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Welcome to my blog, these are the ramblings and musings of an (upper) middle aged biker and if you enjoy braais, (barbeques) beers and motorbikes then hopefully you will enjoy what Janet and I do; we do lots of braais, we drink lots of beer and we tour South Africa on our motorbike, which at the moment is a BMW R1200RT. Join us, read about what we do and please leave us your comments.



Sunday, May 22, 2011

BMW K1600GT - the final upgrade?

I was watching "The world's greatest motorcycle rides" on tv the other night, it was being filmed in New Zealand and the riding area was absolutely beautiful, magnificent roads and wonderful scenery and the owner of the "Museum Hotel" in Wellington who was being interviewed said something which really struck me as being a worthy quote, he said; "Some people play golf because they haven't got enough imagination to ride motorcycles."
Now there is a man after my own heart, a guy who rides bikes and loves it, who knows what it's all about, the absolute freedom of the open road which all too few people know about. Janet and I were out on a ride a short while ago and we came up to a "Stop/Go" section of roadworks, it was a twenty minute wait in the middle of nowhere so we got off the bike and took off our helmets for bit of a walk about.
We had only been there five minutes when a couple, about our age pulled up behind us in a Mercedes, they both got out of the car and came over to us to have a look at the bike, we greeted each other and he said "I had a BMW many years ago, it wasn't as fancy as this but I would love to get another one."
 I said "Well go and do it, what's stopping you?" He looked at his wife, said "I don't know."  she seemed interested, we chatted some more and as we mounted up to go I said to him, "Get back out on the road man." I hope that they are now on another BMW enjoying the freedom that we know and love.
Whilst on the subject of the freedom of the open road, Janet and I are eagerly awaiting the arrival of the new BMW K1600GT in the showrooms which will apparently be June/July this year. The world launch of this stunning machine took place here in the Western Cape recently and the bike has had wonderful reviews.
We are seriously considering this as the ultimate (and final) upgrade. I have spoken to the BMW agents who will trade in my trusty and beloved R1200RT but I know we will have to pay quite a lot in on the new bike. I want to ride a demo model for at least a day to make sure that it is what I want, make no mistake we love our RT so we will not be making any hasty decision and we know that if we did do this it would definitely be our last bike, but we love riding, it's what we do so why not go for the best experience.
Let me know what you think.


4 comments:

Oz said...

Read about the new beemer. It sure looks good. I would like to test one soon.

Anonymous said...

Andrew - you know my answer - Ride It - and Do It - its a magnificent bike, and looks great - as you know I have ridden next to one - only question is the mass - so the only way is ride it!! - ( but I would then also look at the Gold Wing which is also very nice) looking forward to your impressions
Go well
Dick
ps - and enough of this "last upgrade" are stopping riding soon or what!!?? ha ha

the rider said...

Hi guys, thanks for the comments, yes I will certainly only make my decision after a good long test ride, looking forward to that!
According to one write up the mass is only evident at walking pace as the centre of gravity is very low, at speed the bike is very light and flickable, I would imagine that in car parks it may be quite heavy but then our current bikes are not lightweights either!
Dick I woulkd imagine that if I get this bike it will last for a couple of hundred thousand, or at least until I grow up!

Anonymous said...

So there you go --- who is planning on growing up anyway --- there will be a 1800 eight cylinder or something to dream about !!