What's happened to all the BMW K-series?

Just browsing around eBay and Bike Trader, can't see too many there.

Especially the RS versions.

Always fancied a K1100RS, but they all seem to have disappeared.

 

(SteveH) wrote in :

all in a barn near Bath, awaiting assimilation

 

Was just saying similar to JackH on MSN, strangely.

 

(SteveH) wrote in :

They are keepers, though, for many people. Once they have depreciated to a
certain level they are snapped up by those that want reliable commuters.

The huge price of new ones means fewer have been sold in the last 5 years
or so. Reliability issues on the 1200cc bikes also hit sales. Plod has
abandoned them, just like the Pan, as they are unwieldy beasts. Most of
BMW's sales have been from R-GS, 800cc parallel twin & 650cc singles in the
last few years.

Be very wary of any for sale on Ebay, as they most certainly have issues.

Stick with the Italian stuff. Buy a Norge so I CHAGM.

 

Are you sure that you want one ?.

Some time ago I was offered a K75 in exchange for my LE so I decided on
tuesday to visit Bath Road Motorcycles in Bristol and try one before
driving all the way to Norfolk.

They had a K75 and several 1000 and 1100 models in stock but I was very
rapidly convinced that a K was MUCH too heavy, awkward and topheavy for
an ancient shortass to cope with. Only a very alert salesman saved me
from dropping it in the showroom.

Maybe OK if you are a big strong fellow, but you may still regret it if
you need to manhandle it into a garage or shed.

 

One candidate in the Bristol main dealer.

But it's obviously main dealer prices and very leggy (67k miles) -
£2300. Ouch.

I was looking at a Ducati ST2. Love the idea, but not convinced a V-Twin
'sports tourer' is the solution for longer runs - the VFR used to
cripple me after a couple of hours, can't see an ST being any better.

 

I'm not big, but I'm strong enough to man handle one.

I kept Hog's K1100LT in my garage for a few weeks and rode it from
Milton Keynes to Ireland for him. Didn't have any issues, even on the
ferry.

 

(SteveH) wrote in

ST2 is a bit shit. I was considering that ST4 that Hog was selling then
fucked my leg. IIRC Statto has it now: blag a ride.

 

Riding position is the same on all of them.

Which is why I decided not to, in the end.

Despite seeing a new old stock ST2 for a bargain basement price.

I want something that's more 'tour' than 'sports touring', IYSWIM.

A K1100 would have been ideal, or a Pan, or even a Diversion 900.

Did a deal with Katie that if I rented a couple of garages, I could fill
one with bikes....

 

(SteveH) wrote in :

what about an FJR? Seems they have got down to 3 or 4K for a reasonable
one. Much better than the Poundland Diversion.

 

Kind of going out of budget.

Sold Katie's car last night, but stupidly let her keep the money,
despite the original deal being that I could put it towards a bike.

But I thought it only fair, as she's not back in work yet. (Course ends
at the end of this month)

 

(SteveH) wrote in

A Pan in budget will just be a money pit. A Diversion, even if reliable,
will look like a shed. Surely you only need to save for a few weeks to
raise the extra cash to buy something that might be reliable, reasonably
quick and nice to ride? This new job isn't on minimum wage is it?

 

It's easy cos I'm good?

I'll buy that for a dollar.

I thought it was all that low CofG nonsense.

 

Job is decent money. But.... it's not a bike that'll get used lots - the
750SS is what will be ridden most of the time. Just looking for
something cheap-ish and capable of doing a couple of weekends away per
year. Not sure I want to blow £4k on something for that. And having been
through 2 redundancy consultations in 12 months, I figure it's probably
a good plan to have 6 month's worth of living expenses in the bank
before blowing money on toys.

 

Good plan, but when I say 'a couple of weekends' - it'll hopefully be
more than that - and bike hire gets scary if you do it for a full week.
Last bike I hired was a CB500 for a week, cost me £200.

It's just having something cheap enough to sit in a garage most of the
time, but be hauled out for an overnight trip if the weather looks nice
on a Saturday morning, plus the odd week away on the continent.

Buying the 750SS re-ignited my passion for riding, so I want to be sure
I make the most of it this year.

 

Maybe, but in my case a bad back does not help. The real question is why
go for such an unwieldy beast when there are other options that do the
job just as well and do not have to be lifted onto the centre stand
because they smoke like hell if you use the sidestand. The K is not just
heavy, it is very top heavy especially with a full tank.

The flat engine of the K is fundamentally flawed, having the cylinders on
the same side as the sidestand means that oil will always leak past the
rings into the cylinders leading to clouds of smoke on startup if you
use the sidestand. If they had designed it with the pots on the right
this would not have happened.

 

The best line I ever read when I was younger was in Bike magazine:

"The best touring bike you'll ever have is the one you already own"

--
Lozzo
SV650S K5, ZX-7R P4, CBR600F-W, SR250 SpazzTrakka, SR250 Project
SpazzCaffer
I see a bright new future, where chickens can cross the road with no
fear of having their motives questioned

 

People seem to be keeping them. Them as knows - which seems to be a fair
chunk of ukrm now - buys the older Ks because (a) they're cheap and (b)
they just don't break like the new ones.

Buying my LT was one of the better moves I've made.

 

All very well, but try putting a pillion and luggage on a 750SS at the
same time.

 

Not finding many cheap ones, though. Which is a pain.

In fact, not really finding many cheap bikes at all that would be
suitable. Even Diversion 900s are fetching good money, or have starship
mileage on them. Some cheap FJ1200s around, but they're very dated these
days.