BMW K1300R Review

BMW K1300R Review / Page 2 By Trevor Hedge Like its K siblings, the touring oriented K1300GT and fully faired sporting K1300S, the K1300R has swelled its manhood from 1157cc to 1293cc thanks to an increase in both the girth and length of stroke that its four pistons slide through. The engine acts as a stressed member and is tilted forward at a fairly extreme 55° angle, which does look quite strange, but allows the engine to remain low in the chassis while opening up plenty of room for the dry sump, quartet of 46mm throttle bodies, ten litre air-box and generous 19 litre fuel cell. The optional ‘gearshift assistant’ fitted to our test machine certainly aids in making smooth shifts. A sensor on the shifter cuts the engine momentarily while the shift is completed. This means the rider does not need to back off the throttle when changing gears. I have ridden some race bikes and custom bikes with aftermarket race shifting systems before and while they shift quicker than the BMW system, they were certainly not as impeccably behaved as the BMW device. What really makes BMW’s take on the electronically assisted shifter really stand out from the crowd is the fact that it is very useful on the road in all situations, and at any point of the rev range. Once you overcome your ingrained habit of momentarily rolling off the throttle between changes, and learn to actually tweak the throttle on a little as you shift, then the process becomes truly sublime. It is seriously ace and despite costing $700, for me, it would be a no brainer tick in the box. It is that good, and adds greatly to the riding pleasure. In fact, I reckon a K1300R without the 'gearshift assistant' would really be missing something. A deep bellow resonates through the air box when winding on the throttle and the short and sharp pops out of the vastly improved standard muffler when flat-changing gears is truly wonderful. With the optional Akrapovic muffler it would border on orgasmic. In the city the beefier clutch is kept manageable by an increase in slave cylinder diameter from 32 to 34mm. Like the new shift system, the thoroughly revised engine is also not all about wide open throttle performance. While the K1300R does have a healthy 10 more neddies up top than its predecessor, that maximum figure arrives at 9250rpm, a full 1000rpm earlier than the K1200R. The peak 140Nm of torque arrives at 8250rpm. Throughout the 2000-8000rpm range the K1300R has 10% more torque than the machine it has replaced. By 3000rpm the K1300R is already making 100Nm of torque which along with a shorter final drive ratio than the K1300S or K1300GT, further strengthens the roll on performance of the K1300R. I can only really level one small criticism of the new powerplant across all three models and that is a little vibration at higher revs. It’s not enough to become annoying, but nevertheless it is there. Continue... BMW K1300R Review Page 1 (Intro) / Page 2 (Drivetrain) / Page 3 (Handling) / Page 4 (Dollars and Sense) / Page 5 (Wallpaper)

BMW K1300R Review
Page 1 (Intro) / Page 2 (Drivetrain) / Page 3 (Handling) / Page 4 (Dollars and Sense) / Page 5 (Wallpaper)