines so popular with writers who need neither buy them nor live with them long term. That is to say, compared unfavorably.
Folks, gird your loins. We expect the battle will soon be joined. Already we hear the distant trumpet of Brit hotshoe Kevin Ash:

"The intention is to create a machine that combines current motorcycle performance expectations with BMW brand values such as sophistication, comfort, active and passive safety and so on. The problem is, it just doesn't work."

Here we see the ressentiment thing simply stated, as a snort toward BMW brand values such as sophistication, comfort, active and passive safety and so on [our Italics]. And so on? What is it with these pompous Brit journalists! Every time a new German bike comes to town they act as like Manchester United soccer hooligans when they lose to Bayern München. "Our Triumph TT600 couldn't match the Japanese so neither can you!" Waah!
Hey, this cranky guy could even be proven right, but it is far more likely that Kevin has once again made an Ash of himself. Not for the first nor the last time.
Prestigious Motorrad has already devoted two issues to hands-on assessment of the K1200S, and editor Michael Pfeiffer's verdict couldn't differ more from that of Ash. The latest Motorrad pits the KS directly against the Suzuki Hayabusa, the Honda CBR XX and the Kawasaki ZX-12R in powertrain, chassis, safety, all-around use, comfort and cot/environment. We'll show you exactly where and how later, but suffice it to say the new K bike does very well indeed.
But it is still early, and we have yet to dissect the press kit (in the next OTL).

INTEL MISCELLANY (7/28/04)

F650 RUMORS: Sketches of two putative new F650s appeared recently in Motorrad Magazine (D) but OTL moles do not buy into it. In an upcoming issue, we will deconstruct the F650s and the idea behind them, i.e., that BMW has shortened its development cycles. We disagree with the lot of it.

R1200RT: Brit magazine T.W.O has run shots and info on the R1200RT, and also the R1200S. An upcoming OTL will dispute these accounts.

K1200S RUMOR: There is a new rumor of a chain-driven "M' version on the new K1200S. We will be looking into this.

BMW Motorrad Press Kit Out
OTL has obtained a German copy of the K1200S press kit. We will be doing a series of pieces on it in future issue. The bike has many nifty new features, but there are no huge surprises. OTL had the bike pretty much sorted out months ago. Clement Savadori is testing the bike for us in Germany.

K1200S PART DEUX (6/18/04)

The next OTL will offer many more details on the new K1200S, based on mole reports and analysis of what appeared recently in Cycle World. The following is just a partial précis of the report. Eat your heart out.

Background

Many months ago, in a sharp departure from tradition, we think BMW Motorrad secretly agreed to grant two magazines an exclusive peek behind R&D for the K40 project - specifically Motorrad in Germany and Cycle World in the US. It is no coincidence that these publications have the largest circulations in their respective countries.
We leave to your imagination the reactions to this by other magazines as they have gotten wind of it! A bit later Motorrad got spy photos of the K40 taken, incredibly, within BMW R&D. Shortly thereafter a miffed BMW axed its "R&D peek" project with Motorrad . Our guess: when the magazine refused to embargo the purloined R&D photos, the deal was off. And as a consequence, Cycle World ended up with a true "world exclusive," at least among the commercial magazines. But we had our own angle.
Though we were working from much the same K1200S page, the resulting recent Cycle World had useful things to add. CW's Brian Catterson spent 3 days between Munich and Berlin interviewing the "S" team, warranting a sequel to OTL Intelligence of last month.
(Click images for larger view.)

The Focus

We foresaw this bike as being close to being a German MV Agusta F4. That is to say, a chic, exclusive, innovative (and pricey) bike tailored to the sport enthusiast, but backed by German engineering and a dealer network."
Nothing in the Cycle World piece has changed our mind. We said this is primarily a sportbike, with some touring capability. Catterson cites no less an authority than Dr. Diess to that effect, saying that, "this is a sportbike, not a Superbike." Interestingly though, Catterson discovered that BMW did its first testing of the new Duolever/Hossack fork on a sawed-off Hayabusa!
Dr. Diess is cited saying that "S" is "passenger-oriented and very usable." Our mole riders say they "found it easy to move around on it, unlike on, say, the K1200RS."
Oddly Diess was never pressed on the marketing philosophy behind the K1200S. We are on record saying that idea was to lend some street cred to the BMW motorcycle line.

The Layout Low-down

We said the motor was as narrow as many 600s, Catterson learned than it was only 2" wider than a Ducati V-Twin!
The BMW R&D team said the old motor designs simply could "not make enough power, due to the airbox being inboard, and the exhaust too short and unequal in length.
The fact that, "contrary to wild rumor," BMW eschewed a supercharger and ended up with a transverse four may have been a surprise to Cycle World but it was no surprise to us. We had been rejecting this rumor, well, forever. Cycle World itself helped spread that "wild rumor."
This new motor clearly makes enough power. Catterson says 157 hp, we say 167 (123 KW), with the torque optimum of 130 Nm reached at 8250 (red line at 11,000). Even more to the liking of typical BMW riders, over 70% of the maximum torque is already available from 3,000 rpm.
The long-rumored (by us) Formula 1 input into the engine is touched upon: extremely light, very stiff valve actuation, with Schlepphebeln ("rocker fingers") instead of Tassenstößeln (the familiar bucket tappets).
Catterson makes some very savvy assumptions on what he professes to have seen:
"The cam lobes open the 16 valves via small finger followers, which save space over traditional bucket tappets by allowing higher valve speeds and greater lift with no need to increase tappet diameter. They're also more stable because there's no possibility of the cam lobe rocking the tappet."
"The forward tilt of the camchain tunnel suggests that only the exhaust cam is chain-driven, while the bulge between the numbers 3 and 4 cylinder hints that the two shafts are joined by a pair of gears, thus rotate in opposite directions. The intake cam drives the water pump off its left end, with coolant flowing through the cylinder heads first instead of up from the block as on other liquid-cooled motorcycles. . . ."
What our sources also saw was two balance shafts in the horizontal-divided cylinder crankcase made of light alloy. Thus the vibration-free run reported by our mole last month.

Forking Over

We said the choice of a UJM-like transverse layout puts pressure on BMW to seek uniqueness everywhere else- especially with the Hossack fork. CW took a similar focus.
We have described how it works more than once, but Catterson was directly told by the design team of the Duolever's advantage over the Telelever: It precisely prescribes the arc of front wheel movement (Räderhebungskurve). Cycle World provides a technical sidebar by Kevin Cameron on how the Duolever works but we were unable to synopsize for OTL because we didn't understand it. In fairness, seeing how suspensions work in use is a lot easier than describing them.
Will the Duolever spread to the Boxers? Not to the new R1200GS. Catterson learned it needs too much travel to suit the Duolever. But other Boxers are possible users, says OTL. See next OTL for more.

Reminder: AMA Vintage Motorcycle Days July 16-18 in Lexington Ohio. BMW is the featured Marque. Mobile Tradition will be there as will BMW NA.

The New Rear End

Catterson says BMW strove to match the MV Agusta's rear
suspension, and, as a result, that this is the first full-size BMW with a rising rate linkage (as on the F650s).
Not being an experienced K rider, Catterson does not speculate on whether this whole new arrangement will put and end to the epidemic of K rear drive failures.
Cycle World gleaned a little more on the new optional electronically adjustable suspension. We learn definitively that the bike will feature pre-determined settings for both damping and pre- load, all via a handlebar-mounted switch. We had known about work on such a suspension for two years but details were sketchy.
We expect the system to be called "ESA" for electronic suspension adjustment.

The Cassette Transmission

That the K1200S would sport a Moto GP race-type cassette transmission was known to us for many months, and it is unique for a series motorcycle in this class.
Catterson says this required moving the shaft drive to the left side to keep the left-side shifter.
We have long suspected that those looking at spy photos of the motor, looking at the empty orifice where the inboard tranny resides, started the rumor of a supercharger.

Ironic References

Catterson got to talk with Team Robb in situ. Among the more interesting nuggets was the fact that Robb said, "people were concerned that it wouldn't look like a BMW." So much concerned, apparently, that "iconic references took on added importance."
Accordingly, the Roundel is featured on side airfoil, as with the M, Z3, and Z8 Bimmers (and the Beemer LT). Other "iconic references" elude us but we shall see.
Late reports from BMW's own sites suggest the S will be offered initially in Indigo Blue and Gray-Granite (silver). The other colors seen on the net, such as canary yellow and (OTL's web site) Canyon Red may be just smokescreens, or perhaps offered later.

Summary

In the upcoming OTL we discourse on the Catterson / Cycle World relative to the envious competition, but they also did well in our eyes. Catterson is no friend to OTL's editor, nor does he seem especially attuned to existing BMW K bike woes, but it must be granted that the oft-time Airhead boy racer did some very nice work in his three days in Munich.

Closing notes:

- Incoming rider reports say the KS offers "astonishing handling" and "stupendous braking." "The only thing its shares with previous Ks is outstanding straight-line stability." "Comparisons with the K1 are ludicrous." "Power is seamless."
- One source quotes the price of the BMWS K 1200 S in Germany at 14,850 Euros (including BMW's motorcycle integral ABS standard). That is just over $17,000 US. Cheaper than we expected,and far cheaper than an MV Agusta.

Read more Intel in OTL: A BMW RA Membership includes an OTL Subscription: (321) 984-7800 or online.

THE SUPERLIGHT FOR THE SUPER-RICH: THE K1200S (5/17/04)

by Midnight Moles in Munich

Synopsis of current Info on the K1200S

Under the sexy title "BMW lifts the veil" (Schleier) BMW Motorrad has made official what OTL readers have already known for a good while. This summer BMW will reveal "a fully new, fascinating high-performance motorcycle in the sportbike segment."
In what is internally known as a "teaser," BMW will show a press picture of the K1200S along with some attributes of the new bike - most of them, however, gleaned by our moles some time ago. Ditto for the photo. (Click images for larger view.)

Styling

David Robb disagreed with us when we suggested that the angular-looking R1200GS owed something to the "flame-surfacing" profile of the Bimmer Z4 sport car. Maybe it is what Robb calls "surface tension," but we see lot of dynamic angles at play in the "tank" area of this K1200S.
We also see is a little GS in the looks of this bike, in a way Euclid would have admired.
The extensive black lowers/belly pan make a good part of the bike vanish beneath the waves, including the new motor. The rear end looks (as is) very light, so reducing the visual footprint of the front end is probably part of the plan. Peering through the rear axle is way cool.
Note that the Roundel is handled much the same way is on the KLT, which in turn took its cue from the Bimmer M Z3.
The final use of color(s) is sure to be different. One of our moles spotted several on a photo shoot in Nevada - none of them Canyon Red. The rest of the bike, however looked just like this. Much more in the upcoming OTL.

What BMW admits

Having worked on the English editing of BMW's Road to Formula 1 we know better than to entirely trust BMW's translations, so we shall give our own renderings of what they will post on the press site. We shall also provide a little commentary (with much more, and a riding impression to follow in OTL).
"From the very start the K1200S was conceived as a sportbike, and is a stand-alone motorcycle within the K family: radically new and with an unprecidented wealth of innovations. It is a sportbike that offers the highest riding precison, a unique agility, and overabundant power."

Wealth of innovations

The key phrase here is "wealth of innovations." There had to be these - lest the K1200S be seen as just another UJM-like tranverse four. The bike will be chock full of tech goodies from top to bottom. For us, however, the Hossack fork will be the heart of it. That and weight loss. Other details - many of them significant - will have to wait for the press kit.
"The bike leaves nothing to be desired visavis the competition, with power-to-weight almost 50% better than the K1200RS."
Our sources had us expecting this, but that doesn't make it any less impressive. One mole told us it feels "like a bicycle." In the upcoming OTL we write: "The R1200GS had a water-filled bucket symbolizing the 66 lbs that needed to be lost. With the K1200S they must have needed a rain barrel." When R&D boss Dr. Marcus Braunsperger said the focus would be on Leichtbau (building light) he meant what he said.
"The chassis set-up, along with low weight, makes for "spielerisches" [child's play] handling. Both result in secure and total command of the power package under all conditions."
Our mole report in the next OTL raves about the gossamerlike feel of the S. Easy to ride, and "wicked fast."
"Powered by a transverse 1157 cc in-line four with integrated gearbox this machine attains a unique spot among the sportbikes through its perfect overall concept in concert with Leichtbau shaft drive."

A true sportbike with shaft drive

Shaft drive on a sportbike! The R1100S has it, but the Boxer S isn't really sporty enough to be a dedicated sportbike. This K1200S is way sporty enough, and has a very light cardan drive. This was no small feat for BMW R&D.
"The extremely forward-angled (55 degree) cylinder block provides a low cg. This, along with the geometric layout, allowed for an ideal 50-50 weight distribution."
David Searle at MCN always preaches about a 50-50 weight balance; this bike has it. This, along with little unsprung weight, should work wonders.
"By means of a host of finesse measures in construction, the engine emerged unusually small. The width near the crankshaft approximates that of a 600cc motor. That permitted not only a low motor placement while retaining good cornering clearance, but a small, sporty profile."
This is key. The engine could not have been placed so low unless it were narrow, lest cornering clearance be compromised. And our moles say it corners like champ.
The engine also dictated moving the shaft and everything else over to the other side, much like the three cylinder (code K3) prototype machine back in 1980.

Over 160 horsepower

There is also the admission that the horsepower is "over 160 (117 kW)" and that the "newest generation motor management such as on the R1200GS, with knock suppression is employed on the K1200S."
Our moles say the motor can be uprated a number of ways for the future - necessary for a machine that is expected to be around a long while. Even this one as is, can probably be chipped up another 10-15 hp.

All-new fork a la Hossack

The chassis is "supremely innovative," by which they mean the Hossack fork (though it is not referred to as such here). It is: "A revolutionary front wheel steering by means of two parallel links - without Telescopic direction - most precise, with remarkable stiffness and light weight."
We have worked this issue to death, so wait for OTL to refresh your memory. Then there is the matter of an "electronically adjustable chassis," mentioned before, but moles have yet to report on how well it works.

Improved partial integrals

To the regret of some, the bike is "Selbstverständlich mit Teilintegralversion ausgerüstet" (equipped with the Integral version of ABS as a matter of course); but we had hoped, and now indeed hear, that the power brakes engage much less abruptly. Our Moles say the ABS is now as good or better than Honda's.
The new BMW K 1200 S will debut to the drooling public at the INTERMOT in Munich in September and emerge on the market "a bit later." We think the bike press will already be riding it in Austria in July - on a race track. We also think there will be a K Cup series down the road. This bike cries out for it. Indeed, in certain curvy, lumpy tracks will outperform the fastest sportbikes.

Addenda

We have sources that say Cycle World has somehow wangled a US exclusive on the bike, with a long development piece by Kevin Cameron, but it is doubtful whether they got to ride it early.
What you read in OTL will be unique. What you read elsewhere will be disguised or undisguised copying of the press teaser, or lifting from Cycle World - but even more likely, lifting from us.
Do then, be on the lookout (soon) for the Cycle World R&D piece. They did well in 1993 with the first Oilhead.
BMW is revealing the K almost piece by piece, in a departure from past procedure. Does this reflect the thinking of the new people at the top or a reaction the leaks to the press? After all, we don't think the R1200RS is that far off yet we have yet to get a whiff of it anywhere, but a substantial portion of this K's innards were uncovered many months ago. Somebody thought, why not go with the flow? Smart thinking on BMW's part.
Finally, the teaser insists (and the recent K1200LT upgrade bolsters the notion) that the other K bikes will continue to be built. Yet the Chefredakteur said, in a recent piece in Motorcyclist, that the K1200S tech will have to spread to make the R&D investment viable. We say this is an illusory contradiction. Catch the next OTL and find out why.
That is just one of a million questions that are raised by this bike. Some include:

• If, eventually, the other Ks get this motor, which will be next in line? Our guess: KGT next, LT last.
• Will the Hossack spread to the Boxer, and if so, when? We simply don't know. Yet.
• What bike does the K1200S come closest to? Our guess: the MV Agusta.
• What will the K1200S cost? See previous question - lots.
• Who is targeted with this bike? The few, the proud, the young, the rich.

And finally:

Where are all the people now (Alan Cathcart in Motorcyclist, Kevin Cameron in Cycle World, Ben Purvis in Motor Cycle News) who insisted this bike would be supercharged? We said no, a thousand times no. The reason?With all this weight loss and 160+ ponies who the hell needs supercharging? Much to the regret of many (but to the surprise of few) we have been proven right. Thanks go to our many moles, and those who deduced so much from so little.

Additional spy photos from "who knows where" -

The New K1200S - Spotted in Nevada, but there's still more (4/30/04)

While the new K1200S was actually spotted on a photo shoot by an OTL mole in Nevada, too much is being made elsewhere of K1200S intel now on BMW's own site ( http://www.face-the-power.com/ ) But the pickings are still pretty lean. OTL knows much more--have a look in the latest MOTORCYCLIST where the Chefredakteur discourses on what is already conceded -- and in an upcoming issue of OTL you will even have a clandestine European mole report on actually RIDING the bike. An absolute world exclusive, if authentic. Here are the proverbiel multiple highly placed sources OTL's Washington profis are so good at securing through subterfuge, blackmial and sex favors (bless those Safeway frozen novelties!). A bit here, a bit there, but can you trust Washington? You be the judge. And soon you'll see if it comes true.--Orsen Wells in Vienna.
OTL has seen the spy photos, spotted the bike out west, heard about test riding it way, way south of Munich, and now, here is a non-rumor synopsis from a friend in Sweden, recounting what is said in MOTORAD, based on an interview with BMW CEO Dr. Herbert Diess.

Main statements of an exclusive interview with Dr. Herbert Diess, head of BMW Motorrad in MOTORRAD -

On April 23rd, an exclusive interview with the head of BMW Motorrad, Dr. Herbert Diess was published in the German bike magazine MOTORRAD on the topic of the K40 (K 1200 S). The following statements have been defined:
World premiere INTERMOT 2004, Munich
Market launch This year
Price Not defined yet
New K - Name: K 1200 S
- The first real four-cylinder sports bike by BMW Motorrad
- Does not replace an existing model
- Sufficient power, very much more than up to now from 1170 cc
- Power-to-weight ratio 50 percent better than R 1100 S via unique technology
- Completely new front wheel suspension: it decouples the steering from the wheel forces and transfers them to the frame structure optimally. The result: hitherto unkown steering precision also when braking
- New engine, with extreme forward tilt underneath the main frame
- Crankshaft now mounted horizontally to direction of ride
- Very narrow shaft drive design
- Specifically designed transmission
- Chassis electronically adjustable
- Further improved BMW Motorrad Integral ABS (part integral)
Chassis/suspension
- Perfect front suspension response
- Low centre of gravity (front wheel can virtually not rise involuntarily)
- Long wheelbase - Narrowest bike in its class Claim
- Provide K 1200 S riders with a new standard in agility and driving fun
- Objective: ride relaxed but still in a very sports-oriented manner
- A machine which remains easy to control in every situation
Existing four-cylinder models
- Horizontally installed four-cyclinder with longitudinally mounted crankshaft is the right concept for touring sports bikes K 1200 RS, K 1200,GS or for a tourer such as the K 1200 LT.
- All bikes will still be built, the LT has just been revised

Quick comment: Dr. Diess says that all current flopped-four bikes will still be built, noting that the LT has just been revised. Perhaps so, for now. This bike, however, though dubbed a "K" 1200S will appeal to a new, younger demographic. We do expect it to retain K-like straight line stability, but handle much, much quicker in turns. We also expect the ABS to be all new. There may well be F1 tech in the heads. The power-to-weight gains is on both ends. Maybe 170 hp, but also 124 lb weight loss. We think the bike will debut to the world press in Austria this summer.

New R1200GS vs. R1150GS (3/15/04)

OTL Intelligence: An upcoming OTL will report on a MOTORRAD magazine point by point comparison of the new R1200GS with the R1150 GS. The new bike notches significant gains in the "powertrain" and "chassis" areas, and tallies a "723" overall score: very high. This the highest number ever afforded a BMW, and the first over the "magic 700." Elite company!

At the same time, OTL will be looking into what the all-new GS bodes for all the other Boxer models in the future. Spy photos on the R1200RT all already in play on the net (try a Google search and see) but the visuals do not reveal much about the bike other than it will be big, have a very Bimmer-esque front end and a huge exhaust pipe. We think we know more and will say so in OTL.

OTL has already speculated that the counter-balancer on the GS will prove more essential on the more powerful RS and S machines of the future. The Boxer can now be made much more powerful without buzzing apart; it is that simple.

With regard to the K successor, we have said too much already (at least in BMW's judgment), so we shall stick with what MOTORRAD magazine has already revealed for all to see. We know some things about the new K successor but by no means all. We know it will be a transverse four, angled forward and low. We know it will have a Hossack front fork (a big deal). We know the rear drive will relocate to the other side (and resemble the new GS drive in having new geometry). We are sure the bike  will be much lighter, and probably a good deal more compact overall.

But we do not know its displacement. If, as many say, this proves to be a "K1300RS" that is no more than a good guess, based on the fact that specific bike models almost never get smaller in cc, if only for marketing reasons. NEVER discount the huge role marketing plays in developing any motorcycle. Surely you noticed, as did we, that the "bigger" R1150 RS scarcely outruns the old 1993 R1100RS. Many displacement gains are pure moonshine. If the new K is a 1300 that fact will be as incidental as the new GS being a 1200.

Finally, we are pretty sure it will be an "S," though that does not mean it will compete directly with the Huyabusa as all these magazines assert as fact. They are merely plagiarizing each other, based on an initial naked assumption made by such German magazines as MO, SP and MOTORRAD. But believe us when we say that BMW is NOT going to build the motorcycling equivalent of a  Corvette; maybe an Aston-Martin motorcycle would be a better analogy. But this machine will also be extremely high-tech. It has to be! The choice of a UJM-like transverse layout will put pressure on BMW to seek uniqueness everywhere else on the bike. Look for new solutions across the board. Even such things as Bimmer valvetronic and a magnesium block (with aluminum insert) is not out of the question. Then again, maybe later, and one day camless to boot. F1 tech is in the wind.

But we shall know soon enough; our moles expect a world press launch in mid-summer, well before INTERMOT.

Also see OTL Intel's prelminary report on the R1200GS