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“A stunning tourer”

written by on 02/03/2013

I have ridden tourers for many years now including a 2007 Honda GL1800.
Prior to that I had a 2002 K1200lt. That model was frankly scary at low speed and I dropped that more than once!!
Thank goodness for the video on how to get it upright again.
What I did to stop this happening as often was have the hydrolic fitted to the bike and was worth the expense, notwithstanding BMW said it could not be done.

I'm currently riding an immaculate K1200LTE which was imported into New Zealand from Canada with 5,000kms by a Kiwi who had been living there. It had two great advantages compared to another 2005 USA K1200LT model I owned. Canadians drive on the left side of the road meaning I didn't have to buy a new very expensive headlight fitting and it was in kilometres as opposed to Miles per hour.

Compared to the earlier K1200LT models BMW changed the fork angle in 2004 from memory and the bikes from then on have been chalk and cheese in handling and feeling as top heavy.

I've just completed an eight day cruise around the South Island of New Zealand with three other motorcyclists covering some 3,000kms and it handled like a dream. The sophistication of this bike compared to my 2007 Honda Goldwing GL1800 came through with things like the electric windscreen, gear shift indicator, surround sound music system and the Garmin Sat Nav system.

I broke my back some five years ago in an elevator crash and spent nine months in a wheelchair while I slowly recovered. The golden key for me to resume riding was the hydraulic centre stand that has allowed me to get back on a two wheeler.

I'm at a loss to understand why the new K1600 series didn't include this fantastic function.

Of interest this trip was the number of tourist photographing and asking to sit on the bike and be photographed at over 50% of the places we stopped! There are significantly fewer K1200lte registered in NZ compared to the Goldwing.

BMW Part prices in NZ are outrageous and it's cheaper to buy off shore in the UK and USA EVEN combining freight and potential taxes at the border.

All in all I seriously rate the K1200lte and I'm enjoying better fuel economy than the Six cylinder Goldwing.